SHILLONG: The Northeastern States of the country are going to get Rs 100 crore within this year from the Agriculture Ministry for supporting various activities relating to rice cultivation under th

AHMEDABAD: In a unique initiative the agriculture department will distribute special Tricho-cards' for free amongst farmers in the state. A special pest control laboratory in sector-15 in Gandhinagar will be the nodal agency in the effort.

With practically no biological side-effects, tricho-cards are an efficient way of controlling pests in fields and minimizes or even eliminates the use of artificial pesticides. Maize, rice, sugarcane, millets are some of the crops that can be saved because of the tricho-cards.

Pakistan is ranked fourth among the top five cotton-producing countries in the world. About 70–80% of the cultivated
area is under Bt cotton in Pakistan. Bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) is the major pest of cotton. It causes 31.73–
36.45% yield losses and these are reduced by heavy pesticide application. There has been a tremendous increase in
the import and use of pesticides. Consequently, about 7.7 billion rupees is spent on pesticides every year. Considering
the total pesticide usage (94,265 metric tonnes in 2007–08), 70% is being used exclusively on cotton.

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.

The subject of the ‘mixed bag’, which proposes non-Bt-cotton seeds be mixed with Bt-cotton seeds in the same bag, has raised an interesting debate in this journal. It was flagged by Hanur, who recommended that the mixed bag should be allowed in India. He made this proposal pointing out that the extent of adoption of structured refuge in this country was unsatisfactory. Later, Muralimohan and Srinivasa conveyed their reservations against the recommendation. (Correspondence)

Rothamsted's genetically engineered wheat should be allowed to grow. (Editorial)

The subject of the ‘mixed bag’, which proposes non-Bt-cotton seeds be mixed with Bt-cotton seeds in the same bag, has raised an interesting debate in this journal. It was flagged by Hanur, who recommended that the mixed bag should be allowed in India. He made this proposal pointing out that the extent of adoption of structured refuge in this country was unsatisfactory. Later, Muralimohan and Srinivasa conveyed their reservations against the recommendation.

Given that the controversy over success and failure of Bt technology still exists, this paper discusses the available field studies that have addressed agro-economic questions of Bt cotton cultivation in India. Since a meta-analysis of studies can give only partial conclusions, owing to differences across study methodologies and coverage, this paper takes a different strategy, i e, looking not simply at differences between Bt farms and non-Bt farms, but at the experience of farmers before growing Bt and after switching to Bt.

Transgenes encoding for insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus Thuringiensis have been widely introduced into Genetically Modified (GM) crops to confer protection against insect pests. Concern that these transgenes may also harm beneficial or otherwise valued insects (so-called Non Target Organisms, NTOs) represents a major element of the Environmental Risk Assessments (ERAs) used by all countries prior to commercial release.

‘Spread of the Bt gene could make brinjal a problematic weed'

An independent enquiry has revealed that the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE, also called genetically modified, or GM) Bt brinjal poses risks to the environment and possibly to human health. The occurrence of wild, weedy and also cultivated relatives presents a likelihood that the GE Bt gene will spread to these relatives but, so far, this has largely been overlooked in the risk assessments for GE Bt brinjal, it says.

Pages