Fragmentation of landholdings, decreasing crop yield and drought are the major challenges to the agriculture sector in Karnataka, Chief Secretary S V Ranganath has said.

The average landholding has nosedived to 1.55 hectares in 2010-11 from 3.2 hectares in 1970-71. The need of the hour is a technology that can help farmers owning small landholdings survive comfortably, he said on Wednesday.

Relief to be disbursed immediately through PAC societies.

Adoor Prakash submits memorandum to Sharad Pawar

The State government has submitted a memorandum to Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar seeking a special package of Rs.7,888 crore to help the State tide over the prevalent drought conditions. The government had declared the entire State drought-hit on December 19, following which a series of discussions were held at the district level under the leadership Ministers designated to look after each district. The memorandum, prepared on the basis of ground-level assessment, sought Rs.5,810 crore as compensation for crop loss.

More than 660,000 people, mainly in Yunnan, Gansu and Hebei provinces, don't have adequate drinking water due to a drought, the People's Daily reported on Thursday.

Rajasthan has reiterated its demand for a special Central package for drinking water in view of low rainfall, decline in groundwater level and recurrent droughts and sought the State’s inclusion in the first phase of a new project on water proposed to be launched shortly by the World Bank.

Rajasthan Water Resources Minister Jitendra Singh said at a meeting of State Ministers responsible for drinking water supply to the rural areas in New Delhi on Tuesday that the State's difficult geography poses a serious challenge for supplying clean water to the remote villages and hamlets scattered in the Thar desert and in the tribal-dominated areas.

Climate change is posing serious threats to country’s agricultural productivity and water resources and it cannot be avoided totally, but its effects can be mitigated through developing high temper

A Vidarbha-like situation is looming over the Marathwada region in Maharashtra where two poor monsoons have taken a toll on the lives of the people.

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Monday announced 314 villages of four districts, Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Nuapada, as drought-hit for poor rainfall during rainy season in 2012 leading to 50% crop loss.

Revenue minister S N Patro told the assembly that the declaration was made based on the crop-cutting experiment report received from collectors of these districts. He said the affected farmers of the areas would be eligible to get compensation as per the relief code.

Miners call for legalisation of trade; cite difficulties in agriculture

Revenue Department personnel, headed by Devanahalli Tahsildar Dr N C Venkataraju on Sunday, raided illegal sand mining units for the second time in the past two weeks. The raids began at 6:30 am and lasted until 1 pm. Using earth movers, the team destroyed all units and seized a pumpset used for mining operations. Venkataraju recommended that the deputy commissioner acquire the two acres of land where illegal sand mining is taking place. “Following this, we will lodge complaints with police against those involved in mining,” he told Deccan Herald.

Mumbai: Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan has urged the Centre to restructure and prioritize its assistance for crucial irrigation projects under the accelerated irrigation benefit programme so that they could be completed on time.

“Central assistance is received in the last quarter of the financial year. This hampers the progress of the projects. Funds are released late because of the long procedure of submitting continuation proposals for each project.