The government today said it has adequate regulatory provisions to check the quality of genetically modified (GM) Seeds such as Bt Cotton introduced by companies in the country. “The government has adequate regulatory provisions under the Seed Act, 1966, Seed Rules, 1968 and Seed Control Order, 1983 to check the quality of Seeds introduced by companies in India,” Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to...

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday complained to the Centre about a BT-maize trial by a multinational company at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) campus in Samastipur district without obtaining permission of the state government. In a letter to Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh, Kumar said Monsanto India Ltd laid trial of BT-maize at IARI campus in Pusa on February 21 before receiving a go ahead letter...

Orissa is awaiting the accreditation of its certification agency- Orissa State Seeds and Organic Products Certification Agency (OSSOPCA) for promoting organic farming in the state in a big way. “Our certification agency- OSSOPCA is under the process of accreditation of the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). This will be a major milestone for getting our organic areas under certification program for better market strategy. Post harvest technology...

Small-scale farmers can double food production in a decade by using simple ecological methods, according to the findings of a new United Nations study released today, which calls for a fundamental shift towards agroecology as a poverty alleviation measure. “To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need to adopt the most efficient farming techniques available,” says Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and...

If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million, FAO said today in its 2010-11 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture report. Yields on plots managed by women are lower than those managed by men, the report said. But this is not because women...