-Down to Earth It provides farmers with services to improve productivity and find better prices A non-profit based in Telangana, working on agricultural research and development, has launched a low-cost phone cum tablet computer-phablet-to benefit small holder farmers. "GreenPHABLET will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual smallholder farmers, helping them to purchase inputs at a lower price and get a better price for their produce. It will also link them to...

The agrarian crisis is far from over. Amidst news of farmers' suicide reported from parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, an official document released in December by the National Sample Survey Organisation states that nearly 52% of India's agricultural households were indebted during July, 2012 - June, 2013. The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in India was Rs. 47000 (see link below). Based on a survey of...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: Effective leveraging of agriculture is the key to ensuring food and nutrition security. This can be achieved by taking steps to ensure that technological intervention in farms is done with agreement of farmers. This was one of the key points made by a panel of experts at a forum on ‘Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) initiative in Koraput', conducted by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here on...

-The Telegraph More than 200 agro-meteorologists from various parts of the country attending an IMD review meeting at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) maintained that accurate weather and climate information passed on by the Met department had helped farmers in a big way. Addressing the 8th annual review meeting of India Meteorological Department, BAU vice chancellor George John said weather forecast-based agro-advisory services of IMD and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had...

-The Hindu ‘The government has taken steps to destroy MGNREGA, an act that gives purchasing power to the rural poor, following prejudicial contentions of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders' It's no secret that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. MGNREGA is perhaps the only law in the world which guarantees 100 days of wage employment a year to one member of a rural...