-Livemint.com Major consumer goods players have caught on to the emergence of ragi as an alternative food, triggering production of the Millet crop in India New Delhi: Just like the humble quinoa, which has risen to global prominence as a ‘super food’, ragi or finger Millet was once a subsistence crop—a poor man’s staple. For the last four years or so, all that has changed. “Demand for ragi has come back as people are...

-Down to Earth Latest data suggests a decline in the nutritional quality of food. What is stripping our food of nutrients? Can authorities cope with the challenge? If you thought that your healthy food choices are going to keep you fit and disease-free, think again. The data released by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, on January 18 suggests that the foods we eat today are less nutritious than what...

-The Times of India A striking feature of the poll campaign in Uttarakhand is that neither of the two major political parties have any concrete strategy for a crisis that's haunting nearly half the state's population. Since 2000, when the state was created, foodgrain production has gone down by 6% and land under cultivation by 11%. In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, with similar mountainous terrain, foodgrain output increased by 29% while the country...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has launched a major initiative to promote dry land farming in cluster mode, focusing on improving production and productivity of Millets, pulses and oilseeds in rain-fed agricultural fields, which remain by and large unused. The scheme, rolled out through a government order on January 27 is worth Rs 803 crore and aims at water conservation, promoting mixed farming, mini-dairy and poultry units to...

-Hindustan Times Dehradun: Digamber Negi, 37-year-old farmer in picturesque Doon Dwara village on the border of Dehradun-Tehri Garhwal districts, is cursing his fate after monkeys barged into his field a week ago and destroyed vegetable crop. Like Negi, several other villagers have similar plight to share. The village has a population of 320 people and they are dependent only on agriculture. Villagers complain that in the past one decade or so, attacks by...