-Business Standard The plan will ensure effective Distribution of resources from various schemes Bhubaneswar (Odisha): The agricultural directorate will prepare a resource allocation plan by end of March 2015, after consulting Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) and district planning committees. The aim of the plan will be to identify needs to develop farm products yield in each district such as planning to invest in soil preparation, crop diversification or irrigation...

-The Hindu Economic diversification in rural India, involving the emergence and growth of non-agricultural activities, is considered an important means of increasing employment and per capita incomes, and improving standards of living. However, non-agricultural activities themselves are of various kinds differing in terms of productivity and the returns they yield. So while the development of some activities may point to rural dynamism, many others exist and grow because of the distress-driven...

-The Hans India It is official now. New data released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for 2013 show that the agrarian distress in rural India is continuing, and even intensifying for small and marginal farmers. In the last decade, there has been much talk on inclusive growth, revival of growth rates in agriculture, higher public investment in agriculture and the doubling of agricultural credit. Yet, the new data show...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: It's a patch of green, a wondrous vegetable garden that has sprung up at a height of about 50 feet on the fast-expanding concrete maze of neighbouring New Town. With a produce of more than 70kg since it came into existence last October, it is no less than an efficient rural farm. In fact, it looks cleaner and far better designed and yields only organic vegetables that...

Animals, which are used for food, fibre, labour etc. hold a special place in ensuring rural livelihoods. It has been found by the NSSO's 70th Round Report that among the agricultural households having less than 0.01 hectare land (which includes landless agricultural households too), a little above 1/5th reported livestock as their principal source of income whereas 56.4% depended on wage/ salaried employment. However, as the land size went up,...