-The Tribune Karnal: The state government has banned the sale, stock, distribution and use of 10 insecticides for 60 days. These insecticides are mostly used for basmati paddy. The “residual effect” of these insecticides sometimes leads to the rejection of export consignments of basmati rice. The banned insecticides include Acephate, Buprofezin, Carbendazim, Chlorpyriphos, Methamidophos, Propiconazole, Thiamethoxam, Tricylazole, Profenophos and Isoprothiolance. Last week, the Punjab Government had imposed a similar ban on 10 insecticides. The...

-PTI The Commerce Ministry is planning a series of workshops in states including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh to implement its export policy for agricultural goods with a view to boost overall shipments, an official said. The Ministry has suggested states to set up a nodal agency dedicated for the implementation of the agriculture export policy. Workshops would help identify bottlenecks, get feedback and suggestions to improve and overcome difficulties in the...

-The Hindu Business line India’s North-East, comprising eight States, is largely unspoilt by modern agricultural practices, which involve heavy use of agro-chemicals and chemical fertilisers. For this precise reason, the region is a natural choice for promoting organic farming in the country. Sikkim, the first organic State in India, has already shown the way for the other States in the region. According to the estimates available with the Agricultural and Processed...

-India Today Believe it or not, almost 70 per cent of the national Capital was used for organic farming in 2011-2012, according to National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), which comes under the Ministry of Agriculture. While the total geographical area of Delhi is 1.48 lakh hectares, NPOF data shows 100238.74 hectares (almost twice the size of Mumbai) was used for organic farming during that period. What smacks of data fudging and...

-The Hindu Business Line Points out that norms same for mangoes, which are allowed New Delhi: India is pushing the European Union (EU) to revoke an import ban on four vegetables: brinjal, snake gourd, taro and bitter gourd. The ban was imposed last year after fruit flies were found in some consignments from India. The ban continues to be in force even though import of mangoes, which had been prohibited along with...