At present about 2.5% of agriculture GDP is contributed by rice, earning a foreign exchange of Rs 7000 crores. India also needs production enhancement for feeding soaring population growth. Rice production from irrigated area is almost stagnant. Rainfed area needs to be exploited.

The gregarious flowering nature of bamboos is often a limitation for the availability of bamboo seeds for propagation. Propagation from rhizomes of unknown age is also dangerous as the plants may flower and dry before their economic use starts.

The present paper reports on establishment of Bambusetum, Germplasm banks and Culm production studies at JK Paper Limited, Jaykaypur, Rayagada (Orissa) and supplying it to the farmers, State Forest Department, Government and Non-Government Organizations etc.

Farming contributes more to global warming than all the world's cars, trains, ships and planes put together. And the single biggest problem with farming is not carbon but nitrogen. From the maize fields of Kansas to the emerald rice paddies of China, today's bountiful harvests depend on generous applications of nitrogen fertiliser. Although only a tiny proportion escapes into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, it is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. It's a vexing problem, but Eric Rey believes he has some of the answers, in the form of crops genetically modified to require less fertiliser.

More than a decade after the first commercial plantings of genetically modified crops, the same old disagreement rumbles on. On one side stand agribiotech companies, arguing that crops engineered to produce insecticidal proteins or resist herbicides boost yields in an environmentally friendly way. Opposing them are advocacy groups who charge that these crops, or the farming practices they encourage, threaten biodiversity. (Editorial)