In the era where farming no longer remains profitable and the number of farmer suicides is increasing, it is hard to imagine urban youth take agriculture as a profession.

Farm Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the government should consider allowing exports of limited quantities of wheat and rice as stocks were good.
Pawar also said a ministerial panel on food was likely to clear sale of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar under the Open General Licence (OGL) scheme, held up since December, and reduce the minimum export price for onion.

Traditional replenishing practices should be encouraged to raise crop yields
Soil fatigue has emerged as one of the key constraints in raising crop yields. Most of the arable land in India has been cropped for decades and some even for centuries. In the process, nutrient consumption has far exceeded the amount that could be replenished through organic or inorganic fertilisers.

KOLKATA, 14 FEB: In the wake of climate change and skewed rainfall patterns, the Union ministry of agriculture has initiated a project to develop technologies for enhancing resilience of Indian crops, livestock and fisheries.

However, West Bengal, facing droughts last year, is less likely to be included in the project.

New Delhi, 13 Feb: A government committee has recommended setting up of National Crop Statistics Centre (NCSC) for meticulous data collection on diverse crops, in collaboration with the departments of Agriculture and Space.

Primary responsibility of NCSC will be to provide reliable and timely estimates at state and national levels of area under major crops, through complete enumeration of plots

Pakistan and Argentine will collaborate in the field of agricultural research in an effort to boost agriculture sector and prop up economy of the country.

Chairman PARC Dr Muhammad Afzal expressed these views while talking to Ambassador of Argentina Rodolfo J Martin Saravia.

It is to be noted that Pakistan and Argentina established their diplomatic relations in 1951.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which pioneered supercomputing in India, is now assisting the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in establishing a national agricultural bioinformatics grid.

This initiative, the first of its kind here, will help scientists enhance agricultural productivity and also address problems like food security.