The farm sector has been crippled by poor rainfall, dwindling acreages and a steep fall in procurement prices for farm produce ­ forcing many small and medium farmers to plunge into the debt trap.Some of the leading farm input sectors that are affected include hybrid seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and farm mechanisation equipment. Akshay Dhoot, head of technology and innovations, Videocon, said: "Videocon has maintained its sales and has not witnessed any de-growth in southern India. For television, as it comes under basic necessity today, the demand remains consistent in the rural sector. Icra's assistant VP Ravi Kabra said the overall cost of production for poultry farmers went up 15% owing to bad monsoons and other factors impacting farm produces. This also led to an overall increase of 22-23% in milk procurement prices, affecting profit margins."

Source: Economic Times May 04, 2017 05:00 UTC