-The Hindu   Lucrative subsidy available under National Horticulture Mission Tamil Nadu: Small and marginal farmers, hitherto cultivating vegetables under conventional method, have slowly started shifting to shade-net technique for higher yields with premium price, thanks to the lucrative subsidy available under National Horticulture Mission (NHM). To achieve the goal of reducing yield gaps in important crops like vegetables and flowers through focused interventions like protected cultivation, and to maximize the returns to the...

-The Diplomat   Climate change is stressing an already struggling farm sector, but there is a way forward. Over the last decade, India's official position in global climate negotiations has been one of opposition to agricultural mitigation. At Doha (COP18), India joined other developing countries in demanding that any talk about agriculture must be in the realm of adaptation, not mitigation. India considers the farm sector out of bounds with respect to emissions...

-Down to Earth   Ready-to-harvest crops damaged, farmers fear orchards may not regenerate In a repeat of the hailstorms that devastated crops in parts of Maharashtra in March this year, several districts in western part of the state, including Marathwada region, experienced another bout of hail on Tuesday. Though the MeT department has called this phenomenon a pre-monsoon event, the intensity of the storm and the scale of damage caused to life and...

-The United Nations   Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have crossed a new threshold, the United Nation's weather agency today confirmed, warning that time is running out to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions. In April, monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million (ppm) throughout the northern hemisphere, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported. "This threshold is of symbolic and scientific significance and reinforces evidence...

-IANS   How does a warming environment affect rainfall, cropping patterns, livelihoods? What could be the alternatives that people whose livelihoods are hit by the effects of climate change do to cope? An initiative by Britain and Canada seeks to study and tackle the effects of climate change in South Asia, in tandem with TERI and Jadavpur University in India and similar institutes in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh. Canada's International Development Research Centre...