-PTI The Agriculture Ministry is likely to revise upwards the country's cotton production estimate by 3.5 per cent to a record 35.2 million bales for the current marketing year, a government official said.  The ministry releases four advance estimates at different stages of crop growth. In its second advance estimate, cotton production was pegged at 34 million bales for the ongoing 2011-12 marketing year ending September.  "The cotton production has slightly improved and...

The government should immediately announce a 10% increase in the floor price of cotton and rice to protect farmer incomes if it imposes a ban on the export of these commodities, India's two most economically significant cash crops, according to the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), a body which advises the government on the pricing policy for major farm produce. "Any ban on export is an implicit tax on...

Indian agriculture can be transformed into a healthy and vibrant system, where farmers’ suicides are relegated to history. As we enter 2010, the script for a futuristic agriculture which brings back the smile on the face of the Indian farmer, without leaving any scar on the environment, is being rewritten. What began as a small initiative some six years back in a non-descript village in Khamam district, has now spread to over...

Cotton production in the country has more than doubled due to the use of Bt cotton seeds, said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today, batting in favour of the contentious genetically modified crop that is coming under increasing attack from activists and farmers for “stagnant yields, pest resistance and evolution of new pest and disease attacks”. In response to concerns raised in the Rajya Sabha over low yields due to the hybrid...

-PTI The area under cotton in Punjab is likely to drop by 60,000 hectares this kharif season with farmers likely to switch over to guar crop, a state government official said on Saturday. The area under cotton is expected to be five lakh hectares this year as compared to 5.6 lakh hectares last year as some of the area under cultivation is likely to be used for guar crop, which has...