-Down to Earth The move will give a boost to the export of the variety; help growers get a premium price for the fruit Citrus Reticulata Blanco, the world famous orange of Nagpur, was recently given the Geographical Indicators (GI) tag under the Geographical Indication of Goods, (Registration and Protection) Act 1999. This means the growers of the Nagpur orange, or Nagpur mandarin (as it is known to scientists), will now be...

-Down to Earth As June ends, the monsoon, it turns out, is deficient by 40 per cent. Despite the forecast of its revival in July, it is a concern for India's rainfed areas that account for significant foodgrain production and also host the largest number of farmers in the country. More than 100 districts are officially "chronic drought-affected" areas. Why have we not been able to drought-proof them? On June 28 Prime...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-The Telegraph   The European Union has banned the import of Indian mangoes as they failed to pass its stringent biosecurity regulations. Does India too need tougher biosecurity laws to protect its crops from pests and diseases? When a few pesky fruit flies tried to migrate from India, they ended up sparking a debate on the effectiveness of India's agricultural biosecurity laws and regulations. While some agriculture experts believe the laws are...

-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...