-Down to Earth System of crop intensification, specially in rice, has shown sizeable savings in water and seed usage. Yet its adoption has not spread despite incentives SIMPLE TECHNIQUES and manag-ement practices tend to be viewed with suspicion. In the age of input-intensive Agriculture which calls for an array of machinery and a host of scientific props, a crop management system whose core basically is protecting the plant's roots to provide better...

-Down to Earth Norman Uphoff, professor emeritus of government and international Agriculture at Cornell University, US, likes to say that the system of rice intensification is a virus. He says he caught the virus in 1990 and that it took a full three years for the virus to set in. Uphoff, 73, is talking about SRI, the system of rice intensification, a bug that he caught in Madagascar from a French...

-The Hindu Business Line A Budget for Agriculture A Budget is, generally speaking, a poor instrument for correcting food inflation. But this one conveys a clear intent to target the economic roots of the malaise by addressing supply side concerns. It also takes a long-term view of issues affecting the sector, transcending short-term production concerns. On the demand side, the simple economic response of reducing consumption can hardly apply, without compromising on nutrition....

-The Hindu Programme on integrated pest management Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu): Farmers were exposed to better management practices and basic techniques of soil testing at a programme on integrated pest management, organised by Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam, in association with Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai. Delivering the inaugural address here on Tuesday, N.K. Dhakshinamoorthy, Joint Director of Agriculture, Tuticorin, stressed the importance of biological control of pests in paddy crop in the Tamirabarani...

-Down to Earth Civil society calls for pesticide-free, organic food under government programmes for children while Bihar focuses on building new kitchens in government schools A year after 23 school children in Bihar's Saran district died of insecticide poisoning after consuming food served under Mid Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, government agencies seem to have forgotten the serious concern over handling and banning of hazardous chemicals that the tragedy raised. The children of Dharmasati-Gandaman...