-The Hindu Trap crops are grown to attract insects or other organisms to protect main crops from pest attack. Protection may be achieved either by preventing the pests from reaching the crop or by concentrating them in certain parts of the field where they can be destroyed. The principle of trap cropping rests on the fact that virtually all pests show a distinct preference to a certain crop stage. Farmers are being...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The fear of drought has receded further with Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicting better rainfall during August-September. Though the Met downgraded the prediction for the overall Monsoon rainfall from "below normal" to "deficient", it ruled out any possibility of drought. The IMD, in its latest forecast, predicted that "the rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 87% of the Long...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's weather agency has revised its 2014 monsoon forecast downwards, predicting 13 per cent rainfall deficit instead of 7 per cent forecast earlier this year, cautioning that yields of several crops may decline but dismissing fears of a widespread drought. The India Meteorological Department today said the rainfall during the remaining six weeks of the monsoon season will be much better than over the past two months. But...

-The Times of India COIMBATORE: In light of the delayed southwest monsoon and severe rainfall deficit, agriculture experts have advised farmers to go in for short-term crops this year as they require less water. "We are telling them to move from their traditional crops and try short-term crops like pulses, millets, Sunflower or maize," said K Velayutham, director of crop management at TNAU. Except for maize, the cycle for the other three...

-PTI RAIPUR: Over 50 per cent sowing of paddy crop has been completed for the current kharif season in Chhattisgarh where agriculture experts have advised farmers to cultivate of short and medium duration varieties of rice. Sowing for paddy crop has been carried out on 19.34 lakh hectares of land so far against the proposed target of 36.42 lakh hectares in the state, known as rice-bowl of the country, an agriculture department...