-The Financial Express To cushion the blow of a delayed monsoon that has hit kharif sowing hard, the agriculture ministry has asked farmers to prepare their land and nurseries for direct sowing of paddy (sans re-planting of saplings) and suggested cultivation of less water-consuming crops such as arhar, urad, pigeon pea, groundnut, maize and soyabean. The National Agromet Advisory Services, a joint initiatives by India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ministry of agriculture,...

-The Hindu Business Line     Most farmer suicides linked to failed crops Hyderabad: The farm distress, particularly in cotton growing areas, continues to haunt the country. Maharashtra topped the list of farm suicides in 2013 with 3,146 farmers ending their lives. Andhra Pradesh (along with Telangana) stood second in the list with 2,014 deaths. The latest report of the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) has put the total number at 11,772, including 1,283 women, for...

-Down to Earth   It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank of wood trailing his tractor. After sometime, he adds another row of gunny bags to add weight. On being asked what he was doing, Jaspal replies, "I'm levelling my field. A lot of water is lost if the paddy fields...

-Down to Earth In 2009, Punjab became the first state in the country to enact a law banning the sowing of rice before a stipulated date. The aim was to arrest the fall in water table. While the law has succeeded in its objective, it has also fomented discontent among farmers In 2006, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh faced an unprecedented situation. On the one hand, he had to contend with a...

-The Tribune The community has to pay the cost of environmental degradation if sustainable agricultural practices are not followed. Food can also be produced by in-built provisions for ecological services. For this, sustainability issues have to be addressed with policy support. An ecosystem is a dynamic, complex, functional unit of diverse living organisms, physical environment and humans are its integral part. The wellbeing of mankind depends upon food, water, fibre, medicine, flood...