Cotton farmers in northwest India were taken by surprise when, despite a pesticide blitzkrieg, the American bollworm devastated half their crops. Now, the farmers can"t pay up the loans they took to purchase pesticides and are turning to other crops. A to

Instead of killing the bollworm, pesticides only push cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh deep into debt. For some cultivators, suicide was the only way out

The bollworm has come to stay and eradicating it will be difficult, if not impossible. Scientists are trying to contain the pest by bombarding it with everything they've got

UNTIL the 18th century, India was supreme in the production of cotton goods. However, after the Industrial Revolution, the British initiated a policy to replace the indigenous or desi, short stapled cotton with the American, long stapled American species

Indian farmers are entering the GATT era riding on the bogey of ignorance. Some see GATT as the golden opportunity that will unshackle them from restrictive trade practices, while others see only doom. In this background of misconceptions and rumours, pol

Check dams have marked a watershed in the chronically parched village of Hivare in Maharashtra