-The Hindu Tiruchi: The farmers of Lalgudi block said absence of summer showers had brought down the growth of the green manure. There has been a growing awareness among farmers in raising green manure for enriching the fertility of the soil. A farmer of Peruvalanallur in Lalgudi block, V. Padmanabhan, a retired PWD Executive Engineer, said that he raised green manure — daincha — on 13 acres, for use in his paddy fields....

-The Hindu Without doubt, India needs to go forward with bio-safe agricultural practices, but the farmers need to be helped to make them sustainable Reshma religiously mixes cow dung and manure in the soil in her farm, hoping for a better yield at least this time around. Reshma is a 22-year old smallholder farmer in a village outside Hyderabad. She is a part of the growing army of farmers in India who...

-The Indian Express But they can’t make up their minds whether to farm, sell or give up their land to industry. Kolkata: Days after the Supreme Court judgment striking down the acquisition of land for Tata Motors’ car factory in Singur, the government is trying to prepare 997-acre plot for return to its original owners. But with the land’s agricultural potential still under a question mark, Agriculture Minister Purnendu Bose said...

-The Indian Express On Independence Day, we salute our freedom fighters. We also remember Lal Bahadur Shastri who gave us the slogan, jai jawan, jai kisan.   PM Modi needs to move from slogans to action to transform agriculture.   Atal Bihari Vajpayee expanded the slogan to jai jawan, jai kisan, jai vigyan. The present government has an array of slogans for the farmers. Prime Minister Modi has coined so many — swacchh bharat,...

-Down to Earth A parliamentary standing committee blamed Agriculture Ministry’s skewed policy for the inequality in fertiliser usage The parliamentary standing committee on agriculture has recommended formation of a “Pesticide Development Authority” to ensure balanced use of chemical fertilisers in the wake of declining agricultural productivity. The 29th report, called “Impact of chemical fertilizers and Pesticides on agriculture and allied sectors in the country”, was tabled in Parliament by the committee. The...