-The Hindu Indiscriminate digging of farm ponds has accelerated groundwater extraction The Maharashtra government’s flagship Jalyukt Shivar Yojana has been touted as a drought-proofing scheme, but a field study conducted by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) gives a different picture. The organisation carried out the study at Hiwargaon-Pawasa, a backwater village with a population of 1,500, in Ahmadnagar district’s Sangamner Taluk. The research presents a microcosmic example of how...

-The Economic Times PUNE / NEW DELHI: Present weather conditions indicate possibility of a normal monsoon in 2017, although there is a chance of a weak El Niño — a weather phenomenon associated with poor rains in India — emerging towards the end of the rainy season in September, the weather office has said. However, the monsoon forecast may not remain comfortable if El Niño makes an early appearance. Having briefly emerged from...

-Livemint.com According to NCDEX, over 25,000 small and marginal farmers from 13 FPOs have successfully hedged their crops on its trading platform in the past 10 months New Delhi: In a bumper crop year when farmers across the country have been battered by lower crop prices, farmers’ groups are using futures contracts to hedge against price dips during the harvest season. For instance, Samriddhi Mahila Crop Production Co. Ltd, a farmer-producer organization (FPO)...

-Down to Earth Latest data suggests a decline in the nutritional quality of food. What is stripping our food of nutrients? Can authorities cope with the challenge? If you thought that your healthy food choices are going to keep you fit and disease-free, think again. The data released by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, on January 18 suggests that the foods we eat today are less nutritious than what...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The price of vegetables, particularly onion, could rise in the coming months as the government has estimated that output is slightly lower than last year. Horticulture output has not kept pace with the robust growth in the estimated production of foodgrains and oilseed in the crop year to June 2017, advance estimates of the agriculture ministry showed on Friday. Production of vegetables is estimated to be around...