Book review: Commercial cultivation of medicinal plants

It is an obvious business risk for a farmer to give up growing conventional crops that have assured returns and start growing medicinal plants. …

"Right should belong to scientists"

For the first time in India, the draft of the Plant Varieties Protection (PVP) Act is being finalised by the ministry of agriculture. India, as a …

"Watershed management is not equitable"

N K Sanghi , director, National Institute of Agriculture Extension and Management in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), has been advocating a modified …

What's the fuss about Bt brinjal?

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director-general of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), is among the handful of people who have …

G Nammalvar, messiah of organic revolution

G Nammalvar was one of a kind, a messiah of farmers who was revered as a saint-teacher by his followers. He was an agriculture scientist, a …

Chhattisgarh will not allow GM crops

Chandrasekhar Sahu, agriculture minister of Chhattisgarh, is passionate about making farming a viable proposition for farmers. He has written …

Organic goes online

India’s organic food exports have found a new strength—online traceability. Web-based TraceNet can trace an organic product right …

How to inspire India's youth to take up farming?

Arguably, reviving India's agriculture is the country's most important agenda. But who will carry forward this primary livelihood activity? There …

Linkage between science and public policy has weakened

M S Swaminathan, popularly known as the father of India’s Green Revolution, has been associated with national agricultural research system (…

Andhra's groundwater crisis & a trail of suicides

Groundwater has failed Andhra Pradesh’s farmers. Between 1997 and 2006, about 4,500 farmers committed suicide, unable to repay loans they …

The goat gamble

It has been a slow and steady shift over decades. Forced by declining returns from farming in ecologically fragile areas, small farmers have been …

Made it

Enabavi, a village of 52 families, is abuzz. It is hosting farmers from the nearby Kallem village who have come here for tips on profitable …

A plant breeder comes into his own

Awards are finally coming to K Vinod Prabhu, 54, a plant breeder, for his work on building resistance in wheat, mustard and rice through the …

Paan loses flavour

Iconic paan no more appeals to farmers, traders and common people. They say the contagious spread of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, is fast …

SEZ, how special?

Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …

`Family farming is not a romantic idea. It is business'

The food price rise of 2007-08 highlighted that investments in the agriculture sector have reduced in the past three decades. One of the most …

New milky way

Private players are entering the Indian dairy market in a big way. Dairy cooperatives, which ushered in the White Revolution, need to expand and …

‘There is not enough milk’

Amrita Patel was part of the White Revolution that made India self-sufficient in milk. She joined Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’…

Towards food security: perspectives from three continents

The Food Insecurity Report 2014, released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) last week, has revealed that one …

Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires

Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …

30,000 farmers demand Hirakud dam water

Western Orissa is witnessing an upheaval. In the eye of the storm is the Hirakud dam. Over 300,000 farmers dependent on its water for irrigation …

Long yarn

The cotton story is a tangled tale. In many parts of India, farmers are committing suicide. It's been a while Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and now …

Shift grain bowl status from North to other regions of India

Balwinder Singh Sidhu, agriculture commissioner and chief conservator of soils in Punjab, is known for giving his opinion in a frank and …

Rising popularity of artificial vanilla puts Kerala farmers in distress

Vanilla is said to be the world's most popular flavour. As much as 40 per cent of the world's ice cream is vanilla flavoured. Its sweet, mildly …

Technology interventions that save water

It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank …