It was a seemingly peaceful day in April this year in Kursithana village of Bankhari block in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Except this time around the cultivation season for Amaan Singh, a farmer, meant the end of a tether.

Estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) is indispensable

Light to heavy rain is the order of the day at several places in Madhya Pradesh and the entire state is likely to record downpours in the coming days.

''A low-pressure area has formed over the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast and will cause thundershowers across the state over the next 24 hours,'' a Regional Meteorological Centre official said.

By Our Staff Reporter

The Satpura plateau regionof Central India is home of numerous herb species. The agro climatic conditions prevailing in the region provides an ideal habitat for the natural growth of variety of plants and herbs, which provide raw materials for pharmaceutical, phytochemical, food, flavoring and cosmetic industries.

So far, 22,37,892 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured on support price from farmers and Rs 1266.32 core has been paid to them. Farmers are being given Rs 100 bonus declared by the state government on the procurement of wheat at support price of Rs 1000 per quintal. Bulk of procurement is being made by state Civil Supplies Corporation. The quantity of procurement for this season is 47 fold more than the last year. During the entire Rabi season last year, only 47000 MT wheat was purchased.

Bhopal : With utmost attention of the state government to construction and upgradation of road communication Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a remarkable improvement in the road network over last four and half years. This has given a fillip to the development process besides making life of people more convenient.

The Chief Minister, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that science and technology are effective weapons in the fight against hunger and poverty. He said that live examples of this are Hoshangabad and Narsinghpur districts which are standing shoulder to shoulder with Punjab and Haryana in wheat production by adopting improved and scientific methods of farming. The Chief Minister was addressing a function here today on the occasion of Technology Day. The function was organised at Nehru Nagar-based Vigyan Bhawan by Madhya Pradesh Council for Science and Technology (MAPCOST).

The farmers of the State are not availing full benefits of their hard work. There remains a big difference between the prices of foodgrains produced by them and the being sold in the markets. Middle men are enjoying the farmers' hard labour. According to a report, sharbati wheat was sold Rs 2200-2500 a quintal in Ratlam but did the farmers reap the profits of this sale. It is also a matter of consideration that if quality crops are produced then the farmers would benefit. Earlier, sharbati wheat was produced in the Bhopal division and adjoining places.

The state government today issued approval to go ahead for 4 new major irrigation projects in Narmada Valley. On completing these projects would create an additional irrigation potential of 1.38 lakh hectare. The quick approval for these proposed project came in the light of the Chief Minister top priority for ensuring utilization of allocated 18.25 M.A.F Narmada water to state by Narmada water dispute Tribunal Award.

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