The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) will set up an expert committee to look into patent violation issues concerning Bikaneri Narma, which was claimed to be the country’s first indigenous public sector-bred Bt cotton (genetically modified) seed variety.   Bikaneri Narma Bt Cotton also promoted as ‘completely indigenous Bt variety’ was developed by Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, along with Indian Agricultural Research...

-The Economic Times   The sowing of rabi crops has picked up. According to information received from the Ministry of Agriculture, wheat has been shown in 171.2 lakh hectare against 169.47 lakh hectare last year on this date.  Area coverage of wheat compared to last year is higher by 1.73 lakh hectare. Higher coverage has been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.  Rice transplanting is in progress in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha....

Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s ambitious new effort on land survey and consolidation could become another perilous flirtation with the hornet’s nest. Days after its unveiling at the presentation of the first annual report card of Nitish’s second term, a top minister in his cabinet sounded both alarm and caution on the land survey proposal. “Land, as the chief minister himself knows, is an extremely sensitive and volatile issue,” he told The...

Potato acreage in India is likely to drop by 15-20% in the new season. Farmers suffered last year due to a decline in prices following a higher production. According to an initial estimate, the losses could run into few thousand crores with Bengal farmers suffering the most. In this backdrop, a further expansion in area could weaken the prices even as sowing has started across Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar and Punjab....

Genetically modified (GM) pest-resistant crops may not be the panacea they are made out to be, a new study shows, with specific reference to Bt cotton. The field trial by scientists in Nagpur shows that the soil the plants are grown in matters almost as much as insect-killing genes and pesticide sprays. The finding could significantly increase the amount of money farmers spend in buying and spraying pesticides. It could also mean...