Moga: Agriculture Department scientists have advised the farmers to keep a watch on their paddy crop on a daily basis so that preventive measures could be initiated in the event of an attack by pes

From now on, damage to crops due to extreme cold or frost will be considered a natural calamity and the affected farmers will be eligible for financial relief from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) or the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

The Union Cabinet at a meeting here on Thursday approved the recommendation of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Drought to this effect.So far, crops damaged in natural calamities such as drought, floods, cyclone, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslip, avalanche, cloudburst and pest attack were eligible for relief under the SDRF and NDRF.

The Sugarcane Breeding Institute has developed transgenic sugarcane incorporating gene constructs, said its Director, Dr N. Vijayan Nair.

GM crops that make their own insecticide also deliver benefits for their conventional plant neighbours, a study in China has concluded.

New Delhi Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has criticised the government for its ‘failure’ to invest in public sector-initiated biotech research in agriculture, even as he stressed the need for scientific validation of the impact of Bt cotton on the sector.

“There are serious scientific issues raised by responsible scientists on Bt cotton - yield fatigue, immunity to pests, toxicity, etc. These have to be studied carefully. The failure of the public sector Bt cotton initiative is very unfortunate and we must have a strong publicly-funded and publicly-managed biotech initiative in agriculture,

The opinion on the success of second generation of genetically modified BT cotton variety, Bollgard 2, in the state is chiefly polarised.

Anti-GM protesters who had planned to "decontaminate" a field of modified wheat in Hertfordshire have been stopped from entering by a police line.

URUMQI - Forestry scientists have released 800,000 wasps into Asia's largest wild fruit forest this summer, hoping they will kill many of the beetles threatening it.

Drought and disease have devastated life of coconut growers in the district. Rubbing salt into their wounds is the slump in price of copra and coconut.

Various diseases, including pest attack and stem bleeding, have ravaged crops on thousands of acres. Coconut trees in the rain-fed regions of Madhugiri, Pavagad, Sira and Koratagere have withered, leaving the distraught farmers in debt trap. The diseases have destroyed crop in and around 15 acres of plantation at Baragur in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk and scores of acres in Hosakere, Nittur, CS Pur hoblis in Gubbi taluk