A new report by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) reveals that despite the nutritional value of millets, otherwise known as coarse cereals*, there has been a drastic reduction in the area under its cultivation from 36.34 million hectares in 1955-56 to 18.6 million hectares in 2011-12 thanks to the wrong agricultural and price policies adopted by the Government (see table 1, and the links below). Based on previous National...

-The Hindu     Modified scheme benefits tenants and covers all food grain PUDUKOTTAI (Tiruchirapalli): Crop insurance scheme is being implemented as modified national agricultural insurance scheme in all the 13 blocks in Pudukottai district during 2013-14 based on the administrative sanction accorded by the Centre and approval by the State government. Under the scheme, weather-based crop insurance scheme and coconut palm insurance scheme are implemented at revenue-village-level for losses suffered due to nature's fury....

-The Hindu     ‘Krishi Karman' award to be presented toMinister of Agriculture in Delhi Guntur: Andhra Pradesh may have been known previously as the ‘rice bowl' of the country, but the State is on course to becoming the ‘cereal bowl' of India. The State recorded the highest production of coarse cereals for the year 2012-2013 over the five preceding years and in recognition of this achievement, the Government of India has announced ‘Krishi Karman'...

-Down to Earth Faced with crop losses because of erratic rainfall and extreme weather, tribal farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh turn to bewar and penda forms of cultivation that keeps them nourished all times of the year, but government agencies are bent on rooting out these farm practices Hariaro Bai Deoria should have been a worried person this year-an untimely spell of rain late last October flattened her paddy crop, and...

-The Hindu Experts say people can keep diseases away if they consume millets Guntur (Andhra Pradesh): The two-day Millet Festival - 2014, aimed at popularising consuming low fat and high fibre millet began at Gunta Grounds here on Saturday. The festival is being held for the first time in districts outside Hyderabad in a bid to promote consumption of millet. Minister for Agriculture Kanna Lakshminarayana, Commissioner of Agriculture K. Madhusudhan Rao and College...