-Rediff.com Potshangbam Devakanta from Manipur shows the way in conserving the biodiversity of the state, farming around 100 traditional varieties of paddy and rare medicinal plants, finds Manu A B/Rediff.com. When farmers across India are grappling with weather woes and poor yields, Potshangbam Devakanta from Manipur has succeeded in adopting smart and eco-friendly methods of farming to ensure his harvest is satisfactory year after year. Like thousands of farmers in India, 60-year-old Devakanta...

-The Pioneer Raipur: Chhattisgarh the rice bowl of India has managed to maintain stable paddy production this year despite drought conditions prevailing in several districts of the State. The Indira Gandhi Agricultural University (IGAU) Scientists claim that except rainfall dependent fields which were devoid of showers, other regions in the State have continued to maintain the ‘good old agricultural standards’. “It is appreciable to notice that paddy farming had been carried out in...

-Livemint.com Though pulsations may eventually ease, it is time to think of long-term cures Pulses have been throbbing hard and loud in India for sometime now. And not only because of prices, but also the pace in which it accelerated to 30% annually last month, three times the rate of increase six months ago. Besides angry television anchors and electoral evocations, hoarding, raids and truck thefts have set hearts thumping too....

-The Hindu The system brought down input costs — two to four kg of seeds per acre against 30 kg needed for fertiliser-based, water-intensive farming A model evolved for applying traditional wisdom in farming has also helped in conserving indigenous paddy varieties that are under threat of extinction. The Biodiversity Rainfed Farming System, promoted by Rural Organisation for Social Education, a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, in four blocks of Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu,...

The low rate of inflation of 3.88 percent in Consumer Food Price Index during September, 2015 actually hides the high prices at which various pulses (dal) are available in kirana / retail shops across India. In terms of Consumer Price Index (combined), monthly rate of inflation in pulses and products during September 2015 (over September last year) stood at 29.76 percent as compared to the overall monthly retail inflation of...