-Livemint.com Healthy, living soil is the most essential element in ensuring food security. Yet it is often ignored by policy planners The global population, which stood at 6.1 billion in 2000, is estimated to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. India has 2.4% of the world’s arable land and more than 17% of the global population. Meeting the demand for fibre and food to feed this growing population...

-Livemint.com Pulses are important from the perspectives of food security, environmental sustainability and balanced nutrition Most pulses such as pigeon pea (tur dal), black gram (urad), green gram (mung), field beans (waal), moth beans (matki) and horse gram (kulith) are native to the Indian subcontinent and have been an integral part of our diet for centuries. However, the single-minded focus on cereals over the last 50 years—the green revolution in wheat and...

-Livemint.com How women in a remote Nagaland village are bringing about transformation rooted in traditional Naga practices Inside a small thatched hut, smoke from the wood fire danced with the sun rays beaming through gaps in the roof. We huddled around the fire, brewed tea and wordlessly consumed the packed breakfast of bread, jam and boiled eggs. An intense cicada cacophony resonated across the hillside; the incessant shrill buzz battering our eardrums...

-The Times of India BANDA: In Uttar Pradesh's parched Bundelkhand region, one farmer is scripting a success story, and has set an example in a region ravaged by farmers' suicide and drought. Locals and activists are now approaching Prem Singh to find out how his practices have transformed his farm into a lush area. Bundelkhand, according to the estimates of NGO Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, has seen 113 farmers' suicides since January...

-The Hindu Prem Singh’s farm has plenty of water, fruit-bearing trees, and organic products BANDA (U.P.): In the parched, brown landscape of Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, where hundreds of distressed farmers have taken their lives in the past few decades or have been forced to migrate, Prem Singh’s farm is an exception. In the fabulous green farm, there is plenty for everyone: abundance of water-bodies for animals to drink from, many fruit-bearing trees,...