-DNA   Workshop showcases benefit of SRI technique that requires less water and input, but provides better yield Ahmedabad: Paddy cultivators in Navsari and Dangs reap fortune in their fields with the new system of rice intensification (SRI), a methodology of crop cultivation has yielded rich dividends. Experts who spoke about the unique technique compared it with other techniques that require a initial high input cost, and said this method of cultivation on...

-The Hindu   Madurai: Activists, farmers and the public came together for a programme ‘Say no to GMO' organized by Aakam Rural Education and Health Trust, Cure Trust and Research Centre and the Gandhi Memorial Museum on the ills of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) here on Saturday. "The use of these modified crops is slowly increasing across the State in Erode, Tiruchi, Madurai, Chennai and Coimbatore though it is not officially approved. Most...

-The Times of India   PATIALA: Just days after the Lok Sabha election results, anger is palpable in rural Punjab against the ruling dispensation as farmers are not getting even half the power supply promised by the government. They are forced to spend on diesel to run pumpsets for drawing water from tubewells to irrigate nurseries of paddy, transplanting of which would commence next month. Paddy is the biggest kharif crop of Punjab...

-The Business Standard   Agriculture ministry wants review of clamps on holdings; rural development ministry seeks centralisation of records With Narendra Modi set to take over as prime minister in the next few days, the department of agriculture is proposing a comprehensive review of land ceiling laws as a first major reform in the sector.   Land also figures in the to-do list of the rural development ministry. It has proposed centralisation of land records...

-Down to Earth Most suicides among orchard farmers, say observers As many as 101 farmers have committed suicide in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra since the devastating hailstorms in March this year. This sudden spurt of suicides has raised concerns as to whether this arid region is heading for an agrarian crisis similar to that of Vidarbha. A whopping 71 suicides have been reported in the month of March 2014, close on the...