-Deccan Chronicle Thrissur (Kerala): Planting paddy on large swathes in expectation of copious rains and abundant harvests during Thiruvathira Njattuvela, according to conventional wisdom, between June 21 and July 4, has been a practice in Kerala. But try telling this to GenNext and you will draw a blank. The story is that the Zamorin of Malabar once remarked: "Aliens may take away our spices and other valuable crops but they cannot...

-The Hindu Focus on short-duration varieties, crop insurance plan Thiruvananthapuram (Andhra Pradesh): With the southwest monsoon playing truant, the government is working on a disaster management plan to help farmers tide over the possibility of crop failure and the consequent loss. The Department of Agriculture is focussing its efforts on the paddy sector, likely to be the worst affected by a poor monsoon. "With the initial monsoon spell tapering off, transplanting paddy shoots...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-The Times of India   AURANGABAD: The groundwater level in the Marathwada region has increased by 1.8 metres till May 2014 as compared to the corresponding period last year, according to a pre-monsoon survey conducted recently by the Groundwater Survey Development Agency (GSDA). Last year, the groundwater level till May was recorded at 11.44 mt, while this year it stood at 9.64 mt till the same period. Deputy director of GSDA, P L Salve,...

-The Hindustan Times   Faridkot: When it comes to paddy transplantation, the migrant labour from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and some other states, contributes a lot to meet the acute labour crisis in the region. It is another possible reason that, perhaps, distracts the farmers from the direct sowing of rice (DSR), otherwise, if the migrant labour is not available for paddy transplantation, farmers may be forced to shift towards the technique. "A large...