As the challenge of global warming looms large, the importance of climate resilient agriculture (CRA) gets recognized by both scientific and farming communities. Countries like India are expected to be intensely affected by climate change since majority of the population is primarily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. CRA, encompassing adaptation and mitigation strategies and the effective use of biodiversity at all levels-genes, species and ecosystems-should, therefore, be India's response towards...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) The two-day National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign has come out with detailed strategy for maximising crop production during the coming kharif season. The focus will be on ensuring timely availability of fertilizers and quality seed and also sufficient credit to farmers. Based on inputs from States and the Fertilizer Ministry, it is established that sufficient quantities of fertilizers and seeds are available in...

-The Tribune Punjab: No doubt there is a pressing need to restore the fast deteriorating underground water balance in Punjab and parts of Haryana because of excessive withdrawals of water to meet the irrigation requirements of water-guzzling crops, particularly the rice crop. In Punjab available canal water hardly meets one-fourth of the water requirements of the agriculture sector and three-fourth water requirements are met through the pumping of underground water. In...

-The New Indian Express THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was not profit but interest in farming that drove Ummer Vadakkedath and Moosakoya Kariyeri of Pettikadavu in Peruvayal grama panchayat, Kozhikode to yardlong beans cultivation. In a 30 cent plot, they jointly grow yardlong beans, which they sell at the Palayam vegetable market. "We had been farming other vegetables in the plot for the past several years. But recently we shifted our focus to yardlong beans,"...

-The Telegraph Patna: Farmers Kalpana Prakash and Zahid Khan would share the dais with the President and the chief minister at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan on Monday when Bihar receives the Krishi Karman award for commendable production of wheat in 2012-2013 despite drought. The occasion would provide Nitish Kumar an opportunity to showcase his government's five-year agriculture roadmap (2012-17), which President Pranab Muherjee had inaugurated in October 2012 amid much fanfare. Thirty-two-year-old Kalpana, a...