-Deccan Herald Instead of reducing the usage, molecular breeders are conveniently dovetailing pesticides tolerance into GM crop varieties. It's a strange paradox. While the demand for Organic Food is rising unequivocally in the rich and developed countries as well as in the major developing countries, the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture is also growing at a phenomenal pace. The Organic Food industry in the US is relatively new. At a time when...

-Tehelka Away from the politics of food security, a small initiative in Assam is changing the way young people look at agriculture. Pubali Saikia, 13, plucks fresh ripe tomatoes, as her classmate Sunti Saikia, 14, arranges beanstalks. The two teenagers are excited; it is, after all, the first produce of their life. Of late, the Titabor sub-division in upper Assam's Jorhat district has been witnessing a silent awakening of sorts. And...

-IBN Agriculture and allied activities account for 14.1% of India's GDP in 2011-12 but the proportion of the people dependent for employment in this sector is as high as 58.2.The average annual growth rate of agriculture during the Eleventh Plan Period was about 3.6%. However, declining per capita availability of food grains is of major long term concern. For ensuring nutritional security, it is not only important to increase the per...

-Press Information Bureau The official Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities' (Base: 2004-05 = 100) for the month of December, 2013 declined by 1.3 percent to 179.2 (provisional) from 181.5 (provisional) for the previous month. INFLATION The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 6.16% (provisional) for the month of December, 2013 (over December, 2012) as compared to 7.52% (provisional) for the previous month and 7.31% during the corresponding month...

-The Alternative Parveen Kumar works in the farms of Uddhampur District, Jammu & Kashmir, where the Government has posted him on a project that allots about 100 to 200 hectares of land each to grow and train farmers in organic cultivation. Parveen grows wheat, maize and pulses in the 100 hectares that he is in-charge of. Crops are chosen by the government after analysing the market demand in the area. Thus,...