-NDTV There is the reality of a farmer's suicide and then there are versions of this reality. Whether you choose to accept the farmer's context of poverty, debt and extreme risk, or deny it, often depends on the class and profession you belong to. Fields pockmarked with brown mounds create a surreal setting. At least nine suicides by farmers have been linked to the crisis in West Bengal's potato belt. Farmers have...
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IIT leads the way to a 'green revolution' -Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey
-The Times of India KHARAGPUR: A patch of 14 acres in Kenthia village of Kharagpur-II block, which was written off by everyone, has suddenly turned lush green. Go closer and you will see paddy, soybean, groundnuts, sweet corn and sesame plants there. The Kenthia experiment started with three departments of IIT-Kharagpur - agriculture and food technology, biotechnology and industrial engineering - about six months ago. The challenge was to turn a barren patch...
More »Why our farmers urgently need help -Devinder Sharma
-DNA Broken promises apart, a regular income for farmers is extremely essential There is trouble on the farm front. With untimely rains accompanied by hailstorms and strong winds showing no signs of relenting, further deepening the prevailing agrarian crisis; and with the spate of farmer suicides on the rise, agriculture faces its worst-ever crisis. While the rising number of farmer suicides is only a reflection of how fragile the agrarian economy...
More »Freak weather may hit kharif crop too: Experts
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Changiram, a farmer from Kota's Darbheeji village, had sown his four-hectare land with wheat, investing around Rs 80,000 in seeds, fertilizers and labour. He expected to earn around Rs 4 lakh. But unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March damaged more than 70% of his crop, leaving him insolvent and staring at a bleak future. Changiram's plight mirrors that of tens of thousands of farmers across the...
More »Farm to Plate: How safe is your food? -Priyamvada Kowshik
-India Today "The butterflies will show you the way to the farm." Farmer Sunil Gupta is not talking of mythical butterflies that will appear to guide me to the organic farm I am trying to locate amidst swathes of farmland, some lush with the standing paddy, some damaged in parts from last week's strong winds, others dotted with vegetable patches or freshly ploughed for the next crop. Can one tell an organic...
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