-The Hindu KANHANGAD, Kerala: The Akshara Purusha Swayam Sahaya Sangham, a self-help group here, once again scripted a success story by reaping a rich harvest of sweet potatoes from a barren paddy field at Kushal Nagar. A six-member team under the self-group reaped nearly 60 quintals of sweet potatoes from a 1.5-acre paddy field that lay barren for years. Having reaped a rich harvest of vegetables a few months ago, the team this...

-Down to Earth Four-day world congress on agroforestry in Delhi pushes for accelerating growing trees on farms for sustainable agriculture and mitigating climate change impacts In what is seen as a ground-breaking move, India has become the first nation in the world to adopt an agroforestry policy. The National Agroforestry Policy, which deals with the practice of integrating trees, crops and livestock on the same plot of land, was launched February 10,...

-The Hoot Kutch's first FM radio channel, Saiyere Jo Radio, begun by a women's collective, costs Rs 25000 a month to run, transmission costs included. SEVANTI NINAN visits the Bimsar radio station.   Sitaben Rabbari is in some ways the mainstay of Saiyere Jo Radio. The radio station which puts out this transmission is located in a tiny building given by her on rent, next to where she lives. She is the...

-Deccan Herald Mangalore: Ajai Naik and Lokamma, belonging to Schedule Tribe and Malekudiya community, were earning their livelihood by working as daily wage labourers and had never dreamt of owning an arecanut or banana garden or growing vegetables in their land. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employement Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) changed the course of their life. Ajai Naik and Lokamma hail from Amtoor village in Golthamajalu gram panchayat of Bantwal taluk. The duo were the first...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Ranchi residents, who discovered in 2013 that Rs 500 equalled to not even a week's worth of vegetables, will welcome this piece of news. Year-round vegetable farming is a better catch than slippery fish, say Ramdaga villagers in Angara block, near Getalsud dam, 25km off the capital. Ramdaga villagers normally raised one paltry crop a year, fished at the Getalsud dam and came to Ranchi to work as manual...