-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Diwali is a week away but the capital's air quality has already plunged to "very poor" levels, breaching the hazardous "red zone" on Sunday for the first time this season - a level, if sustained for three straight days, prompts Beijing authorities to shut factories and curb outdoor activities. Delhi's air quality index, separately calculated by CPCB and SAFAR, showed a common reading of 318 on...
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Punjab, Haryana Farmers Ignore Ban On Stubble Burning
-PTI Chandigarh: Ignoring warnings by state authorities on burning paddy stubble, many farmers in Haryana and Punjab are still continuing the banned practice, leading to health risks and adversely affecting soil health. Both the Haryana and Punjab governments have imposed a ban on burning of paddy residue and the erring farmers can also be prosecuted by authorities. However, reports from various areas, including Karnal district in Haryana and Patiala district in Punjab, suggest...
More »Hunger solutions from the soil -Shyam Khadka
-Livemint.com Healthy, living soil is the most essential element in ensuring food security. Yet it is often ignored by policy planners The global population, which stood at 6.1 billion in 2000, is estimated to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. India has 2.4% of the world’s arable land and more than 17% of the global population. Meeting the demand for fibre and food to feed this growing population...
More »No one asks the farmer -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The opposition’s main contention is that the GM mustard hybrid incorporates three alien genes — barnase, barstar and bar — rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health. Fifty years ago, Union Minister for Food and Agriculture Chidambaram Subramaniam took the decision to import 18,000 tonnes of seeds of Lerma Rojo 64A and Sonora 64 wheat from Mexico. The seeds arrived just in time for their planting in...
More »Agriculture economics: The next big farm solution - cutting production costs -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express In a scenario of depressed crop prices, a unique PPP model in milk shows the way out. Coimbatore: For roughly a decade from 2004-05 to 2013-14, Indian farmers experienced rising incomes from higher crop prices year after year — something they pretty much took for granted. That party ended with the crash in global commodity prices, hitting agricultural exports hard and translating into lower farm-gate realisations for most crops. But...
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