-The New Indian Express JEYPORE (Odisha): The announcement of making a 56-year-old tribal woman of Patraput village in Koraput district a member of the State Planning Board has brought cheer for the widow as well as the locals. Villagers and elected representatives of Jeypore block are making a beeline for her thatched house to congratulate Kamala Pujari, who brought laurels to the State by preserving hundreds of local varieties of paddy...

-PTI Director of CUTS International, George Cheriyan said that the consumption of chemical fertilisers in the country has been increasing along with level of agriculture production. Just 19 per cent farmers are practicing organic farming in Rajasthan even as 91 per cent were aware of the ill-effects of chemical farming, a survey has revealed. The fact came to the fore in a baseline survey conducted by CUTS International among 1,795 consumers,  644 farmers...

-TheEcologist.org 'Climate smart agriculture' has become the buzz phrase at high level international policy discussions. But now there is a struggle over its definition. Is it the latest manifestation for corporate social responsibility or the title of a manifesto for real, grassroots led, change, ask PETER NEWELL, JENNIFER CLAPP and ZOE BRENT The race is on to deliver models of agricultural development that are viable and sustainable in a world of...

-The Hindu Business Line The declining response ratios due to excess spraying of fertilisers, which leads to wasteful expenditure on fertiliser subsidy, only leads to loss of key national resources Hyderabad: India is on the verge of a looming soil crisis which can potentially impact its agriculture in the near future, says a report. A third of the total 350 million hectares has already turned problematic. Soil is turning either acidic, saline, sodic...

-The Financial Express For most consumers, ‘organic’ is probably a code for ‘safe’ or ‘residue-free’, not necessarily produce grown without chemical fertilisers and pesticides. But marketers use the tag to tap into a seam of fear in some urban parents who are so anxious about health that they are willing to pay for advertising that spells ‘well-being’. A brand of ‘organic’ jaggery, for example, on the shelves of Reliance Fresh stores...