Biofarm empowers the farmers to use common resources found locally Safe and secure: Women have been trained in the manufacture of low cost bio-liquid formulations. For almost the last fifty years Indian agricultural practices have mainly concentrated on increasing yield, leading to the cultivation more mono crops (single crops). This in turn has made the crops highly vulnerable to pest attacks, soil becoming barren, and ground water toxic.

FOOTBALL-SIZED tomotoes, carrot-sized chillies and pumpkins that look like huge round rocks are what Chinese are growing to make a

A handful of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies are seeking hundreds of patents on gene-altered crops designed to withstand drought and other environmental stresses, part of a race for dominance in the potentially lucrative market for crops that can handle global warming, according to a report being released Tuesday.

An interactive session of scientists, farmers, State Agriculture departments and private organisations was held at the ICAR Research Complex for NE Region at Umiam in Meghalaya today to discuss about methods to improve the agricultural scenario in the North East.

The crop diversification policy of the Haryana government seems to be bearing fruit at last. The area under cotton crop in the state is going to increase to 5.25 lakh hectares from the 4.83 lakh hectares last year, said sources in the Haryana Agriculture Department. Both the desi variety and the BT cotton is going to be sown over a larger area this year. Cotton is generally grown in Hisar, Sirsa, Jind, Fatehabad and Bhiwani districts. May is the sowing season for BT cotton. Having found general acceptability among the people, BT cotton had become more popular with the farmers now.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi asks agricultural scientists to not only work for food security but also provide nutrition to the people. Gogoi while inaugurating the first commercial tissue culture laboratory, at the Assam Agricultural University here expresses concern over the food crises all over the world. He said that India too had produced less rice this year and the State's rice production had also decreased considerably.

GREEN TEAM: Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan with the Mumbai-based Novices@work team in Bangalore on Friday. The team will represent the country in the global Imagine Cup contest in July in France. The challenge of

THE Chichewa people in Malawi have a saying: Njala ndi chilombo. It means "Hunger is a beast". Today, the beast is rampaging around the world and particularly Africa, where shortage of food threatens to undo recent economic and political gains. Climate change is partly to blame. But there is another less well recognised cause: long-term neglect has left African agriculture in a woefully inadequate state.

The development of two high-yielding varieties of Boro rice by scientists of Assam Agricultural University (AAU) is heartening for the State's beleaguered agriculture sector. Recurring damages by floods apart, a noticeable decline in productivity of paddy has emerged as a disturbing trend in recent years. With the entire country going through a phase of food shortage, it is only through enhanced productivity that we can hope to meet the challenge. For achieving this, it is imperative that agricultural research is accorded top priority.

Hundreds of farmers and consumers from 15 states gathered in the Capital demanding a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops. The protest under the banner of the Coalition for a GM-free India comes at a time when the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is slated to consider Mahyco's application for experimental seed production of its Bt brinjal. Mahyco's joint director of research, Usha Barwale Zehr said, "The last time we had a food crisis, we were bailed out by the Green Revolution.

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