-The Telegraph The country's third driest June over a hundred years might have prompted the Union government to come up with agriculture contingency plans for around 500 districts but Bihar for one seems blessed in this field. In spite of 32 per cent deficient rainfall across the state in June, the overall sowing of paddy seedlings till July 1 stood at 2,57,660 hectares, substantially higher than the area of 2,31,000 hectares covered...

-IANS   Bangalore: A study by an international team using satellite and ground-based instruments has shown that crop residue burning, a common practice in northern India and particularly in Punjab, is contributing to atmospheric pollution over the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that may have climate and health implications. "Every year, during the post-monsoon season (October-November), extensive agricultural crop residue burning takes place mainly in the northwestern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, and western...

-Down to Earth   Ready-to-harvest crops damaged, farmers fear orchards may not regenerate In a repeat of the hailstorms that devastated crops in parts of Maharashtra in March this year, several districts in western part of the state, including Marathwada region, experienced another bout of hail on Tuesday. Though the MeT department has called this phenomenon a pre-monsoon event, the intensity of the storm and the scale of damage caused to life and...

-MoneyLife.in India, the world's second largest food producer, is witnessing growing distress and declining confidence in agriculture as most small and landless farmers, with less of a stake, are found to quit farming The recent unseasonal heavy rains, thunder and hailstorms originating from unusually intense western disturbances from the Mediterranean interacting with the south-easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal have ravaged the due-for-harvesting chana, lentils and wheat in Madhya Pradesh,...

-The Hindu Hyderabad: The very severe cyclonic storm, 'Leher' which lay over southeast and adjoining central Bay of Bengal will intensify further and move west northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast near Machilipatnam on Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday it was said that the cyclone will cross the coast at Kakinada. Citing an IMD bulletin, Mr. C. Parthasarathi, Disaster Management Commissioner, said that rainfall would commence at many places in coastal Andhra from Wednesday...