-The Hindu After the extensive crop damage caused by the whitefly pest attack last year, cotton farmers in Haryana and Punjab have brought down the area under cotton this season. They are likely to shift to paddy and Pulses. In Haryana, farmers have planted cotton on 4.76 lakh hectares so far, against nearly 5 lakh hectares during the same period last year. In Punjab, the area under cotton is 2.57 lakh hectares,...

-PTI Lucknow: Seeking to deflect Opposition attack over high prices of Pulses, Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday attributed it to poor rainfall and reduced imports during the last two years. “Several factors have led to the rise in price of Pulses. Rainfall was low during the last two years, causing damage to crops. Besides, import was less,” he said at a press conference here. Paswan said last year, pulse production...

Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...

-The Economic Times PUNE: Forecast of excess rainfall this monsoon season is heartening after back to back droughts, but it's also likely to bring along a lot of problems for the country's farmers, agriculture experts said. Initial lethargy in monsoon's progress, coupled with possibility of excess rainfall during the latter part of the season, may bring problems for crops like soyabean, Pulses, jowar and maize during their harvest time, while pest and...

-The Hindu This could cause monsoon to spill over to October: Officials Australia’s weather bureau said the withering El Nino — among the strongest in history and responsible for two years of consecutive droughts and record summer temperatures in India — had ended. While that bodes well for the monsoon, weather officials in India said this could also be a precursor to floods during August and September and monsoon possibly spilling over...