-The Times of India MHOW: Faced with problem of lean margins for their produce in local markets, farmers of Harsola and adjoining villages in Mhow tehisl came together and tied up with middleman outside the state to become most prominent suppliers of quality produce to Delhi and Gujarat. In less than three years, nondescript villages have become hub of cauliflower trading and are now famously called gobhi gaon. It is a tale...

-Livemint.com The World Food Price Index in August fell to its lowest level since May 2009 Indian farmers are not going to like this. The World Food Price Index, compiled by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, in August fell 5.2% to 155.7 points from the previous month. That’s the lowest level since May 2009. The fall comes in the backdrop of an all-round decline in commodity prices. The cereal price index...

-The Indian Express As many parts of the country reel under a back-to-back drought, Kavitha Iyer reports from the region that’s at the centre of the crisis. Weeks before hanging himself from a tree on his farm on June 1 this year, Kalyan Khomne, 55, read out a newspaper report to his son Shahdev. “It was about a farmer’s suicide in our taluka,” says 26-year-old Shahdev. His village, Nandurghat, and the nearby...

-The Hindu Despite growing clamour for pesticide-free produce, doubts persist about the capability of organic farming to generate high yields Kerala: Organic farming began finding momentum in Kerala since the unveiling of a policy in 2010 that set the goal of converting the entire agricultural production in the State to organic within 10 years. That policy announced by the then Left Democratic Front government is now being fast-tracked by the present United...

-The Hindustan Times The skyrocketing prices of onions, a key ingredient used in making dishes ranging from curries to biryanis, reflects India’s inability to insulate staples from weather-induced supply disturbances. On Thursday onions traded at Rs 4,900 a quintal (or Rs 49 a kg) at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, India’s largest wholesale market for the crop. Inadequate supplies have pushed up prices sharply over the last few weeks. Already, retail onion prices have...