-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: Indian companies have acquired land more than nine times the size of Delhi on foreign shores, as cultivable land at home is lost to urbanisation, industry and infrastructure projects. Land Matrix, a global land monitoring initiative that tracks land dealings worldwide, placed India among the top 10 countries that have acquired large tracts of land abroad, primarily for agriculture, in Africa and Asia. The country ranks eighth,...

-The Hindu India should take its cue from Brazil and invest in ethanol as a viable commercial substitute for costly petrol The public and media were outraged recently after a suggestion that petrol stations could be closed from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. to curb consumption. Oil import is the heaviest burden on India's foreign exchange, at $144 billion last year. The situation could get worse, given the potential for an increase...

-Outlook Gandhinagar: A more stringent safety regime will be in place for genetic engineering in agriculture or medical sciences once the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) Bill is cleared by Parliament, a senior official said here today. "The NBRA bill has been introduced in Parliament and being debated. Once it (bill) is cleared, a more stringent safety regime shall be in place for genetic engineering, be it in the agriculture space or...

-The Hindu Groundwater meets three quarters of the State's farming needs The Punjab State Farmers Commission recently published a draft new agriculture policy for the State that envisages substantial crop diversification from paddy and wheat staples that the State has been growing since the sixties. The draft policy, currently being debated in agriculture circles, is the first serious road map to steer Punjab's agriculture towards a new dynamic, necessitated by a sharp...

-Grist Media The proposed Food Security Bill will likely raise the demand for dal across India. While farmers and consumers are against it, the government keeps favouring the agri-industry and importing more and more cheap versions to offset rising inflation. But why won't India produce its own dal anymore? Nowhere are Canada's agricultural production plans tracked more closely than in India's Ministry of Food & Consumer Affairs. As it struggles to meet...