-The Indian Express A new 125-day rice variety promises to provide some respite to Punjab farmers, depleting aquifers Ludhiana: A new variety maturing within 125 days, yet yielding nearly as much as those now grown over 135-160 days, could provide the ultimate solution to Punjab’s woes stemming from farming of water-guzzling paddy. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has released a paddy variety PR-126 that gives an average of 30 quintals per acre. This is...
More »SEARCH RESULT
For consumers, milk could pinch further in the days ahead
-The Indian Express Maharashtra’s dairies are experiencing the lagged effect of two years of drought now Pune: Dairies in Maharashtra have been witness to an unusual phenomenon of late. The winter months are when milk production and procurement rises, peaking in January. But this time round, shortages have developed precisely in the ‘flush’ period from September to March, when more milk naturally flows from the udders of animals. “We could procure only...
More »This year too, El Nino may lead to deficit monsoon, drier conditions in India
-Down to Earth Drier-than-normal conditions in Southeast Asia are likely to develop around July to August and persist through the end of the year The survey of international weather models made by the Bureau of Meteorology under the Government of Australia shows steady warming of the central tropical Pacific Ocean is expected over the next six months. Moreover, at least six models suggest that El Nino thresholds will be reached by July...
More »In Kerala, the drought has as much to do with nature as with humans -Vinson Kurian
-The Hindu Business Line Thiruvananthapuram: J Cherian, an MBA in biotech from Scotland, who took to farming on his ancestral property in central Kerala, watches in despair as a merciless March sun beats down on his young plants. “This is unlike anything that I've seen in my eight years in the fields,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. The administration seemed to concur, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declaring that artificial...
More »Ryot Empowerment: Giving effective voice to rural producers through FPOs
-The Indian Express Farmer producer organisations have truly taken off. Now’s the time to create their own lobbying platform. In the Summer of 2011, as the managing director of the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), an autonomous society under the Union Agriculture Ministry, I addressed a group of Uttar Pradesh government officials in Lucknow. My hosts politely sat through my presentation and near-evangelical pitch, as I pushed the idea of promoting farmer...
More »