The same full page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement “Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide.” Three and a half years ago, at a time when the controversy over the use of genetically modified seeds was raging across India, a newspaper story painted a heartening picture of the technology's success. “There are no suicides here and people...

As news of record food grain production trickled from the corridors of the agriculture ministry, officials of the storage wing in the adjoining food ministry began working overtime to save the department the embarrassment of plenty. Food minister KV Thomas is under pressure to ensure that the toil of farmers is not wasted. "It's my duty to make sure that food grains don't rot. We are on our way to create...

PUNE: The cotton export debacle has created an oversupply of Bt seeds in the market with angry farmers expected to plant less area in the coming summer season. Companies are bracing for a price war in branded cotton seed, a far cry from the usual scenario where state governments impose a ceiling on maximum retail prices. Cotton is India's most important farm-produced industrial raw material and contributes a third to the...

-The Hindu Business Line The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has come forward to help in improving productivity of certain crops in three regions of Andhra Pradesh. It has expressed its willingness to train select group of farmers and officials of the Agriculture Department on best practices for this. The FAO, in coordination with the State Agriculture Department, will be charting out an action plan to take up...

Nagpur orange’s survival hinges precariously on its return to sustainable cultivation. Farmers have woken up to this, but will the government? A beaming Uday Wath hugs the trunk of his sturdy, disease-free Nagpur orange tree. All around him are trees drooping with the fruit, large and healthy. The tree trunks are singularly free of both telltale gummosis wounds and bluish white bordeaux paste, the chemical meant to prevent them. Not more than...