Sept. 17: The Centre today announced a diesel subsidy of up to Rs 500 per hectare to farmers in drought-hit Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand to help them irrigate their fields.

FARMERS in drought-hit districts will get diesel subsidy of 500 per hectare, even as the Centre awaits bumper crop production for most key kharif crops including paddy, cotton, pulses, and sugarcane.

A good monsoon and prospects of a good kharif and rabi should have a sobering effect on food prices, still in excess of 15%.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today assured the Prime Minister that the state would meet its grain production target for the national food pool. However, the state and its farmers paid a heavy price to maintain the crop due to unprecedented dry spell, he said.

Folklore guides farmers about droughts and rains