-The Times of India AURANGABAD: At a time when all of Marathwada is reeling under a drought-like situation, Akola Dev, a small village with a population of 3,000 in the Jafrabad taluka of Jalna district has set an example by introducing efficient water conservation methods in its periphery. All the villagers have joined hands to implement water conservation methods, thereby enabling them to sustain on last year's rainfall. Moreover, the farmers in...

-The Business Standard Agrarian crisis in the state appears as much a failure of planning as the result of a shortage of rain On a dry and cloudless day this month, Balbir Krishna Ingde sat by the Ujjani Dam in the Krishna basin, one of Maharashtra's largest irrigation projects, and confronted the problem of scarcity amid presumed abundance. "The water is filling up the reservoir. If only they could release it into the...

-The Economic Times PUNE: The deficient monsoon this year is likely to hit production of coarse grains such as jowar and bajra and other minor millets like ragi and pulses the hardest. This may not have much impact on the country's food security because India has ample stocks of wheat and rice but it will add to the financial burden of farmers, who will be forced to pay more for animal...

-The Business Standard A delayed monsoon and abundant cotton in the international market could spell trouble in the state's suicide zone Yavatmal (Maharashtra): As the skies stayed clear till the second week of June, Ramesh Gulabhrao Digde's mood darkened. His two acres were ploughed at great expense, the seeds were purchased, and a sack of fertilisers lay in a corner of his thatch-roofed hut in Parsodi village in western Maharashtra's Yavatmal...

-The Hindu Nagpur: With the highest number of farmer suicides recorded in the year 2013, Maharashtra continues to paint a dismal picture on the agrarian front with over 3,000 farmers taking their lives. According to a recent report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 3,146 farmers killed themselves in the state in 2013. Maharashtra repeated this performance despite the state registering 640 less farm suicides than 2012. According to NCRB...