-Down to Earth Suitable policies need to be in place in order to enhance the prospects for contract farming in the state A 52-year-old, better-off farmer from Sehjo Majra in Ludhiana district of Punjab has been practising contract farming for more than 20 years. This farmer contracts with four companies — Pepsico Pvt Ltd, Pagro Foods Ltd, Fieldfresh Foods Pvt Ltd and Sungro Seeds Pvt Ltd. However, his longest association has been with...

-ThePrint.in While heavy rains have lashed parts of Assam and Meghalaya in the northeast, planting of rain-fed kharif crops has been delayed in Odisha, where the rain deficit is 39%. New Delhi: After a slow start, the four-month-long Southwest monsoon has finally turned normal, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows. Compared to a 42 per cent deficit in rainfall recorded on 8 June, the monsoon entered normal territory Tuesday at 98...

-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) A prolonged and deadly heatwave has hit large swaths of India and Pakistan affecting hundreds of millions of people and sparking food and energy shortages. Experts say the extreme heat is a grim preview of what the climate crisis has in store for a region home to over 1 billion people. Temperatures in India’s capital and parts of Pakistan have at times reached close to 50°C, killing...

-The Hindu Business Line They have shown the way in water conservation, waste management and solar energy Be it climate change adaptation or mitigation, cooperatives have set the agenda to collectively provide solutions to the looming impact of rising temperature, loss of jobs, depletion of water resources, degradation of land and forest resources and accumulation of wastes leading to health hazards. The explicit adoption of eco-social agendas by cooperatives is contributing to co-op...

-PTI/ The Week Ensuring irrigation efficiency is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture. India needs to redesign its irrigation policy, including by promoting improved technological interventions in the wake of depleting ground water, according to an article published in the latest issue of RBI Bulletin. In the backdrop of recurrent episodes of drought and declining groundwater table, ensuring irrigation efficiency is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture, the article published on Tuesday said. RBI...