-The Hindu India should take its cue from Brazil and invest in ethanol as a viable commercial substitute for costly petrol The public and media were outraged recently after a suggestion that petrol stations could be closed from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. to curb consumption. Oil import is the heaviest burden on India's foreign exchange, at $144 billion last year. The situation could get worse, given the potential for an increase...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA: India's pulses harvest for the Kharif 2013 season has touched 7 million tonne (as compared to 5.9 million tonne in 2012 and, as per the latest report of Weather Watch Group in Agriculture Ministry, the acreage planted to pulses has touched 10.2 million hectares (as compared to 8.8. million hectares in 2012. Mr. Pravin Dongre, Chairman - India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) speaking about the kharif harvest...

-The Hindu That one-third of the food produced annually for human consumption is wasted is in itself unconscionable in a world where 870 million, or one in eight people, go hungry every day. A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report now says that this high volume of wastage that occurs right through the food supply chain exerts an adverse impact on land, water, biodiversity and climate change. This impact...

-Economic and Political Weekly The fourth advance estimates of Agricultural Production in 2012-13 see only a small change in output forecasts, but the outlook for 2013-14 is for a substantially higher level of foodgrain production. In the recent past, the area and production of non-foodgrains has risen faster than of foodgrains. Please click here to read the entire article ...

-The Telegraph Patna: Bihar's honeymoon with double digit growth appears to be headed for a rocky phase with the government today declaring 33 of the state's 38 districts as drought-hit. The agriculture and allied sectors, which contribute around one-fifth (18.91 per cent) of Bihar's gross state domestic product (GSDP), are staring at a lower growth rate for the second consecutive year. The overall growth rate of the state was a little...