-IANS Sikkim has set for itself the goal of becoming an organic agricultural state by 2015 -- but there are several challenges that it needs to overcome to see the shift, said an ecology expert from the Himalayan state. "Organic agriculture, as an adaptation strategy to climate change, is a concrete, holistic and sustainable option but has challenges in terms of acceptance and the sustainability of such a move needs critical appraisal,"...

-Tehelka Away from the politics of food security, a small initiative in Assam is changing the way young people look at agriculture. Pubali Saikia, 13, plucks fresh ripe tomatoes, as her classmate Sunti Saikia, 14, arranges beanstalks. The two teenagers are excited; it is, after all, the first produce of their life. Of late, the Titabor sub-division in upper Assam's Jorhat district has been witnessing a silent awakening of sorts. And...

-The Telegraph Patna: Farmers Kalpana Prakash and Zahid Khan would share the dais with the President and the chief minister at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan on Monday when Bihar receives the Krishi Karman award for commendable production of wheat in 2012-2013 despite drought. The occasion would provide Nitish Kumar an opportunity to showcase his government's five-year agriculture roadmap (2012-17), which President Pranab Muherjee had inaugurated in October 2012 amid much fanfare. Thirty-two-year-old Kalpana, a...

-The Financial Express Unless we get it right on the markets front, including opening up of exports, farmers cannot get their full due One of the key objectives of agricultural price policy in India is to ensure that agriculture remains a remunerative occupation so that farmers are incentivised to adopt modern technologies that help raise productivity and overall production of various crops in the country broadly in line with the emerging demand...

-The New Indian Express THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While taking up farming, her family's means of support, Ramani Vengattu, a 47-year-old woman belonging to Kizhakkumbad, Kozhikode never thought that she could script success within a short period of time. At present, the lean but dynamic homemaker is a regular provider of green spinach to the Palayam vegetable market, Kozhikode. For good quality spinach leaves, the first name that comes to the mind of the natives...