-The Hindu Business Line Rajasthan sees big enrolment under PMFBY scheme this kharif The scare of desert locust attacks coupled with erratic rainfall in the early part of monsoon has pushed more farmers in Rajasthan to take insurance for their crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) this kharif season. Sum insured Officials of the Rajasthan Agriculture Department said about 45 per cent more farmers have enrolled for the scheme this year...
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India ignores UN advice to register biopesticides against locusts, still uses toxic chemicals -Nikhil Eapen
-CaravanMagazine.in As swarms of Desert Locusts descended upon India this year, toxic insecticides were sprayed over two lakh hectares of land to contain their spread. But the measure could have serious environmental and health consequences. India’s Locust Warning Organization, or LWO, a body under the ministry of agriculture, uses fifteen different formulations of eight insecticides for controlling their spread. Five of these insecticides are banned, restricted or withdrawn in one or...
More »The swarm before the storm -KD Prathapan
-Frontline.in As the threat of a locust attack looms, and as climate change threatens to increase the frequency of such attacks, Indian agriculture needs a more durable and long-term strategy to fight the menace. Life in the desert is defined by scarcity of water. The harsh, prolonged dry spells further restrict the availability of food resources for much of the year. Plants and animals in the desert have evolved various strategies to...
More »India slams Pakistan for refusal to join meeting to discuss locust menace
-PTI/ Livemint.com * India has already delivered 20,000 litres of pesticide to Iran for desert locust operations * India had proposed to Pakistan and Iran for a coordinated approach in dealing with the alarming threat of fast-increasing Desert Locusts in the region NEW DELHI: Pakistan refused to join a technical-level meeting with India to discuss the issue of locust menace, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday, slamming Islamabad for showing "reticent...
More »Hari Sharma, agricultural scientist formerly associated with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), interviewed by Kunal Shankar (TheWire.in)
-TheWire.in In an interview for The Wire, the former ICRISAT scientist says the damage could have been contained if the government had acted promptly to warnings. The desert locust is a deadly agricultural pest that has been on a feeding spree across North Africa, West Asia and South Asia. Lore and mentions of locust swarms exist in the Mahabharata, the Bible and the Quran. But it has been largely absent from the...
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