Environmental groups have questioned assertions by sections of scientists and the biotechnology industry that genetically-modified (GM) Food crops could play a crucial role in ensuring food security. More than 180 GM plants have so far been field tested in several countries, but few have progressed to the stage where commercial seed is available to farmers, the non-government environmental network called Friends of the Earth (FoE) has said. “GM crops are...
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Non-GM soya varieties have immense opportunities
Union ministers may be squabbling heatedly over whether the moratorium on Bt Brinjal was right or wrong, but trade associations related to soya, a commodity which has been virtually swamped by the GM variety worldwide, are clear that the growing agri-biotech bandwagon has opened up immense new opportunities for safer, traditional, non-GM soya varieties. The Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association announced the launch of a two day International Soy...
More »On GM food, Govt begins its Jairam damage control
Pushed to a corner by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s peremptory freeze on Bt brinjal, the UPA government took the first step of finding a way out. And it needed the authority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to do that. In a clear enunciation of the government’s policy on GM crops — a policy that got clouded by Ramesh’s rhetoric — the Prime Minister underlined the importance of biotechnology in productivity...
More »Farmers paid peanuts, over 40% looking for better avenues by Omkar Sapre
PUNE: Bandya Pashte, 28, has been cultivating paddy on his family’s five-acre plot in village Veravli in the Konkan, Maharashtra’s coastal strip for about a decade. Last year, though, he threw in the towel because farming is not remunerative and lacks social status. Bandya has since migrated to the city to work as a driver, earning more than he did as a farmer. While Bandya is unaware of the National...
More »Try a new recipe by Ashok Gulati and Kavery Ganguly
The Central Statistical Organisation estimate of overall GDP being likely to grow at 7.2 per cent this year has brought back the confidence of the industry and policymakers that the economy has truly turned the corner. But the growth of the farm sector is almost flat (-0.2 per cent), though this too is a pleasant surprise given that it was exposed to the worst drought since 1972. The real worry...
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