-TheHansIndia.com Agriculture is intertwined with soil, plant and human beings. In shaping the research, how much attention was paid to these three components? There is a need to reassess or evaluate the institute, whether it has retained the virtues of the pioneers who started it Improvements in farming could be traced in certain regions of the world, where agriculture has become prime occupation of life. Hence, the struggle and labours of few...

-IndiaSpend.com Beed and Washim (Maharashtra): You would not think there was a worsening farm crisis in India’s second-largest agricultural economy if you met Jairam Jadhav in the central region of Marathwada, one of the areas facing a drought that equals the worst in a century. Jadhav, 35, is a happy man. Despite two seasons of truant rains, his well has enough water to supply his 20-acres of sugarcane, cotton and pigeon pea...

-The Hindu Crop insurance has always been a knotty issue with the two previous ones, National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NIAS) of 1999 and the Modified NAIS of 2010 failing to address the concerns. Hyderabad: Agriculture scientists, NGOs and farmer leaders have picked holes in the recently launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) touted as the much-awaited ‘suraksha kavach’ (shield) and panacea for all crop insurance related ills. Crop insurance has always been...

-The Times of India Nagpur: Chairman of state task force on farmers, Kishore Tiwari, has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban use of chemicals in 14 suicide-prone districts of Maharashtra. Tiwari's suggestion follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to emulate Sikkim, which has become the first state to switch over to total organic farming to save environment. "To start with at least the 14 districts of Maharashtra, affected by farmers' suicide,...

-PTI Banning use of chemicals will reduce the cost of cultivation by over 50%, he added Mumbai: In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for expansion of organic farming across the country, a prominent farm activist has urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban the use of chemicals in 14 suicide prone districts of the state. "All the 14 districts of Maharashtra affected by farmers' suicide should be declared as organic...