-The Hindu With crops hit by drought and the TO-1057 seed, our reporter visits Narayangaon, among the country’s largest tomato growing regions, and finds farmers struggling to cope with the failed harvest but still faithful to the fruit Last week, the grey rain clouds over the Sahyadris seemed full of promise. A few light showers, and colour was slowly returning to parched leaves and the dry earth was beginning to yield again....

-StateTimes.com JAMMU: The Agriculture Department has introduced a revolutionary Paddy Drum Seeder for expanding area coverage under paddy cultivation. A simple machine weighing less than 10 kgs and costing around Rs 5000 has been introduced through Private Public Parternership (PPP) Mode the demonstration of which was conducted today at Seohra (Pounichak) in presence of Director Agriculture Jammu Dr S S Jamwal.   Elaborating the benefits of the machine Dr. Jamwal said that only three...

-The Asian Age Bhubaneswar: Traditionally-cultivated minor millets are the major sources of sustenance for lakhs of tribals and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers living in southern and western parts of Orissa. Over 170 varieties of millets are cultivated in the hilly and forested areas in the state. Some of the prominent minor millets largely cultivated in Orissa include sorghum (jawari) spiked millet (Bajra) and finger millet (Ragi/Mandika), among others. The nutritional value of the minor...

-The Indian Express Even though Shamli tops in sugarcane production, there is nearly Rs 300 crore dues for district farmers. Shamli/ Kairana: Mohkam Singh supplied 22 buffalo carts of cane, each laden with 18 quintals, to the sugar mill at Shamli belonging to Sir Shadi Lal Enterprises Ltd in the 2015-16 crushing season. These 400 quintals should have fetched about Rs 1.12 lakh at the Uttar Pradesh government’s state advised price (SAP)...

Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...