Worried over crop losses and mounting loans, two farmers committed suicide and four others died of shock in the state in the last 24 hours. Apparao, 55, consumed pesticide at his residence in Kapuumilada village in Santabommali mandal of Srikakulam on Tuesday. He was depressed after his three-acre crop was damaged in the rains. He took the land on lease and cultivated paddy. V Krishna Murthy, 52, a marginal farmer of Vanjagi...

Climate change is springing an unpleasant surprise on agriculture in India, catching both farmers and governments unprepared. The erratic and deficit rainfall pattern and rise in temperature in recent years has even forced farmers to change cropping patterns and several areas have been declared drought-hit.Agricultural scientists acknowledge that even a mere one degree increase in average day temperature would adversely impact production of both wheat and rice crops (total annual...

No proposal to revise Minimum Support Price Despite demands from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there is no proposal with the Centre to revise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) or announce any bonus for wheat, paddy and sugarcane crops. However, it is working towards a system of ensuring remunerative prices under which farmers do not require any concessions in future, according to Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad...

Two elders of nearby villages, with experience of a panchayat election, were among those who cast their vote today for the state’s first-ever rural polls, united in their scepticism, but hopeful that the chosen ones would deliver on their one and only need: water. Saiba Tuddu (62) of Debanki village of Potka block in East Singhbhum wants to elect a mukhiya who will pay attention to their problem, helping him erase...

Soon after the monsoon was over, rains made unseasonal comeback in Nashik and nearby areas again on Diwali day. As days passed, the initial surprise turned into shock as it rained night after night, and by Sunday it had rained 525mm in November. Heavy showers and thunderstorms all over the district damaged the crops so much that nothing of the rabi (winter) crop remains. Vineyards have thrown away young berries at...