-The Hindu ICAR Director-General says India needs to produce up to 2 million tonnes of rice to feed the teeming millions India, a country that comes second after China in Rice Cultivation with 44 million hectares under rice, plans to increase the acreage under hybrid rice to 5 million hectares from the current 2 million hectares.   Research goals Speakers at the 6 International Hybrid Rice Symposium here on Monday said the country needed to...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA | GUWAHATI: West Bengal and Assam have failed to avail funds under Bringing Green Revolution to the Eastern India (BGREI) for FY13. In the Union Budget 2012-13, the Centre has allotted Rs 1,000 crore for seven states in the eastern region under the BGREI scheme. While West Bengal has failed to send the statement of expenditure to avail the BGREI fund, Assam, on the other hand, has taken...

-The Hindu Centre mulling alternative crops The Union Government is looking at the possibility of replacing rice crop in Punjab and Haryana with alternative crops such as pulses, fodder and oilseeds that help in nitrogen fixation. The water-intensive Rice Cultivation over the years has become unsustainable in these two States and the water table has fallen to precarious levels. Giving this information to members of Parliament’s Consultative Committee for his Ministry, Agriculture Minister...

-Live Mint Notwithstanding the drought, farmers have preferred to sow sugar cane and rice instead of opting for less water-intensive crops such as coarse grains and pulses. The latest sowing data released by the agriculture ministry as of 16 August shows that area under coarse cereals and pulses is down 13% and 12.39%, respectively, from last year, while that for rice and sugar cane contracted only 3.57% and 4.53%, respectively. In the process,...

-The Hindu Sowing of kharif paddy has improved thanks to rain in some parts of the deficient areas, but it is still lower by 11.40 lakh hectares as compared to last year. If compared with last year’s sowing — a record foodgrains production year — at this time of the year, the area under paddy, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and cotton is still lower. An inter-Ministerial group that reviewed the situation on Friday...