-Livemint.com Pulses use less water per unit crop and also address hidden hunger The severe drought across India should hopefully help focus attention on the overuse of water in agriculture. A data analysis by Roshan Kishore in this newspaper last week showed that the average water footprint for five major crops—rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane and cotton—is far higher than global averages. At the root of the problem is a policy framework that...

-PTI Radha Mohan Singh total number of agricultural workers in the country increased from 234.1 million in 2001 to 263 million in 2011. Therefore, it cannot be categorically stated that farmers are leaving the profession of agriculture. Farmers are earning less than workers in industrial and services sectors because of lower farm output, Parliament was informed Tuesday. "Income from the farm sector is less as compared to income from industrial and services sector,"...

-Livemint.com World Bank report says combined effects of growing populations, rising incomes and expanding cities will see demand for water rising exponentially, while supply becomes more erratic and uncertain New Delhi: Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could cost some regions up to 6% of their gross domestic product (GDP), spur migration and spark conflict, said a report released by the World Bank on Tuesday. The report, High and dry: Climate change, water...

-Business Standard Green revolution pioneer now marked by rising rural despair, with high costs and low incomes pushing a mass of small cultivators into a debt trap Chandigarh: Fifty eight and counting…the number of farmers' suicides in Punjab in the past three months due to agrarian distress is alarming. Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana top this grim list, the Union government informed Parliament last week. Rainfed states are in a crisis due to two...

-Economic and Political Weekly How realistic is the objective of the Government of India to double the income of farmers by 2022? Is there a precedent? From estimates of change in income of agricultural households over the period 2003-13, this article suggests what needs to be done to achieve a doubling of real incomes. A focus on income from cultivation alone will be inadequate. Policy aimed at increasing net income from...