-PTI High levels of warming resulting from continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions may hit India's food security system with a global report warning that the impact could be "more severe" on the country' rice and maize production. Like crops, the country's fisheries could also be negatively affected by climate change, says a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Yokohama, Japan. It says that emissions of CO2 often...

-The Hindu Chennai: For the past two months, farmers of five blocks in Tiruvallur have been working hard to double the output of pulses in the district. The farmers of Minjur, Cholavaram, Gummidipoondi, Ellapuram and Tiruvallur blocks have brought more land under rice fallow-crop cultivation. In this method, seeds of pulses, including green gram, are sown a few days before the paddy harvest and the seeds germinate due to the little moisture...

-Down to Earth   Seed company, Mahyco, offered Rs 10 crore compensation to farmers when losses were to the tune of Rs 230 crore It is finally out in the open. Bt cotton has failed miserably to deliver in Karnataka. Following large-scale crop failure on a whopping 58,195 hectares (ha) in seven districts in the state, the state agriculture department has finally taken the decision to bar Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) from...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A UN panel on Monday morning released its much awaited report which assessed impacts of climate change on human lives, natural resources and marine ecosystem across the globe. It predicted a gloomy picture for Asia where most of the countries, including India and China, will not only have to face more extreme weather events but also have to experience severe stress on drinking water and...

-The Telegraph   Bottle gourd shells, used to make traditional musical instruments like sitar and tanpura, are no longer grown by the farmers in Howrah, reports Amrita Ghosh West Bengal: Its not without reason that "shader lau..." is the most popular folk song in parts of rural Bengal, including Howrah. "Lau" or bottle gourd, as the folk song goes, turns a man into a vagrant as he eats its base and its top...