-Scroll.in With climate change, farmer suicides and agicultural distress, the drought-resilient coarse grain that requires few resources could be the answer. Already caught in a vicious cycle of debt and declining yields, Indian farmers now face new challenges from climate change. The Ministry of Earth Science, in a 2020 report, predicts, “Rising temperatures, heat extremes, and increasing year-to-year rainfall variability are likely to adversely impact crop yield.” India’s Green Revolution of the 1960s...

-Down to Earth Scanty rainfall, heat up to 48°C mar paddy prospects    Punjab has been able to bring only 77,000 hectares (ha) under direct-seeded rice (DSR) through June 30 this year, way below the 1.2 million ha (mha) it targetted. This is also substantially less than last year’s 0.6 mha and 0.5 mha in 2020. High temperatures and deficient rainfall are mainly to blame, said farmers. Other challenges included closed canals, erratic...

-The Hindu International demand for both rice and wheat has increased, says Goyal The Centre has asked the States to increase the sowing of paddy in the wake of reports that there is a decrease in its sowing. At a conference of State Food Ministers on food and nutrition security of India held here on Tuesday, Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal said the international demand for both rice...

-Newsclick.in Farmlands have developed cracks and paddy saplings are either drying up or turning yellow. Patna: Kamlesh Yadav and Dhirendra Singh are among hundreds of thousands of farmers in Bihar who are uncertain about paddy sowing during the Kharif season due to poor monsoon. “June-end is the best time for paddy transplantation but our farmlands are dry due to poor monsoon. We expected good rainfall like last year and before when heavy rains...

-The Hindu A multinational study including NIMS nephrologist concludes the finding Hyderabad: Farmers and daily wage labourers working in burned sugarcane could be at the risk of developing Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology (CKDu). A multinational original research article, including a nephrologist from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Telangana, India, has concluded that ‘human exposure to amorphous silica nanoparticles found in burned  sugarcane fields could have a participatory role...