Seeds for Iife
Scientists and NGOs find common ground in ensuring that farmers possess the divers they can use and conserve
Pest warning
Climate change is influencing migratory patterns and evolution in pests, threatening our food basket
Weed menace
Careless dumping of genetically modified canola plants triggers an outcry in South Australia
Book review: Seeds of Contention
The good thing about this book is that it makes a clear attempt to scale down the shrill rhetoric of the gm debate. The sharp language and …
Debating GM crops: Let sound science, and so good sense, inform it
The Paris-based International Council for Science, a federation of more than 100 national science academies, has come out with the biggest review …
Crop insurance scheme hits premium hurdle
Farmers may not benefit from the new scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, in the current season, as states are reluctant to implement it. …
Cotton-eating monsters lay low the farmers
Cotton farmers in northwest India were taken by surprise when, despite a pesticide blitzkrieg, the American bollworm devastated half their crops. …
In a sudden u-turn, Madhya Pradesh refuses to include three Rabi crops under Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana
The decision comes after Centre refused to contribute 50 per cent towards Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana
European-origin pathogen poses big threat to potato crop in India
Scientists at West Bengal State University have found 19 unique and highly aggressive variants of Phytophthora infestans, a microorganism that …
Promoting permaculture can put an end to GMO culture in India
Experts at the 13th Permaculture Convergence in Telangana reposed faith in permaculture and urged farmers to explore this as an alternative to …
Crop burning: Haryana farmers to launch a state-wide protest
This step comes after several village-level protests demanding better management of crop residue went unheard
Farmers demand better crop prices, loan waiver and relief
A memorandum has been addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi containing a list of farmers' demands
Sweet death
Red rot, a fatal fungus eating into the sugarcane crop in western Uttar Pradesh, has left India drastically short on sugar. BIJOY BASANT PATRO …
Using viruses for biological pest control
The use of viruses as control agents against crop attacking insects is increasingly becoming popular.
Centre takes steps to monitor pulse stocks: Is India staring at another food crisis?
Heavy rain and hailstorm in mid-March and early April might affect yield of pulse crops; official says government focusing on nutrition and security
Punjab and Haryana are unable to get out of paddy-wheat cycle; why is that?
Experts say low returns and post harvest losses and management inefficiences among major roadblocks for crop diversification
At least 42 killed in devastating pre-monsoon rains in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
Weather forecasting agencies have warned of further rainfall around April 16 or 17 when a fresh western disturbance is expected to become active
Whitefly lesson
A few villages in Haryana successfully grow cotton amid widespread destruction of the crop by whitefly in the region
Food safety
In the wake of genetically-modified food flooding the Indian markets, 25 farmers' groups call for a 10-year moratorium on such food
Are crop insurance schemes working? CAG report reveals
Multiple gaps in implementation of crop insurance schemes may have compromised their purpose of benefitting farmers
Beware the modified wolf
Will bureaucrats choose to throw farmers and ecology to the mercy of multinational corporations by preparing the way for cultivation of …
Drought to deluge: Horn of Africa experiencing floods after six seasons of failed rains
Flash floods that damaged large areas of cropland likely to deal the hunger-plagued eastern Africa region a major blow
Biochar application can help Ghana’s smallholder farmers fight back climate change: Study
New research shows biochar application is more effective in promoting cowpea growth and yield in Ghana
Latest in farmer woes: Heavy unseasonal rain, pending payouts from Centre’s crop insurance scheme
523,000 hectares in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh affected by untimely rains in March, April
Punctured cover: India's crop insurance scheme loses sheen
Insurers withdraw from Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as extreme weather events spike claim rates resulting in heavy losses