RCEP and FTAs: Impact on Small Farmers, Women Farmers, Dairy Farmers
Date 24th July, 2017
Time 2.00 pm -5.30 pm
Innovations reap benefits for Amravati div farmers
Nagpur: With drinking water being scarce, irrigation is a far cry at Borwa a tribal village 60 kms from Akola city. The only source for villagers, who mainly depend on jowar (sorghum) cultivation, is the rainwater flowing down from the hills around. Even the hill stream slowed down due to a dry spell three years […]
Source: The Times of India
Certificate Course in Agroecology
Applications are invited for admission into a 6 months certificate course in Agroecology to be organized by the Centre for Pollination Studies in collaboration with Norwegian University of Life Science
Date 1st Sept 2017
Push for vendors of organic veggies & fruits
Until a week ago, R Raji spent her evening hours watching TV serials. Since getting a push-cart, she has been selling vegetables and fruits to customers in Anna Nagar from 5pm to 8pm. She pays no rent for the push-cart and doesn’t have to buy vegetables and fruits from the wholesale market either. They are […]
Source: epaperindia
Environmental impacts of genetically modified plants: A review
Powerful scientific techniques have caused dramatic expansion of genetically modified crops leading to altered agricultural practices posing direct and indirect environmental implications. Despite the enhanced yield potential, risks and biosafety concerns associated with such GM crops are the fundamental issues to be addressed. An increasing interest can be noted among the researchers and policy makers […]
Source: Science Direct
Ravi Shankar’s Agri Inst to develop organic farming in Telangana
A delegation of Art of Living Guru Ravi Shankar’s Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Trust today came forward to provide necessary training and required help to encourage organic farming in Telangana. The delegation led by Uma Maheshwari, the head of Telangana, AP and Tamil Nadu states met Telangana Panchayat Raj Minister Jupally […]
Source: Web India 123
Cochin Devaswom Board to promote organic farming
KOCHI: Dont be surprised if the next time you go to your temple the priest offers you a collection of vegetables along with the prasadam. The initiative, which is being launched by Cochin Devasom Board (CDB), begins this Onam at all temples that come under its jurisdiction. According to Cochin Devaswom Board president M K […]
Source: The New Indian Express
Goa govt to brand farm produce from state to gain market edge
The Goa government has decided to brand the farm produce from the state as Born in Goa to gain an edge in marketing. Goa Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai said such kind of branding will help distinguish and certify the agri produce from the coastal state. I suggest that there should be a brand for the […]
Source: The Indian Express
Tribal women of Odisha have made farming organic, profitable & life-changing
Nirmala Barla (40), a passionate farmer of Sundargarh districts Brahmanamara village, is a proud woman because she feeds her family with a variety of safely grown food, and not just cereals grown by using lots of chemical fertilisers that are available in the market. In her 14 acres of land, both upland and relatively plain, […]
Source: The Better India
No policy decision yet on GM mustard crop: Centre to Supreme Court
The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that so far it has not taken any policy decision on the commercial release of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard crop. A bench comprising Chief Justice J. S. Khehar and Justice D. Y. Chandrachud considered the statement of Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, that the government is […]
Source: The Hindu
Kurukshetras young farmpreneur to get national award
A 31-year-old farmer and entrepreneur Karan Sikri of Dhangali village of Kurukshetra district will get the National Jagjivan Ram Kisan Abhinav award of the Indian Centre of Agriculture Research (ICAR) on Sunday. Karan will receive the prestigious ICAR award from the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on the ICAR foundation day. The award […]
Source: The Hindustan Times
Farmers in West Bengal are going back to indigenous rice varieties
Eighty-two-year-old Samatul Mandal from Ula village of Howrah district belongs to a family of farmers who have been growing a rare variety of indigenous rice or folk rice variety (FRV)Rani Akandafor the past four generations. The rice is very tasty, slender-grained and light, says Mandal, as he shows us the familys ancestral land of about […]
Source: Down To Earth
Rajasthan not to allow GM mustard even if Centre approves
The Rajasthan government today said it will never allow commercial cultivation of GM mustard even if the Centre approves it, maintaining that its traditional varieties are giving much better yields than the GM crop. Biotech regulator Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has already approved a proposal on genetically modified (GM) mustard variety developed by the […]
Source: DNA
Haryana to introduce seed bill: Minister
Gurugram, July 13 (IANS) Haryana Agriculture Minister O.P. Dhankar on Thursday said that a seed bill will be introduced for the first time in the next session of the state Assembly. Dhankar has instructed his departments officials to prepare a seed bill on the suggestions given by experts in the second session of the two-day […]
Source: india.com
IFFCO MD meets farmers on highlands of Leh-Ladakh
Addressing a mammoth gathering of farmers and cooperators in the tough terrain of Leh and Ladakh, IFFCO Managing Director Dr US Awasthi stressed on the need of turning the area into a hub of organic farming. Promising to use every resource at IFFCOs command Awasthi said we should take recourse to traditional method and desist […]
Source: Indian Cooperative
Pune’s Swayam Shikshan Prayog bags UN Equator Prize
Till 2012, 60-year-old Vanita Sahebrao More used to spend INR 40,000 (USD 620) every year to cultivate soybean, sorghum and cotton on seven acres of land in her village in drought-prone Nanded district in Maharashtra. The district is part of Marathwada, which is infamous for crippling droughts and farmer suicides. This changed five years ago […]
Source: India Climate Dialogue
Assocham seeks lower GST rate for bio-agro inputs
New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) Industry lobby Assocham on Wednesday urged the government to lower the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates for select agricultural inputs, failing which use of chemical fertilisers will get a boost. Higher GST in this segment will directly promote chemical use, thereby leading to an increase in green house gas […]
Source: The Morung Express
How renewable farming can solve problems of climate change and conflicts
By Dr Vandana Shiva Climate change talks are often centred on renewable energy. Nobody talks about making farming renewable. Around 50 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to chemical farming. It emits carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuel required to make chemicals. Their origin goes back to World War II, when […]
Source: Your Story
Ashadh Mela showcased food that disappeared from our platters
Millet golgappas, tumdee potato parathe, kundru chutney and mahua murukus may sound exotic but they travelled a long way from farm to plate at the Ashadh Mela in Delhi recently. In an attempt to help the native grains of the country make a comeback on our plates, Bhoomi Ka, an organic food campaign and INTACH […]
Source: The Indian Express
PGS Certification picks up pace in Kerala
The Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralams (VFPCK) efforts to promote organic farming under the Participatory Guarantee System – India (PGS), a decentralised organic farming certification system of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has gathered momentum in the district with ten farmers local groups registered in just over a year. Each group […]
Source: The Hindu
Seed for diversity: We sow diversity where others destroy it
This year, if the merger between the agrochemical giant Bayer in Germany and Monsanto, the American seed and pesticide manufacturer, goes ahead, “BaySanto” will become the largest supplier of seeds and pesticides in the world. This would result in a market concentration, and concentration of power, in the agricultural sector. Miseror think that is dangerous […]
Source: Misereor
Awareness campaign on Organic Cultivation
TAWANG, Jul 10: A district level awareness campaign on importance of Organic Cultivation was conducted at deputy commissioners conference hall here on Monday which was attended by HoDs, PRI members and farmers of the district. Speaking during the programme EAC Tawang Lobsang Tsetan highlighted the importance of Organic Farming and how the same is beneficial […]
Source: The Arunachal Times
Not enough done for farming in Nepal for 10 years
If you are from outside Kathmandu and happen to meet Francois Driard, he may surprise you with his questions. Where are you from? he shall ask and most probably, you will name your district. Tell me exactly which place in the district, he will ask you further. Once you give him the exact name, he […]
Source: Online Khabar
Scientists request PM to halt GM mustard release
Nagpur: Eighteen scientists from the city have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsing mustard expert Sharad E Pawar’s concerns over flaws in GM crop Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11). They requested the PM not to allow environment ministry to release the hybrid. Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had cleared the crop for commercial cultivation.
Source: The Times of India
How Group Organic Farming Empowered Tribal Farmers in Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore district: We took a chance and tried something different, saidRajan, a farmer from a small tribal village called Sadivayal in Tamil Nadu. The result was selling a new crop for double the price of anything we had grown before. Not only that, but the seeds we planted gave us a double yield.
Source: The Wire