EVEN AS the midwestern states in USA are awash with flood waters, farmers in the southeast are contending with a severe drought and face agricultural losses that have already hit $800 million in the

BANGLADESH'S second largest waterbody, Beel Dakatia, once a 31,566-ha tract of flourishing agricultural land and balanced ecology, has been flooded with brackish water for the past decade. A dyke

AFTER the Green Revolution, the next great leap forward in food production is predicted to be in the cerrado region of South America, a grassy area covering more than 200 million ha. This exceeds the

When the Union agriculture ministry announced in July, with great fanfare its decision to ban 12 pesticides and restrict 13 others, it received much kudos from nongovernmental organisations and

A FAT-RICH diet, widely believed to be unhealthy, acts as an elixir for the Japanese, the world's longest-living people, claim old-age researchers. Before World War II, the lifespan of the

African locusts, which have been infesting parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan since mid-July, are keeping pest control experts on their toes. The agriculture ministry has pressed into action two

WHY DOES popcorn pop and not ordinary corn? Because popcorn has a thicker hull and contains starch with superior puffing quality, say Brazilian scientists who compared four varieties of corn and

Area farmers in Uttar Pradesh contend match manufacturer Wimco, which had persuaded them to raise poplar trees for its factory, has reneged on its promises, leaving them indebted and impoverished