-Down to Earth Some 5,563 agricultural labourers died by suicide in 2021, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau Agriculture was said to be the sole bright spot for India’s gross domestic product growth, clocking a positive growth rate when other sectors fell to the pandemic during the last two years. But the growth did not translate much for agricultural labourers as at least one agricultural labourer died...

-Down to Earth A federation of farmer-producer organisations has tapped into the growing organic market to help members raise incomes  Catering directly to the consumers’ needs assures better marketability and incomes. This is what nearly 10,000 farmers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have realised over the past decade and are now steering a silent organic movement. It all began in 2009, when a group of consumers in Hyderabad, then part of unified Andhra...

-Down to Earth With LPG prices crossing the Rs 1,000-mark, the poor now have to make unfair choices about their basic standard of life Farm labourer Mahadesha from Karnataka, groundnut farmer R Chandrashekharreddy from Andhra Pradesh, homemaker Geeta from Haryana and slum dweller Naresh from Ghaziabad are facing the same dilemma. The cost of a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder has crossed over Rs 1,000 on the back of regular price revisions...

-Down to Earth Southwest monsoon will likely extend till October, with detrimental impacts on Indian agriculture  Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted August 25, 2022, that a third consecutive event of La Nina could be underway, leading to additional rainfall along its east coast this summer. The BOM predicted a 70 per cent chance of the La Nina event. However, the United States and UK weather agencies have claimed that the phenomenon is...

-Down to Earth Multiplication of vectors, stray cattle main reasons behind spread A total of 35,000 cattle have died due to lumpy skin disease in nine Indian states as of August 23, 2022, according to the Union department of Animal Husbandry. Around 900,000 cattle have been infected, as the department tries to contain any further spread of the disease.  Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a viral illness, caused by lumpy skin disease virus...