-The Hindu Business line India’s North-East, comprising eight States, is largely unspoilt by modern agricultural practices, which involve heavy use of agro-chemicals and chemical fertilisers. For this precise reason, the region is a natural choice for promoting organic farming in the country. Sikkim, the first organic State in India, has already shown the way for the other States in the region. According to the estimates available with the Agricultural and Processed...

-Livemint.com Soaring sales of herbicide tolerant, genetically modified cotton seeds put farmers across states at risk New Delhi: Regulatory failure has led to a surge in sales of unapproved herbicide tolerant (HT) genetically modified (GM) cotton seed packets in the ongoing Kharif planting season, putting thousands of farmers at risk across states such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The regulatory failure has been precipitated by the fact that the genetic engineering...

-The Indian Express To rope in 50 FPCs for business from this kharif season Pune: MahaFPC, the apex body of farmer producer companies (FPCs) in the state, has decided to try its hands at the business of input management, mainly fertilisers, this year. Yogesh Thorat, managing director of MahaFPC said they will be targeting around 50 FPCs to get into the business, starting the kharif season. Since the start of the FPC movement,...

-The Hindu Business Line A study of Farmer Producer Organisations in Bihar show mixed results — some successes but several challenges too The government has this lofty goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. Among the different instruments to achieve this goal, promotion of new and scaling up of existing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been given focus. Given the extremely small landholdings, FPOs, through collectivisation, which leads to economies of scale, are...

-Livemint.com Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto, and any royalties on GM crops will be decided by the agriculture ministry, says Delhi high court New Delhi: Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto Inc., and any royalties on genetically modified (GM) technology will be decided by a specialized agency of the agriculture ministry, the Delhi high court...