-TheBetterIndia.com Over 100 women farmers have come together to reduce the impact of whiteflies on cotton crops. They have started a campaign to spread awareness about natural sprays to get rid of the pests and improve the production. Whitefly pest attacks, which destroy cotton crops, have always been an issue in Punjab and Haryana. After many failed attempts by scientists and governments to find a solution, a group of women in Haryana...

-The Times of India BATHINDA: "It was just like the Japanese air strike in the film, Pearl Harbour," said Naresh Kumar Lehri, a seed and pesticide dealer at Singho village in Punjab's Bathinda district. "They appeared out of nowhere and left a trail of destruction." Lehri was referring to the devastating attack by whitefly, a common pest, on the cotton crop in Punjab's Malwa region this year. It has affected about two-thirds...

-Hindustan Times Bathinda: The whitefly attack on the cotton crop has escalated further in the past one week across the region, leaving the farming community in distress.  As the pest turns out to be a 'poison' for the crop, the farmers have started uprooting cotton plants from their fields in several areas of various districts. Even the repeated sprays of pesticide have proved to be ineffective in controlling the menace, which has...

-Down to Earth The programme does not address challenges that farmers face in eastern states Farmers in Jharkhand have not derived significant benefits from the new Green Revolution programme initiated by the Centre in 2010-11, according to a report by non-profits working with the farmers in the state. The report claims that the government tried to implement the 1960s model of Green Revolution that increased agricultural production in Punjab and Haryana, without...

-The Hindustan Times   The government is planning a "grow safe food campaign" that could entail new policy initiatives on pesticide use and an awareness drive among farmers in the wake of a study that shows at least 2% of commonly consumed fruits and vegetables could be poisonous. The government-sponsored study, ‘Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level', continuously tracked pesticide use between April 2009 and March 2013 for possible presence of organo-chlorine,...