Rice output is expected to miss a target of 6 million tonnes in the 2009/10 financial year, but it will still have 3.8 million tonnes in exportable surplus, an industry official said on Thursday.

The rich aroma wafting from the rice pot would no longer be that of Dehradun

Forecast of a poor rainfall has caused panic among farmers in Punjab. As if this was not enough, the decision of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to reduce the flow of water from Bhakra has come as a double blow. This has forced many agriculturists to start hoarding diesel, lest they are left with no other alternative for irrigation during the paddy season.

The press release by Greenpeace on its protest against herbicide-resistant rice trial by Bayer Crop in the village of Chinnakanjarla, about 45 kilometers from Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. It warns that this would lead to serious contamination of non-GM rice grown in the vicinity.

Despite Neighbour

In a move that will benefit lakhs of farmers and remove a long-standing problem of the agriculture sector, the UPA government is looking to change the way the fertiliser subsidy is given.

The experiments were conducted at the farmer's fields in a cluster of villages of Chugawan block of Amritsar district during summer and winter seasons of 2006-07 to evaluate recommended dose of urea, plant population and lopping for basmati rice and zero tillage for wheat vis-a-vis farmers' practices.

A GROUP of ministers on Thursday agreed in principle to lift the two-year old ban on exports of wheat and wheat products after general elections end in May. The decision was taken by an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, government officials said.

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Karnal, February 23

A three-day exhibition,

The Rajya Sabha has passed a crucial bill to protect the uniqueness of India

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