A study by Jonathan Kennedy and Lawrence King, published in the Lancet journal Globalization and Health (2014) has found that liberalization of the agricultural sector in the early-1990s is responsible for the agrarian crisis and, therefore, farmers with certain socio-economic characteristics -- cash crops cultivators, with marginal landholdings, and debts-are particularly at risk of committing suicide. In short, the study detects that the differences in the structure of agricultural production explain...

-The United Nations   From farming to forestry and fisheries, agriculture greenhouse emissions have nearly doubled over the past 50 years and may increase by another 30 per cent by 2050, according to new estimates out today from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). "FAO's new data represent the most comprehensive source of information on agriculture's contribution to global warming made to date," said Francesco Tubiello of the agecny's Climate, Energy and...

-The United Nations The effects of climate change are already occurring in all continents and across the oceans, and the world, for the most part, is ill-prepared for their risks, says a United Nations report issued today, which also warns that while action can be taken, managing the phenomenon's impacts will be difficult on a rapidly warming planet. The report, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from Working Group II of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Recent government's decision to allow field trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops has come under severe attack of a parliamentary committee which criticized the environment minister M Veerappa Moily for giving his nod to this effect. The panel suggested that any test should not be undertaken till the Centre puts in place all regulatory, monitoring, oversight and surveillance structure. Referring to the recent decision of Moily...

-The United Nations To mark World Water Day, the United Nations is highlighting the key role that water and energy play in economic development and the eradication of poverty worldwide, and calling for strong measures to ensure their efficient and equitable use. In his message for the Day, focused this year on the interdependence between the management of water and energy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that "they interact with each other...