The country’s kharif foodgrain production is expected to decline to 98 million tonnes this year from 117.7 million tonnes produced in kharif 2008, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said here. “Decline in acreage and expected fall in yield will lead to a 16% drop in kharif foodgrain production. It is expected to fall to 98 million tonnes from 117.7 million tonnes produced in kharif 2008,” CMIE said. The kharif...

Government may cut the import duty on rice, says official  Paddy and sugarcane production may be lower owing to the floods Agriculture Commissioners of affected States assessing the situation Crucial paddy, onion, sugarcane, and horticulture crops have been lost in the floods in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, though the quantum of loss is being assessed. Paddy and edible oil crops have already been affected by the drought in the northern States,...

Erratic power supply, poverty bane of Marathwada region  About four lakh people migrate every year to work as sugarcane cutters Sugar factories contribute to water scarcity DHAITANA (Beed district): The Assembly elections are not the reason for excitement in this village located in the backward Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It’s water. In the afternoon heat, women and children are running towards the only source of water located outside sarpanch Achyut Gangane’s house....

The procurement of rice for distribution under the proposed Right to Food scheme has renewed the fears of irreversible depletion of water table in India’s grain producing regions. It is feared that unless more scientific and progressive methods of rice cultivation are used, the otherwise welcome scheme would lead to more sowing of summer paddy leading to more injudicious water use and further soil degradation. Many rural NGOs and agricultural...

As warming of the climate gathers alarming pace posing a danger to agriculture, greenhouse cultivation is the only answer to save crops of flowers and vegetables, experts have said. Greenhouse farming, which is cultivation of plants inside a building with glass walls and roof under controlled condition, has become necessary as temperature ideally required for flower cultivation is no longer available, not even during winter. Floriculturists say that the ideal...