SUKHRAM Gopal, a farmer from Bagli village in Devas district in Madhya Pradesh, relies on gut feel and tradition to be doubly sure that the rains will bless him with a bountiful harvest. On the day of the Gangaur festival, which typically falls in March-April and is a celebration of the monsoon and harvesting, Gopal starts sowing wheat. “Nine days later, if the seeds grow in a uniform manner, we...

Even as the Centre is redrafting the Food Security Bill to ensure availability of food for all, nearly 30 lakh tonnes of Paddy — the rice from which could feed around 4 lakh people for a month — have been left to rot in Punjab, with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) refusing to lift the stock. This particular variety of Paddy, PAU 201, was developed by Punjab Agricultural University, and...

At a time the country is facing high food inflation, its bread basket is sitting on colossal wheat stocks. The stocks, to the tune of 12 million tonnes, lying in godowns and open spaces in Punjab are giving sleepless nights to the Food Corporation of India (FCI). About 800,000 tonnes wheat moves out of Punjab in a month. Based on these figures, the state can clear about five million tonnes wheat...

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has decided to initiate steps to ensure better production of rice in Jharkhand through implementation of the system of rice intensification (SRI) in villages. It has decided to rope in NGOs for starting the project across the state. At present, the state has a Paddy yield of about 1.5 tonne per hectare per season, which can be doubled with the help...

His right thumb severed, Santosh Mondal didn’t know how he would harvest his crop. So he killed himself last night. The tragedy mirrors the desperation of not only a poor Murshidabad farmer but also of a state where politics revolves around farming even if it does not make economic sense. The suicide over a digit that most take for granted becomes all the more stark against the backdrop that Santosh could have...