-Newsclick.in Farmers of the state’s rice bowl have said that the expenses and efficiency of organic farming are not viable for large-scale paddy production. Thiruvananthapuram: The price hike and shortage of chemical fertilisers and reduction in subsidies have galvanised the farmers of Kerala. The Kerala Karshaka Sangham (KSS), the state unit of the All India Kisan Sabha, organised protests at 210 centres across the state on Monday demanding the Narendra Modi government’s...

-Newsclick.in In an interview, the ‘father’ of India’s Green Revolution, says while technology is necessary, policies on procurement and public distribution are far more important in making agriculture economically viable and sustainable in the country. No one has played a more instrumental role in India’s self-sufficiency in food production than Dr MS Swaminathan — world-renowned agricultural scientist, known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’. After getting a PhD from Cambridge...

-Scroll.in Two labourers died of suspected pesticide poisoning in Kuttanad, the state’s rice bowl, in January. On the morning of January 17, KK Sanal Kumar strapped a motorised sprayer onto his back and left for a paddy field near his home in Peringara gram panchayat of Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district. The owners of the field, Unnikrishnan and Sanil, gave him several bottles of the highly hazardous pesticide Viraat to spray on their 40-day-old...

-The Hindu ‘Water hasn’t even receded from my yard yet. How can we start farming in October?’ On either side of the Alappuzha-Changanassery road is a vast expanse of water with an odd canoe bobbing about, or a precariously leaning electrical pole. But these are not the backwaters. I am in Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, but there is not a paddy crop in sight. Farmers in this area have for generations...

-The Hindu Business Line Mangaluru: An expert from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has said agro-biodiversity conservation approach has not received the attention from the stakeholders concerned in the country. Speaking at the inauguration of the national workshop on ‘Agro-biodiversity conservation for sustainable socio-ecological development’ at Mangalore University on Monday, KG Saxena, Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, said agriculture has remained the focus area for many. Long-term approach Following this, agro-biodiversity conservation...