-The Hindu Is it possible to get a good yield without using chemical fertilizers? Will a shift to organic affect our food security? Can we manage insect pests without using pesticides? Will organic cultivation still be profitable for farmers? These are some of the often asked questions by farmers when problems of modern agriculture are being discussed. Enabavi, a small village in Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh promises to answer all these. Situated off...

-The Hindu MADURAI: Muthumari's day starts at 4 a.m. She milks her cows in the cowshed behind the house and keeps cans of milk ready to be collected by a pickup van from a private dairy company. Then she turns to her household chores and sends her children off to school. Packing the day's food for herself, she proceeds towards the fields in her village at Udayanpatti. She is not just a...

-The Hindu Switching to renewable energy sources in the country's midday meal programme will save millions of rupees. But only a few kitchens are doing anything about it, says the author. This is a story of facts and figures and sheer size. Of an auditorium-sized room dense with hot steam from cooking. Of seven tonnes of cooked rice and four tanker-loads of steaming sambar that needed 70 pairs of hands for cutting...

-PTI PUNE: A unique concept of "urban agriculture" is taking shape on a massive stretch of land in a mega township which is part of the burgeoning metropolis. Spread across 700 acres, 'Nanded city', which houses a population of about 10,000 residents, launched a green project coinciding with the World Environment Day on June 5. The venture envisages growing vegetables, fruits, medicinal and aromatic plants and flowers to cater the needs of the...

-The Hindu "Farming is fascinating. The only thing is that it requires continuous hard-work and devotion without any distraction" says Mr. Barun Singh, a government bank manager-turned-farmer. Mr. Barun Singh maintains a vermi-Composting unit in a portion of his 10 acre land. A dairy unit is attached to the Composting unit so that the cattle dung can be easily utilized for the process without much labour involvement. Waste materials like dried leaves, rotten...