-Down to Earth   District known for farmers' suicides has shallow soil depth which has very little capacity to retain water; report recommends switch to traditional millets, oilseeds Around half of the soil in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, known both for suicides and for Bt cotton, is unsuitable for cotton cultivation, says a recent report from the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS & LUP) at Nagpur. The report,...

-The Financial Express Price-policy initiatives and technological innovations show promise, given the record output of pulses in 2013 Rising incomes and urbanisation, unfolding globalisation and changing tastes are leading to diversified consumption baskets. There is greater uptake of dairy products, meat, vegetables and fruits among Indian consumers while the converse is true for cereals and pulses. Amidst these, protein consumption has taken a hit while fat intake has been rising. A recent...

-The Financial Express India's grain output has risen substantially in recent years. India's grain output has risen substantially in recent years, taking the country to the league of the world's largest producers of rice, wheat and horticultural crops thanks to the use of diverse seed varieties, among other things. And productivity at Indian farms could increase further in coming years thanks to a centrally managed gene bank that would help multiply seed...

-The Indian Express Farmers are simply not among those benefiting from the higher prices of their produce. While a fall in headline inflation numbers will ensure some breathing space for embattled policy makers, the sharp surge in food inflation to a 41-month high of close to 20 per cent in November hides an even more disturbing fact - that despite the consistent spike in the year-on-year agri price levels at the...

-Outlook Gandhinagar: A more stringent safety regime will be in place for genetic engineering in agriculture or medical sciences once the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) Bill is cleared by Parliament, a senior official said here today. "The NBRA bill has been introduced in Parliament and being debated. Once it (bill) is cleared, a more stringent safety regime shall be in place for genetic engineering, be it in the agriculture space or...