India, May 7: GM Bt seeds “have proved defenceless against pests and weather change, leading to devastating losses” Bt cotton had promised higher yield, low fertiliser use and tolerance to pests, but 15 years on, it has failed on all counts. As pests develop resistance, farmers are forced to increase pesticide use.
Marathwada, May 7: In the already distressed regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada, another tragedy has gone all but unnoticed: suicides by the children of debt-ridden farmers What would Vishal do today, if he were alive? Perhaps the teenager would fly kites, or play with his friends. Maybe he’d work with his father on the family’s […]
New Delhi, May 5: The Karnataka high court has lifted a stay on parts of a central cotton seed price control order which allowed the government to regulate royalty or trait fees being charged by technology providers. On 21 March, the high court had said that the centre could not fix royalty as it is based […]
Entertainment, May 7: Nitish Bharadwaj, popular for his role as Lord Krishna in B R Chopra’s Mahabharat, resurrects his role for a theatre play, Chakravyuh, as a part of Rang Theatre Festival. He says, “I am working on two thing; revival of tharparkar cow, which is slowly getting extinct from India and also organic farming. […]
May 6: A growing number of bees, butterflies, beetles and other pollinator species worldwide are being driven toward extinction, a two-year study shows. These species are threatened by diverse pressures, many of them caused by humans, the study, by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, found. Millions of livelihoods and hundreds of billions of dollars worth […]
New Delhi, May 5: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the city government to appoint, within eight weeks, food safety officers here, to keep a tab on use of pesticides in vegetables and fruits sold across the national capital. A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the government to file an affidavit […]
Pune, May 5: The report “Agricultural Biologicals Market by Type (Biopesticides, Biofertilizers & Biostimulants), Application (Cereals & Grains, Oilseeds & Pulses, Fruits & Vegetables & Others), Sources (Microbials, Biorationals & Others), and by Mode of Application (Soil Treatment, Seed Treatment &Foliar Spray) – Global Forecast to 2020”, The global market is projected to reach USD 10.05 Billion by 2020, […]
Thailand, May 5: The Thai government has made a commitment to expanding riceberry plantations to over 10,000 rai in 2016. Chutima Bunyapraphasara, commerce permanent secretary, says that under the Riceberry Valley scheme, producers have formed 17 groups, and their plantations cover 5,000 rai in 13 provinces. There are 354 riceberry farmers between the groups, and […]
Dehradun, May 1: Uttarakhand has a topography similar to Sikkim but still it lags behind that hill state in going fully organic. While Sikkim brought 75,000 hectares under organic farming last year and declared itself an organic state, Uttarakhand has managed to bring about 68,528 hectares under organic agriculture in the last few years. The efforts […]
Indore, May 2: To popularise the concept of organic farming and make the citizens aware about it, ‘Management Marshals’ organised a session on ‘Growing organic vegetables on terrace in polybags and pots’ here on Sunday. “Changing life-styles of individuals has impacted our diet. Due to which it becomes necessary that individuals should start growing vegetables […]