-The Guardian By shunning all but organic farming techniques, the Himalayan state will cement its status as a paradigm of sustainability Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers. But rather than accept that this will mean farmers of the small Himalayan kingdom of 1.2 million people...

Nearly 400 people have been admitted to hospitals in north India after eating adulterated flour, police say. All the patients had consumed snacks made from Buckwheat flour. A mill in the northern state of Rajasthan has been traced as the source, police said. The patients complained of vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach ache. Cases of food poisoning have been reported from the capital, Delhi, and towns of Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandshar in Uttar Pradesh...

It is popular in periods of Hindu religious fasting like Navratri. It is also commonly found on the shelves of health food stores. But for the tribals in the Sahyadri hills in Maharashtra, Buckwheat is a way of life. Unlike in the hilly regions of northern India where kuttu, as the millet-like crop is called in Hindi, is found in plenty, spotting Buckwheat fields can be difficult on the Sahyadri hills....