-Frontline The inability to resolve pressing problems with respect to the production, distribution and availability of food is one of the important failures of the entire economic reform process. IN the fateful month of July 1991, when the devaluation of the Indian rupee presaged the introduction of a whole series of liberalising economic reforms, agriculture was very far from the minds of most policymakers and commentators. The immediate focus was on...
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Areas under minor millets cultivation shrinking in Orissa -Akshaya Kumar Sahoo
-The Asian Age Bhubaneswar: Traditionally-cultivated minor millets are the major sources of sustenance for lakhs of tribals and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers living in southern and western parts of Orissa. Over 170 varieties of millets are cultivated in the hilly and forested areas in the state. Some of the prominent minor millets largely cultivated in Orissa include sorghum (jawari) spiked millet (Bajra) and finger millet (Ragi/Mandika), among others. The nutritional value of the minor...
More »At Rs 250/kg this black rice variety makes remote Assam farmers rich
-IANS Guwahati: Rice is generally white in colour, or is it? Black is the colour for over 200 farmers in Assam’s Goalpara district - and they are laughing all the way to the bank. Started by a single farmer in the district about four years ago, the cultivation of black rice has caught the fancy of more and more farmers who are turning to it instead of the traditional white rice. Young farmer...
More »Cropping patterns: Game pulses, match sugarcane -Partha Sarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Why pulses aren’t the first choice of Marathwada’s farmers despite higher prices this time. Latur: About two years ago, Guruling Modi took 10 quintals of tur (pigeon-pea), a crop he had grown for the first time on his two-acre holding, to the market yard at Latur. “I got a price of just Rs 4,200 per quintal, despite my produce being of the best quality. After expenses of Rs 35,000...
More »This tribal farmer preserves 40 indigenous paddy seeds and incurs Rs 30,000 loss every year -Rajesh Pandathil and O P Raveendran
-FirstPost.com “Should break their legs,” rages 66-year-old Cheruvayal Raman (fondly called Ramettan). He had bought some sardines from the market. The minute they were immersed in water to wash, all of them dissolved. “It seems they were called Oman sardines. They were full of chemicals and preservatives,” he says. Ramettan indeed has the right to be angry because he has been toiling for the last 56 years to preserve traditional methods of...
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