-The Hindu Business Line Monetary compensation for loss of lives, ban on Swiss export of pesticide sought Mumbai: Three farmers from Yavatmal district of Maharashtra filed a civilian suit in a civil court in Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, seeking monetary compensation against global agrochemical giant Syngenta. Among the applicants are two women who, they claim, lost their husbands to pesticide poisoning — while spraying Syngenta’s pesticide Polo on cotton fields in 2017. In that...

-The Hindu Despite finding huge favour in India, the GM crop has only brought modest benefits Cotton has been woven and used in India for thousands of years. Cotton fabric from around 3,000 BCE has been excavated from the ruins of Mohenjo-daro, and archaeological findings in Mehrgarh, Pakistan, show that cotton was used in the subcontinent as far back as 5,000 BCE. Indian cotton fabrics dominated the world trade during the succeeding...

-TheWire.in From seeds and machinery to livestock and irrigation, the state needs to change the status quo. One eye must be firmly kept on the future. If Punjab’s agriculture sector is to succeed, it has to think beyond short-term crises such as the current pandemic-induced one. For instance, the Expert Group headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia has made important recommendations about seeds, agricultural research, livestock, dairy and food processing. It has been noted that...

-The Hindu Government has begun assessment of damage and will pay compensation: Minister Floods caused by incessant rains in parts of Gujarat have nearly ruined crops in more than eight lakh hectares leaving farmers, who expected bumper yield with the onset of monsoon, devastated. Farmers particularly in the Saurashtra region have been hugely hit as floods have destroyed their groundnut and cotton crops, the mainstay of agriculture. Pulses and sesame have also been...

-Down to Earth Punjab has paid a price for food security. The use of pesticides and fertilisers has resulted in a number of health issues for the state’s population Punjab — known as the ‘Granary of India’ — produces 20 per cent and nine per cent of India’s wheat and rice respectively. At the international level, this represents three per cent of the global production of these crops. The state is responsible...