-The Times of India Though rains have lashed most parts of the country in the past few days, raising hopes of wiping out deficiency, a strong likelihood of the emergence of rain-interrupting El Nino weather pattern in September is still keeping weathermen on tenterhooks. The El Nino conditions, known to cause dry weather, are likely to disrupt the monsoon's progress which has reduced the overall rain deficit from 19% in July to...

-PTI Poor monsoon continues to put pressure on prices of staple vegetables, including tomato and potato, and could further push up retail inflation which is hovering above the double-digit mark. Rates of key veggies are yet to show signs of coming down compared to mid-July due to supply constraint as a result of Deficient Rainfall across the country. According to IMD, the country has witnessed 19 per cent rain deficiency during the season...

-The Economic Times PUNE: In a country where about a third of farmland is drought-prone, farmers have started adopting technologies that help mitigate the impact of water scarcity and maximise output with minimum inputs. Micro irrigation is the known technology to save water which has been used successfully by countries like Israel. Despite government subsidy, micro irrigation is not affordable to a large number of farmers. This has led to a widespread...

-Reuters Monsoon rains will not be enough to save the country from its first drought in three years, the weather office said on Thursday as it forecast that the El Nino weather pattern should reduce rains again in the second half of the June to September season. India, one of the world's largest food producers and consumers with a population of 1.2 billion, last suffered a drought in 2009, which forced it...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Scanty rains in cotton-growing regions of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have washed away hopes of hybrid seeds growth in the country. The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) is expecting only a single digit growth between 5-7% against its previous estimate of 20% early this year.  India's hybrid seed industry, which is pegged at Rs 11,000 crore, grew nearly 15% last year. And cotton seed contributes up...