Madhya Pradesh accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total area under certified organic farming in the country. Though most of it is due to cotton fields, the state has an immense potential to bring even food crops under organic cultivation.   What may help the state’s cause is that agriculture is already organic by default in many tribal-dominated districts because farmers either don't have the resources to use chemical fertilizers...

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...

Farmers in Maharashtra flock to 
a new breed of aggressive leaders Its name in Marathi means edge of the hill, but Dongarkada has no hill or mountain in its vicinity. What the village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district has is a cooperative sugar factory controlled by Congress leader Ashok Chavan. Though the Adarsh Housing Society scam rocked the state and forced him to resign as chief minister, the village remains loyal to...

Mother Dairy’s retail model helps farmers but is under pressure from chains Call it the Safal model. For close to 25 years, a large chunk of households in the National Capital Region have had access to fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices—at rates much lower than what the local vegetable and fruits market or the handcart vendor would charge. This was made possible by standing the concept of buying on...

Recognising the impact of schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), President Pratibha Patil on Thursday called for their further utilisation in the agriculture sector in the emerging scenario of “farm labour shortage and food security.” The President's comments are significant in the context of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's recent letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to suspend the MGNREGS during crop harvesting...