-Hindustan Times Farm experts say cotton crop is considered the largest consumer of pesticides and insecticides and Punjab can reduce its chemical load with a dedicated policy on Organic farming Punjab lacks a policy to promote organic cotton cultivation even as farmers associated voluntarily with it see viability of chemical-free production of the cash crop. Farm experts say cotton crop is considered the largest consumer of pesticides and insecticides and Punjab can reduce...

-CaravanMagazine.in On 15 August 2021, marking India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a crowd-packed Red Fort. “Just as we are making sure that no person or no class should be left behind in the development journey of society, similarly no part of the country, no corner of the country, should be left behind,” he told the crowd. “Development should be all-round, development should be all-pervasive, development should be...

-Down to Earth Sri Lanka has found itself in an economic crisis in pursuit of producing 100% organic food   ‘Lankan food crisis shows perils of Organic farming’. This was the headline of a column by Indian economist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar column published in a national daily recently. Aiyar’s article analysed the Sri Lankan food crisis, which has been triggered by the President’s recent decision to shift from chemical to Organic farming. While the...

-TheWire.in Several local women farmers recalled their struggle in persuading their family to convert hazardous, chemical-driven conventional farming into environment-friendly Organic farming. Dehradun: “When I die I am not going to leave behind gold or currency for my grandchildren. I will leave for them organic seeds that I have saved over the years which they will remember as their grandmother’s legacy. They must know that this biodiversity is the symbol of our...

-Foundation of Agrarian Studies An influential section of Sri Lankan agricultural economists and scientists has deplored the recent course change in the country’s agricultural policy made by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. The decision by the government to ban the use and import of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in pursuit of a “100 per cent organic food producer” status for Sri Lanka has already had disastrous consequences for the economy of the...