-The Indian Express Area under ‘unapproved’ herbicide-tolerant hybrids likely to fall this year Nagpur: Last year, almost 35 lakh packets of genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds, incorporating unapproved ‘herbicide-tolerance’ or HT technology, were bought and planted by farmers across India. But this time round, state governments seem better prepared to curb this illegal cultivation, even as sowing of cotton is over in northwest India and is about to commence in the...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...

-TheWire.in An annual watershed management contest by Paani Foundation has also helped create jobs and control migration in the region. Pune: “In this kharif season at the peak of summer, my two-acre farm is pretty green with crops – groundnuts, maize and fodder for animals. Since I came to this village after my marriage in 2002, every summer would begin with waiting for water tankers to get water to drink and for...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Bt-cotton occupies 90 per cent of the land under cotton in India – and the pests that this GM variety was meant to safeguard against, are back, virulently and now pesticide-resistant – destroying crops and farmers The black scars dotting the green bolls of a wilting cotton plant on Ganesh Wadandre’s farm carried a message for scientists working on the ‘white gold’: go find a new antidote. “Those are the entry points,”...

-Newsclick.in The government has chosen not to intervene in the market prices of the seasonal crops, forcing farmers to deal with the debt and the crisis on their own. Despite the Maharashtra government’s farm loan waiver scheme to “settle” the agrarian debts of farmers, the number of farmers committing suicide in the state continues to rise. The state has witnessed a total of 696 farmer suicides in the initial three months of...