The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved a plan by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to prepare the nation’s crops, livestock and fisheries for rising temperatures and other impacts of climate change. The National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture will receive Rs 350 crore for multiple projects — from developing heat-tolerant rice and wheat to tracking the spawning behaviour of marine and freshwater fish amid rising temperatures. The programme will...

Climate change is springing an unpleasant surprise on agriculture in India, catching both farmers and governments unprepared. The erratic and deficit rainfall pattern and rise in temperature in recent years has even forced farmers to change cropping patterns and several areas have been declared drought-hit.Agricultural scientists acknowledge that even a mere one degree increase in average day temperature would adversely impact production of both wheat and rice crops (total annual...

South Asia in general and India in particular have the dubious distinction of standing out for wrong reasons every time a new global poverty report is released. We not only have the largest number of underweight children, a very high maternal mortality rate and the world’s highest number of out of school children but we also top the global malnutrition chart. (See links below for more details)  However the 2011 United...

I have not received any official communication: Kerala Minister The proposed field trial comes at a time when natural rubber production has virtually stagnated In the face of opposition from the Kerala government to all genetically modified (GM) crops, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is learnt to have approved a proposal from the Rubber Board for conducting field trials of GM rubber. The GEAC has been constituted by the Union Ministry...

The indiscriminate use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides over the years has led to deterioration of soil quality and crop productivity in India. According to a study conducted by the central soil water conservation research and training institute (CSWCRTI), Dehra Dun, about 1 millimetre of top soil is lost every year due to erosion. This leads to a total soil loss of 5,334 million tonnes annually, at an average rate...