BIJNOR: Government's efforts to encourage farmers to switch over to alternate forms of energy has hit a roadblock as the cost of the solar water pumps has increased from Rs 23,000 to Rs 51,000.

The World Bank has set aside 150 million U.S. dollars as budget support to Zambia's agriculture sector, a senior government official said on Monday.

An ethnic-fuelled land dispute has driven thousands of farmers off illegal plantations in Ivory Coast's main cocoa belt, threatening the start of the harvest in the world's top producer.

African farming must modernise and replace its ageing workforce if the continent is going to be able to feed its rising population, a report by leading economists has warned.

With the central and state governments, and even the National Green Tribunal (NGT), coming down heavily on stubble-burning in Punjab and Haryana, farmers in both the states say they have few option

The Tribunal asked the state to consider if the state can provide direct monetary incentive to the farmers in return for putting a stop to crop burning

Calling it “zameen samadhi satyagraha (land burial satyagraha)”, the farmers have dug up pits and buried themselves neck-deep