-The Hindu   Farmers are again at the receiving end due to delay in procurement NALGONDA (Andhra Pradesh): The delight of getting a good paddy yield during the season was short-lived as the farmers had much difficulty in selling their produce and the unprepared and short-staffed district administration failed to stop millers from exploiting farmers in the district. Farmers cultivated paddy in more than 2 lakh hectares, highest in the recent past and second...

-The Hindustan Times   Chandigarh: The government of Punjab has decided to offer a subsidy of 4,000 per acre to motivate farmers to shift from the water-guzzling coarse rice variety (paddy) to the traditional cash crop cotton. In the crop diversification plan, the government has decided to initially support 1,500 acres in Abohar, Fazilka, Malout, Maur and Muktsar. CM Parkash Singh Badal cleared the plan on Monday. The subsidy is for purchasing hybrid...

-The Times of India MADURAI: A Madurai-based farmer has managed to produce the highest yield in paddy by combining organic and chemical fertilisers, even as agriculture is undergoing the odds due to erratic rains. C Sethumathavan from Chinnaelanthaikulam produced the yield of 24 tonnes per hectare paddy in the 2013 - 14 kuruvai season. Hailing from a traditional agriculture family, Sethumathavan had cultivated paddy on his 10 acres farm. But he was...

-The Hindu     Aberrations in monsoon behaviour are not uncommon. What is new is the difficulty in forecasting caused by factors coming under the generic title, ‘Climate change.' Forecasts by the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum and the India Meteorological Department indicate that the south-west monsoon rainfall may be deficient. Also, there is a possibility of the evolution of an El Niño event during June to September. There is a 45 per cent...

-The Hindu Business Line   Technology is transforming Indian agriculture and increasing output. This is good news, given that India may need to produce 90 million tonnes of foodgrain annually by 2030 to feed its growing population, says Vishwanath Kulkarni Jitendra, a prosperous farmer from Machrauli in Haryana, had barely hired a combine to harvest wheat on his 10-acre plot when clouds started building up. The weather office had predicted rains over the...