Bt cotton has doubled the seed industry and boosted the fortunes of seed firms. But yields still need to improve

In the last 10 years, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton and its impact on farmers has perhaps been the most talked about topic in Indian agriculture since the ‘Green Revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s. Not only has farmers’ income from growing Bt cotton risen by almost 67 per cent in the last one decade—the crop was first introduced in 2002—but Bt has made India a front-ranking,

Shillong, Feb. 17: Citizens have asked the state government to put in place a land policy as the number of landless people in the state is on the rise.

JAMMU, Feb 8: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Wednesday sought the support of Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) in the promotion of aroma, herbal and leather industry in Jammu and K

Jorhat, Feb. 7: Tea producing countries around the world have agreed to do away with the export of inferior quality teas by sticking to the quality norms defined by the ISO 3720 standard.

Silchar, Feb. 7: The production of CTC teas recorded a dip last year in Cachar’s tea region that covers three south Assam districts.

Manufacturers and traders of food items have appealed to the State Government to urge the Centre to defer the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2011 (FSSA) for the next three years.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, the president of Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association, S. P. Jeyapragasam, claimed that the FSSA would allow multinationals to open shop here, thereby affecting the small food manufacturers and traders.

The FAO session on Tea has agreed on what discussion on climate change can be taken up for discussions here. The 20th session of the FAO has drawn up scope and the terms of reference of the climate change working group at its meeting on Sunday.

“This will be put forward to the Inter-Governmental Group on Tuesday,” said Kaison Chang, secretary, FAO-IGG, when asked about the progress of negotiations on climate change. Discussions on climate change will now start formally with all the producing and exporting countries, and consumers. Climate change formally made its way into the summit agenda at Mombasa.

Madhya Pradesh accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total area under certified organic farming in the country. Though most of it is due to cotton fields, the state has an immense potential to bring even food crops under organic cultivation.

What may help the state’s cause is that agriculture is already organic by default in many tribal-dominated districts because farmers either don't have the resources to use chemical fertilizers or lack access to them.

A farmers' forum is protesting moves of a private tea cultivating company to block a link road through which tea farmers transported their produce.

A demonstration was staged opposite the Collectorate here on Monday, protesting against the blocking of the road by near Kundah in the district the private-run The Thiashola Estate. The protest, by the Nilgiris chapter of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, was inaugurated by CPI (M)'s district secretary, R. Badri.

BHUBANESWAR: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday announced a credit plan of Rs 30,000 crore for the State for 2012-13.