The use of fertilisers for agriculture in India has risen astronomically in the last 60 years, resulting in deterioration of soil health in many parts of the country, particularly the intensively cultivated Indo-Gangetic plains, also known as the “Great Plains”. In 1951-52, fertilizer usage in the country averaged less than one kg per hectare, which has now risen to 133 kg per hectare, according to information given on the Department of...

As the demand for a ban on Endosulfan in India is gaining pitch and Karnataka being the latest state to ban the pesticide, the Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) is going around crying foul. They are leaving no stone unturned to save endosulfan. Press meets across the country and plugged newspaper reports maligning studies that have indicted endosulfan in the past is a desperate attempt to save...

Orissa is awaiting the accreditation of its certification agency- Orissa State Seeds and Organic Products Certification Agency (OSSOPCA) for promoting organic farming in the state in a big way. “Our certification agency- OSSOPCA is under the process of accreditation of the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). This will be a major milestone for getting our organic areas under certification program for better market strategy. Post harvest technology...

The oldest and most common dig against Organic agriculture is that it cannot feed the world’s citizens; this, however, is a supposition, not a fact. And industrial agriculture isn’t working perfectly, either: the global food price index is at a record high, and our agricultural system is wreaking havoc with the health not only of humans but of the earth. There are around a billion undernourished people; we can also...

Why is every fourth Indian hungry? Why is every third woman in India anaemic and malnourished? Why is every second child underweight and stunted? Why has the hunger and malnutrition crisis deepened even as India has nine per cent growth? Why is “Shining India” a “Starving India”? In my view, hunger is a structural part of the design of the industrialised, globalised food system. Hunger is an intrinsic part of the...