The oldest and most common dig against organic agriculture is that it cannot feed the world’s citizens; this, however, is a supposition, not a fact. And industrial agriculture isn’t working perfectly, either: the global food price index is at a record high, and our agricultural system is wreaking havoc with the health not only of humans but of the earth. There are around a billion undernourished people; we can also...

Would you rather buy a necessity like kerosene or food grains at a subsidy or receive an equivalent amount of cash instead? Would you prefer that the government decides your consumption pattern rather than figuring out on your own how to spend your income? One of the “big ticket” reform items in the budget was the announcement that subsidies on kerosene, fertilizers and Liquefied Petroleum Gas and delivery through the Public...

He will pass out of one of the most sought-after B-schools of the country. While 332 of his friends will get into those cushy jobs, he will work closer to Mother earth — working with farmers and help them produce export-quality fruits and vegetables and finally export them. Ashutosh Sawant, a PGP second year student, has started a firm which looks at exporting frozen fruits like alphonso mangoes, frozen strawberry, pomegranate...

Centre to also give 50% subsidy for new mills, technical help to cultivators. The Union agriculture ministry has identified eight states where the Budget annoucement on expanding the area under oil palm cultivation can be implemented. It has decided to provide 50 per cent subsidy for setting up palm oil extraction units. India imports about 8.2 million tonnes of edible oil in a year and 80 per cent of this is palm...

Another name for Chhattisgarh is ' Dhan ka katora' or 'Rice Bowl'. There is an amazing variety of rice being grown across the region in Central India, largely dominated by tribal communities. This is a land blessed by the bounty of nature and has a combination of soil, water and temperature, which lends itself well to the cultivation of this all-important foodgrain. Yet all this amounts to very little today and...