-The Business Standard A delayed monsoon and abundant cotton in the international market could spell trouble in the state's suicide zone Yavatmal (Maharashtra): As the skies stayed clear till the second week of June, Ramesh Gulabhrao Digde's mood darkened. His two acres were ploughed at great expense, the seeds were purchased, and a sack of fertilisers lay in a corner of his thatch-roofed hut in Parsodi village in western Maharashtra's Yavatmal...

-Los Angeles Times Chandan Savargaon: The day before his little sister's engagement party, Vibhishan Tapse was in a buoyant mood. He laughed with his mother and teased the bride-to-be as they prepared food and set out sweets for 200 guests who would begin arriving the next morning. Months earlier, the 23-year-old Tapse had told his father: You paid for my two older sisters' weddings. Let me take care of this one. That meant...

-Live Mint Debal Deb's indigenous rice bank is a brave effort to counter Indian agriculture's dash towards genetic erosion The Sunday morning in July marked the fifth straight day of rain in the fecund foothills of the Niyamgiri range in western Odisha's Rayagada district. The delayed showers heralded the year's busiest period for ecologist Debal Deb and his right-hand man Dulal as they prepared Basudha-a 2-acre farm unlike any other in India-for...

-Down to Earth IFAD president Nwanze says he was misquoted by media and only supported India's food security law Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the UN which finances agricultural development projects in developing nations, has reversed his earlier stand supporting India for opposing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). India had vetoed TFA in Geneva over its food security concerns and need...

-PTI New Delhi: After the recent failure of WTO talks, India on Wednesday hoped that by September it will convince the multi-lateral trading body about the need for developing nations to give subsidies on food stocks so that it is relieved of the "draconian sword". Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitaraman told Rajya Sabha that the tough position adopted by India and the recent talks in Geneva had been supported by many least developed...