Shimla: Himachal Pradesh, among India’s major apple producers, Friday decided to introduce universal cartons to improve apple shelf life and compete with imported apples, an official here said. The kind of packaging used earlier was not of international standards. “The government would make available standard universal cartons in place of [...]

Chandigarh: Punjab has asked the central government to allow the export of wheat to Pakistan and CIS countries through the Attari checkpost as the state’s produce may cross a record 115 lakh tonnes this year. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said that allowing export of wheat to Pakistan and [...]

Guwahati:Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia Saturday assured the tea planters in Assam that he will take up the issue of declaring tea as India’s national drink with the union ministry of commerce and industry. Ahluwalia gave the assurance while attending the 75th anniversary celebration of the [...]

Shimla: A massive hailstorm followed by a cold spell and rain lasting over a week has dampened hopes of a bounty harvest for much of the lower and middle fruit growing belts as the blossom was washed out. Hitting many areas in Theog, Jubbal and Kothkai, last Thursday, the hailstorm [...]

New Delhi: The problem of plenty is once again troubling the Indian government as it does not know where to store the bumper grains to be harvested for the third year in a row. Fears are rising that the grains would be out in the open, rot and be eaten [...]

Shimla: NABARD, the apex rural banker, disbursed a record Rs 321 crore crop loans to farmers in Himachal in 2011-12 through the refinance facility provided to cooperative and regional rural banks. Crop loans registered an growth of 62 % over the previous year and touched an all time high,” said [...]

Palampur: Commerce Minister Anand Sharma Tuesday announced a multi-pronged project to boost production and export of tea produced in the Kangra valley that is known for its flavour and quality. “The central and the state governments will jointly work to revive the Kangra tea industry by rejuvenating and expanding tea [...]

Chandigarh: With huge stocks of wheat and rice occupying foodgrain storage facilities across Punjab, the government has set the alarm bells ringing of its “problem of plenty” with the next procurement season for wheat having already started, an official here said today. Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Secretary D.S. [...]

Shimla: To tackle chaotic apple marketing operations, the state government intends to intervene and introduce standard cartons that would match global packaging norms and bring about market parity for the produce sold. Making a suo motu statement in the Vidhan Sabha today, Narender Bragta, horticulture minister said that telescopic cartons [...]

Shimla: Industrial slowdown on account of withdrawal of incentives and lowest fruit crop production in eight years has hit growth in the hill state and is projected to drop to 7.6 percent in the current fiscal from the 8.8 percent achieved last year. The economic survey tabled by the chief [...]