-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Farmer and food activists have alleged that genetically modified soya bean seeds are being imported "illegally" for cultivation, in violation of a directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) notification of 2006 that prohibits the import of GMOs without approval from the genetic engineering appraisal committee (GEAC). Some activists have also found imported packaged foods containing GM ingredients being sold in departmental stores, one of which is...

-Livemint.com Sluggish wage growth, lower crop planting, fluctuating prices paint a dismal picture for farmers and the agriculture sector New data released by the government on rural wages, crop prices and sowing of winter crops reveals that rural distress is worsening. Planting of wheat, the main winter crop, between October and early January was 5% lower than a year ago due to lower sowing in Madhya Pradesh by close to a million hectares;...

-Livemint.com Hundreds of farmers came to Delhi to tell their stories, but their problems are similar: crop failures, rising debt, losses from farming due to low crop prices leading to suicides New Delhi: A copy of the Telugu daily Sakshi, dating back to 2015, is M. Lakshmi Devi’s constant companion. The newspaper, a part of which is stained by tea, contains a report about the suicide of a debt-burdened farmer—her husband. “We had...

-The Hindu Business Line Only crops to have registered an increase in area under cultivation were cotton and sugarcane New Delhi: The shortfall in sowing of oilseeds and pulses has continued to bring down the total area under cultivation during the current kharif season as compared to the previous year. Farmers across the country have so far covered only 1,013.83 lakh hectares (ha) by end of this week as compared to 1,019.6 lakh...

-The Indian Express The registration of farmers will begin from September 1. Besides personal details like phone number, bank account details and Aadhaar number, the farmers will have to share details of cultivation and acreage Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government is set to roll out a populist scheme to compensate farmers when they are forced to sell their crops below the minimum support price (MSP) in mandis. The move by the...