LAHORE (June 17 2010): Institute for Agriculture Research for Maize, Yousafwala (Sahiwal) has developed two hybrid varieties of maize namely FH-810, Yousafwala Hybrid and two synthetic varieties Pearl and MMRI-Yellow.

One of the key demands of the Right to Food Campaign for the National Food Security Act is to re-introduce nutritious millets to government food programmes like the public distribution system. Millets like bajra, jowar, kodo, kutki and ragi among hundreds of other varieties have sustained communities for close to 10,000 years in India.

The release of 13 new crop varieties including four high-yielding vegetable crops and two farm implements marked the annual Farmers' Day celebrations at the Farm Varsity here.

WITH the introduction of short-term, high-yielding varieties of cereal and oil-seed crops, the cropping intensity has now reached almost 300 per cent in Punjab. Moreover, the intensive use of chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides involve greater use of scarce groundwater resources.

''Farmers should adopt modern farming methods to get good yield and thus improve their economic condition,'' said MLA M P Appacchuranjan.

Brussels: The European Union is to radically overhaul its approval system for genetically modified (GM) crops from next month, opening the way to large-scale GM cultivation in Europe, EU sources said on Friday.

With most Europeans showing no appetite for GM produce in food, EU politicians have approved just two varieties for growing in 12 years, compared with more than 150 worldwide.