Farmers across the southwest belt of Haryana and northern Rajasthan have this year sown cotton on a large scale moving away from Paddy, the traditional crop in this region. Due to the unavailability of canal water in certain areas in this region, farmers have also moved from sowing Bt cotton to desi (local) cotton which requires less water. The trend has largely been seen in the districts of Fatehabad, Bhiwani,...

Improper storage and negligence continues to damage foodgrain stock of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). In fact, it had about 14,000 tonnes of totally damaged rice, wheat and Paddy, which could not be issued for distribution at the start of the year. According to information obtained by RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, the nodal government procurement agency had as many as 13,824 tonnes of “non-issuable” foodgrain stock as on January...

Weather scientists today pinned their hopes for a surge in the monsoon’s advance over central and northern India on a feeble low pressure system over the northwestern Bay of Bengal and on statistics. India has received 16 per cent rainfall, which is below normal during the first month of the season, and 31 of the country’s 81 water reservoirs are filled to less than 50 per cent of the normal capacity. But...

SAMBALPUR: In order to tide over prevailing food crisis, Agriculture Department has embarked on an ambitious plan to boost farm output in the district during the ensuing kharif. As per available data, Paddy will be cultivated on 1,04,500 hectares of land during the forthcoming kharif against 99,533 hectares last time. The department will give special emphasis for cultivation of high-yielding variety (HYV) of Paddy to augment production. As per plan, high-yielding variety...

Shortfall in sowing of Paddy, pulses and coarse cereals Union Agriculture Ministry officials are keeping their fingers crossed for the southwest monsoon to revive in parts of northern and central India before putting in place a contingency plan for kharif (Paddy) sowing. So far there has been a shortfall in sowing of Paddy, pulses and coarse cereals compared to last year, which was a drought year, resulting in a kharif output deficit...