-The New York Times AGIRIPALLI: In this belt of villages near the fertile Krishna River delta, much is as it has been for generations: The cotton soil is as black, the mango trees as heavy with fruit, the tobacco fields as fragrant and deeply green as ever. But there have been curious changes in recent months. An old temple has received an expensive renovation, complete with a new banquet hall, courtesy of...

-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD: Shortage of seeds, high prices set by dealers and middle men, lack of enough quantity of seeds, and lack of money - are all factors that contribute to lack of seeds, which means lack of crop for thousands of farmers across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In an attempt to better this situation, Rythu Bandhu magazine, Hyderabad-based Telugu magazine that works for the empowerment of farmers, in...

-The Hindu GUDURU (KRISHNA): In Krishna district, considered the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh, illiterate women leaders of Agricultural labourers, engaged in paddy operations, have made a major contribution for better yield. The leader, known as ‘mestri' or ‘crop manager' among the womenfolk, attends the field with a rope in her hands. Having the sufficient number of workers, her duty involves calculation of the quantity of paddy saplings required for transplantation in...

-The Indian Express Around 100 KVKs are run by NGOs, including NGOs controlled by politicians. The Ministry of Agriculture has begun a review of the functioning of all 639 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country to detect - and put an end to - the "mismanagement of public money" by these institutions. At a meeting held over August 19-20 at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Delhi, Minister of State...

-The Hindu Providing access to credit likely to be a hard step For Prime Minister Narendra Modi's newly launched Jan Dhan Yojana to be successful, India needs to provide over 100 million households access to banks, data show. An even harder step, however, is likely to be access to credit. As of March 2012, the most recent year for which relevant Reserve Bank of India (RBI) statistics are available, India had over 900...