-The Economic Times PUNE: The deficient monsoon this year is likely to hit production of coarse grains such as jowar and bajra and other minor millets like ragi and pulses the hardest. This may not have much impact on the country's food security because India has ample stocks of wheat and rice but it will add to the financial burden of farmers, who will be forced to pay more for animal...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The fear of drought has receded further with Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicting better rainfall during August-September. Though the Met downgraded the prediction for the overall Monsoon rainfall from "below normal" to "deficient", it ruled out any possibility of drought. The IMD, in its latest forecast, predicted that "the rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 87% of the Long...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's weather agency has revised its 2014 monsoon forecast downwards, predicting 13 per cent rainfall deficit instead of 7 per cent forecast earlier this year, cautioning that yields of several crops may decline but dismissing fears of a widespread drought. The India Meteorological Department today said the rainfall during the remaining six weeks of the monsoon season will be much better than over the past two months. But...

-The Business Standard K'taka government has announced this to enhance the jowar and ragi production in the state Dharwad: The Karnataka State Agriculture Commission has come forward with plans to tag the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme with jowar and ragi farming to help the farmers overcome the problem of high labour component. Commission chairman Prakash Kammaradi said here on Monday that the state government had announced schemes to...

-The Business Standard Four sub missions have been merged into one scheme - agri extension, seed and planting material, agri mechanisation and plant protection and plant quarantine   Mumbai: The ministry of agriculture has introduced an umbrella scheme to augment agricultural extension and technology activities with the objective of improving the supply of the agricultural commodities from the grass root level. According to official sources, the impetus on agricultural extension has to go hand...