-The Hindu   Kannur (Kerala): The ‘kaipad' rice cultivated in the brackish water tracts of northern parts of the State has been included in the Geographical Indications (GI) registry in the country which is part of the Intellectual Property regime. The notification of inclusion of the ‘kaipad' rice varieties in the GI registry followed an application submitted by the Malabar Kaipad Farmers' Society (MKFS) of Ezhome here. The society has been formed for...

-The Hindu   Woolly aphid cases were first reported in 2006 MARAYUR (IDUKKI DISTRICT, Kerala): The attack of woolly aphid, a pest that lives on plant fluids, has considerably affected the sugarcane cultivation here. The disease, locally known as White Aswini, can result in low jaggery production as it sucks the sweet cells of the sugarcane. A senior agriculture officer here told The Hindu that the disease was first noticed in 2006 and it spread...

-The Hindu   Gujarat Dalit women's cooperative is fighting for entitlement to land it has reclaimed VAUTHA (AHMEDABAD DISTRICT, Gujarat): It's early morning, but the summer sun is already beating down on the row of women busy with their hoes. In Gujarat, known for the cooperative dairy movement, a group of Dalit women Farmers from Vautha village in Dholka block of Ahmedabad district are pioneering the demand for land entitlement, for a one of...

-The Hindu   Native seed festival seesparticipation of 1,000 Farmers Chennai: A State-level native seed festival with the participation of 1,000 Farmers was held at Thandalam village near Arakkonam on Saturday. It was organised by the Thandalam Yogashema Trust along with Organic Delta Farmers Association, TEDE Trust and CREATE. Welcoming the participants from different districts, entrepreneurs and self-help groups, Ms. Radha Parthasarathy, managing trustee of the Trust, said that for the past 10 years they...

-The Financial Express   With newer varieties and improvement in yield, packaging and marketing, basmati-long hailed as the ‘king of rice'-is spreading its sweet aroma worldwide WALK INTO any supermarket today and the most eye-catching items will be in the section selling packaged rice. Rice, that humble, century-old staple of the Indian diet, has emerged from its traditional image-grains in an open gunny bag-to a slick new avatar. Today, rice, and basmati in...