Paddy growing farmers in Bhandara are passing through a crucial phase. But there is a ray of hope in the form of Vainganga sugar factory. Instead of traditional paddy farming, the farmers are switching over to sugar cane cultivation. Paddy cultivators in Asagaon and Lakhandur have sown sugarcane in 400 hectares of land and till February next year, 1,000/1,200 hectares of land is likely to come under sugarcane cultivation. In...

FAO has warned that 2011 may witness a global food crisis. Proactive action is needed to meet the challenge of price volatility, chronic hunger, agrarian despair and climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has alerted developing countries about possible steep rises in food prices during 2011, if steps are not taken immediately to increase significantly the production of major food crops. According to FAO, “with...

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday submitted the Working Group on Agriculture Production report to Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi. It is to mention that Indian Prime Minster on April 8, 2010 constituted the Working Group on Agriculture Production under the chairmanship of the Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal as members to recommend strategies and action plan...

A working group on agriculture constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suggested that the government provide farm loans to farmers at four per cent interest rate, raise the minimum support price (MSP) for farm produce to 50 per cent higher than the actual cost of cultivation and expand diesel subsidy scheme across the country.The Working Group on Agriculture Production headed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda submitted its...

Non-governmental organisation BAIF Development Research Foundation is encouraging tribal farmers to take up tree-based farming on degraded wasteland around their plots under a unique model of sustainable growth since the beginning of this year. A movie, Wadi', depicting this agri-horti-forestry effort was launched in the city on Wednesday. To begin with, the model was implemented in the Nashik, Ahmednagar and Thane districts of Maharashtra and in Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan....