-Down to Earth System of crop intensification, specially in rice, has shown sizeable savings in water and seed usage. Yet its adoption has not spread despite incentives SIMPLE TECHNIQUES and manag-ement practices tend to be viewed with suspicion. In the age of input-intensive agriculture which calls for an array of machinery and a host of scientific props, a crop management system whose core basically is protecting the plant's roots to provide better...

-Down to Earth Jaitley continues with UPA schemes on agriculture, allocates more funds The maiden budget of finance minister Arun Jaitley is disappointing for farmers as it has nothing in its kitty to address the increasing farm stress and resolve the ongoing agrarian crisis in the country. The much-awaited budget of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) neither talks about assured farm income nor gives any remedy to reduce farm...

-The Hindu Business Line Drop the euphoria for a moment - a third of India is seriously poor. And urban poverty has risen sharply The latest report on the number of poor Indians shows a third of the population living below the recalibrated poverty lines. C Rangarajan, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, was asked to look into the matter...

-The Hindu   With water becoming an important cost, and with climate change and soil degradation, the System of Rice Intensification offers disadvantaged farming households better opportunities A truant monsoon is in the offing, with El Niño weather patterns expected to bring about drier conditions. India has the world's largest area devoted to rice, a very water-intensive crop. This is a good time for giving impetus to "more crop per drop" practices, now...

-The Indian Express The scheme should be refocused towards creating durable assets in agriculture. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has a significant influence on agricultural operations and cultivation costs. If its present focus on community works can be reoriented to proactively promote improvements on the landholdings of small and marginal farmers through the creation of durable assets, it will be beneficial for agricultural productivity and incomes. Critics say that...