The 2010 Seeds Bill that has been introduced in Parliament does address some of the major concerns in the aborted 2004 version, but strangely a number of important correctives – on regulation, consistency and punishment – that had been incorporated in the 2008 version (which lapsed in 2009) have now been modified or dropped altogether. What forces are pushing the government to act against the interests of India’s farmers? The third...

Rural television viewers who want more than the half-an-hour of Krishi Darshan daily, there is good news. It may soon be beamed 24x7. The rural development ministry has decided to launch a 24-hour channel for India’s large rural population to make them “adequately aware” of the government’s umpteen schemes. Krishi Darshan would be the model — the proposed channel’s programmes would deal with agriculture, land, water and sanitation. But “it will have...

Acting with determination and firm action, it should be possible for India to step up its agricultural growth rate to 10 per cent. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of the Plan period. The Planning Commission is working towards an overall 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth rate. But the target of 4 per cent growth rate is...

The UN's food and agriculture arm today advocated the use of jatropha for producing bio-diesel and said the crop can help farmers improve their financial condition in dry areas. "Using the energy crop jatropha for bio-diesel production could benefit poor farmers, particularly in semi-arid and remote areas of developing countries," said a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Jatropha curcas grows...

The Orissa government on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to provide agricultural credit of Rs 9165 crore in this fiscal compared to Rs 5300 crore in 2009-10. In a conscious move to avoid the embarrassment of having the tag of anti-farmers, the government has also decided to continue with 2% interest subvention on the farm credit, according to minister for agriculture and cooperation, Damodar Rout. In another significant development, the...