-The Hindu This is hardly a rice ready for cultivation by farmers — it has not even entered the stage of biosafety evaluation by government regulatory institutions. Recently 110 Nobel Laureates issued a strongly worded plea to Greenpeace to “abandon their campaign against [genetically modified organisms] in general and Golden rice in particular.” This is not the first time notable scientists have waded into the controversy surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. What...

-Livemint.com Overall foodgrain output, however, rose marginally to 252.22 mt in FY16, farm ministry’s advance estimates show New Delhi: The crippling drought over the past year failed to impact India’s overall foodgrain production but led to the lowest production of pulses in six years, showed the fourth advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry on Tuesday. In fact, according to the ministry, foodgrain production rose marginally—from 252.02 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 to 252.22...

-The Hindu Chennai: Despite producing 27 per cent of the global requirement of pulses, India is still short of around five million tonnes, said S.A. Patil, consultant, Indo-Morocco Food Legume Initiative, at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference to announce a three-day consultation on ‘Enhancing the productivity and profitability of pulses for Addressing Food and Nutrition Security,’ at the MSSRF from Sunday, Dr. Patil said the...

-The Indian Express Paddy rice acreage saw an increase of around 12 per cent from last year with almost 25 lakh hectares dedicated to the crop. Basmati rice may soon touch 5 lakh hectares only. Jalandhar: Farmers have taken to rice cultivation after their cotton crop failed last season and losing trust in Basmati’s returns. The area under rice this year has touched 30 lakh hectares — the highest in over a...

-The Hindu Business Line Fourth advance estimate pegs wheat production at 93.5 million tonnes New Delhi: Reinforcing its earlier assessment, the Centre has pegged foodgrain production in the country at 252.22 million tonnes (mt) in 2015-16 in its fourth advance estimates — almost the same as 2014-15’s (July-June) production of 252.02 mt. Production of major commercial crops in 2015-16, including cotton, sugarcane and oilseeds, was lower than in the previous year, according to...