-Down to Earth 2023 is the International Year of the Millets and during the year, efforts would be made to promote this superfood 2023 is the International Year of the Millets and during the year, efforts would be made to promote this superfood. As millets are adapted to grow in dry and arid regions, they attract big businesses and companies in times when climate change is making cultivation of other cereals difficult. But...
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Nod for GM mustard could mean a repeat of anti-farm laws stir -Gargi Parsai
-Deccan Herald With the general elections a little over a year away, a nod for GM food crops could turn out to be as contentious an issue for the BJP By suddenly giving its nod for the environmental release of genetically modified (GM) herbicide mustard crop - the first edible crop that may enter the food chain in India - the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has stirred a hornet's nest. The...
More »Debal Deb, agrarian scientist and seed conservationist, interviewed by Rebecca George (TheWire.in)
-TheWire.in * Debal Deb began conserving indigenous varieties of rice in the 1990s after realizing that they were losing cultivation ground to other varieties preferred by the Green Revolution. * In an extended interview with The Wire Science, he explained what makes a crop resilient, why farmers should be considered scientists, and the perils of technological solutionism. * Deb also spoke at length about the problems with the Green Revolution and its troubled...
More »How a transition back to hardy millets could solve several crises that India is grappling with -Swapan Mehra
-Scroll.in With climate change, farmer suicides and agicultural distress, the drought-resilient coarse grain that requires few resources could be the answer. Already caught in a vicious cycle of debt and declining yields, Indian farmers now face new challenges from climate change. The Ministry of Earth Science, in a 2020 report, predicts, “Rising temperatures, heat extremes, and increasing year-to-year rainfall variability are likely to adversely impact crop yield.” India’s Green Revolution of the 1960s...
More »No meat, more wheat: How tribal diets are changing in Madhya Pradesh -Taran Deol
-Down to Earth Poor financial conditions, reliance on public distribution system among factors that drove change, reduced dietary diversity There has been a dietary shift among the Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Madhya Prasesh’s Alirajpur and Jhabua districts over the years. Loss of dietary diversity, including little or no consumption of meat, as well as a change in their staple cereal, may impact the health and erode traditional knowledge of the tribals...
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