-The Hindu ‘Agriculture sector is facing a lot of challenges due to recurrent droughts and floods’ The Centre is contemplating bringing in a viable insurance scheme for farmers given that the agriculture sector is facing a lot of challenges due to recurrent droughts, floods and other weather-related changes, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Thursday. Speaking at a national dialogue on ‘Innovative Extension System for Farmers Empowerment and...

-Business Standard Indian farming was transformed after the mid-60s, on a wave of new agri technology and allied changes, but the costs of this model can no longer be ignored or its addressing be postponed It was around the mid-1960s when the Paddock brothers, the ‘prophets of doom’, predicted that in another decade, recurring famines and an acute shortage of foodgrain would push India towards disaster.   Their prophecy was based on a...

-Livemint.com Telangana 9th state to declare drought, adding to the agrarian crisis and posing a threat to the rural economy New Delhi: Telangana has declared a drought in parts of the state, becoming the ninth state this year to do so, highlighting the agrarian crisis that could cause a likely fall in the production of rain-fed crops such as pulses, oilseeds and cotton, and result in a further slowing of the...

-The Indian Express The reality of rural distress is sinking in only now for policymakers. There can be no better illustration of the vagaries of the weather than Chennai’s streets being inundated with water and the second India-South Africa cricket test in Bangalore suffering washout due to rains, even as drought stalks much of the country. That really is the case today, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, southern and coastal Karnataka, Rayalaseema...

-The Indian Express Extended dry spell hits rabi plantings on top of failed kharif crop Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh, an agricultural success story of the past decade, is bracing itself for a rough time this year, with deficient rains resulting in the failure of the kharif crop and also putting a question market over sowing in the ongoing rabi season. The state, in recent times, had emerged as the country’s second largest contributor of...