-Financial Express Water resources minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday it was practically difficult for sugarcane Farmers in Maharashtra to abandon the water-guzzling crop and shift to other crops, as the latter are less remunerative. “I ask as a Farmer. I will not undertake the sugarcane crop, you tell me what should I do…. The price of non-basmati rice is `13-14 per kg, which is peanuts and look at the price (escalation)...

-The Telegraph Why Farmers worry when Bhutan lifts stones Saralpara (India-Bhutan border): Since the 1990s, Anarshi Iswary and nearly 500 other Farmers from five villages here have been joining hands every Wednesday during the monsoon to build, repair or rebuild a makeshift stone dam on the Saralbhanga, flowing down the hills of Bhutan about 4km away. The Sarpang district administration in Bhutan gives permission with a condition: no digging of the riverbed. The nine-foot-tall...

-Hindustan Times Osmanabad, and Yavatmal in Vidarbha are two of the worst affected districts in the state, in the last seven years. In a recent study of 450 families that have witnessed Farmer suicides in Osmanabad district of Marathwada, the Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS) found that Farmers from nuclear families are more vulnerable to commit suicide than those in joint families. Osmanabad, and Yavatmal in Vidarbha are two of the worst...

-Down to Earth Fragments of plastic film have been shown to release potentially carcinogenic substances into soil Plasticulture, or the use of plastics in agriculture, is evident in the form of lining of farm ponds, greenhouse cultivation, micro-irrigation (drips and sprinklers) and plastic mulching. Plastic mulch, in particular, should be of concern to us as it is a potential source of entry into our food system. Why are Farmers turning to plasticulture? The Ministry...

-TheWire.in With pending dues of Rs 22,000 crore, sugarcane Farmers in the country continue to suffer as the Centre’s package to ‘address the current crisis’ proves thoroughly inadequate and misdirected. The Wire takes a deep dive into the sugarcane crisis. Shamli: On a hot May afternoon, a long queue of tractor trolleys loaded beyond capacity with sugarcane, are lined up outside the Upper Doab Sugar Mills in Shamli district – in...