-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) The two-day National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign has come out with detailed strategy for maximising crop production during the coming kharif season. The focus will be on ensuring timely availability of fertilizers and quality seed and also sufficient credit to farmers. Based on inputs from States and the Fertilizer Ministry, it is established that sufficient quantities of fertilizers and seeds are available in...

-The Asian Age "The replacement of the rich diversity of Punjab with monocultures of rice in the kharif season and wheat in the rabi season has also contributed to the impoverishment of the soils and farmers" The year 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, a military operation which took place in June 1984 in Punjab. It was ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his...

-The Tribune Punjab: No doubt there is a pressing need to restore the fast deteriorating underground water balance in Punjab and parts of Haryana because of excessive withdrawals of water to meet the irrigation requirements of water-guzzling crops, particularly the rice crop. In Punjab available canal water hardly meets one-fourth of the water requirements of the agriculture sector and three-fourth water requirements are met through the pumping of underground water. In...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) With a production of 269 million tonnes in 2012-13, the horticulture sector has emerged as a major contributor to the food basket of the country. Horticulture production grew by more than 8% during the last decade. As compared to the production of 257 million tonnes in the previous year and 215 million tonnes about five years ago, there has been significant jump in the horticulture production,...

-The Business Standard Making the agriculture growth story sustainable Finance Minister P Chidambaram's claim in his interim Budget speech of "stellar performance" of the agriculture sector is based on numbers, though it needs to be analysed from different perspectives to get a true picture. There is no doubt that agricultural gross domestic product may grow by 4.6 per cent this year. The past 10 years' average, too, may work out close to...