-Down to Earth The ill-effects of imbalanced application of fertilisers — which leads to soil sickness, decline in soil health and reduces crop productivity — need to be understood to save Indian agriculture.   Soil is rightfully called the ‘soul of infinite life’. This soul, however, has become dilapidated of late due to ill-agricultural practices being adapted to feed the ever-increasing mouths. The Green Revolution of 1965-66 helped India, for the first time...

-Down to Earth Forced maturity in plants due to higher temperatures can result in smaller seeds A comparatively 'warm' winter in Bihar this year could harm production of rabi crops like wheat, oil seed and pulses, agricultural scientists have predicted. According to experts, production of winter crops may be hit by at least 30-40 per cent if the weather in the eastern state is unchanged for long. The minimum temperature should be 10-12 degrees...

-The Hindu Post-1991, changes in industry caused a second de-industrialisation; the results in agriculture are likely to be no different Almost all sections of people including farmers agree that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-mandi policies for agricultural marketing, initiated in the 1960s for a few crops, have outlived their utility and the system needs a new policy in the face of the agricultural sector’s growth slowdown, the crop-composition not widening, and...

-Newsclick.in Farmers fear they will have to engage with big traders and agribusinesses on an unequal playing field where these giant corporations will be dictating the terms of engagement. Approved by the government of India in 1988, the Pepsi project was launched to initiate a second agricultural revolution in Punjab. The effects of the first agricultural revolution had faded. Yields of major crops were low. A joint venture among PepsiCo, Voltas and...

-The Indian Express Farmers’ genuine concerns must be addressed as soon as possible so that they can continue producing food and fibre needed for the ever-increasing population. In the early 1960s, near-famine conditions prevailed in India and some 10 million tonnes of wheat had to be imported from the US under the PL480 programme. The country’s situation was pejoratively dubbed “ship-to-mouth” existence, as foodgrains arriving via ships were immediately consumed. In 1963, Norman...