News from India

Odisha gives free cellphones to 5,000 farmers Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday distributed free mobile phones to thousands of farmers here as part of his government's efforts to empowe... Leopard enters poultry farm, kills 15 chickens A leopard entered a poultry farm near tribal Gadhkachh village of Mangroltaluka in Surat district around 1.30 am on Tuesday. Forest officials tranq... Poultry prices up on reduced output, higher feed costs A cut in production combined with a rebound in demand and rising feed prices have taken poultry and egg prices to a new high. Over a month ago, the... Monsoon shows a positive sign for agriculture yields Monsoons have just set in and the state has already recorded a rainfall of 159.2mm- a positive sign as the figure is over 222% more than the month's a... Crisis looms large in agriculture sector The new banking protocol prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India for the cooperative sector is feared to bring agriculture lending to a complete halt ... Israel keen on agricultural centre in Bengal The state government on Thursday submitted a proposal for an India-Israel centre of excellence on vegetables after months of persuasion by Israeli emb... Water-starved farmers pin hopes on monsoon With the water level touching rock bottom in all the major reservoirs on the Krishna river the Krishna delta farmers wait with bated breath for rains.... Govts have failed farmers, says Bhardwaj Stressing on the need to empower farmers, governor HR Bhardwaj said the government should make education and healthcare facilities free for them. A... Agriculture sector's share in GDP dips: Assocham Despite record foodgrain production during the course of the past few years, the share of agriculture and allied sectors to India's gross domestic pro... More small farmers selling land, turning workers More and more small and marginal farmers are selling their meagre landholdings to become agricultural workers. This is how agriculturists, policy-m... For farmers fearing drought, Auroville offers some lessons Now that June is right around the corner, farmers and economists in India are anxiously awaiting the arrival of monsoon season, which will bring up to... Farmers demand uniform pricing for sugarcane The newly formed All-India Sugarcane Growers’ Association has urged the Central government to ensure uniform price for sugarcane across the country be... Srirangam farmers up in arms over land acquisition move Farmers of Mondipatti panchayat in Srirangam, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s constituency, are up in arms over the move to acquire their land for the s... TNAU hopes to ride the boom in agriculture jobs Farming may be a losing proposition for many in the country, but an agriculture degree could fetch you a well-paying job in no time. According to K... Agriculture sector to clock 3.4% growth Farm sector is likely to record 3.4% growth in 2013-14 if monsoon is normal as has been forecast, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman ... Farming initiative to ensure health security at Attapadi The agriculture department and state horticulture mission are set to launch a massive farming drive at Attapadi during the planting season in June, in... Misguided policies put India's agriculture on the brink After decades on the sidelines of international agricultural trade, India was poised last year to become a major food supplier, overtaking traditional... Uttar Pradesh Agriculture and Technology Entrance Test from May 15 Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology is busy preparations to conduct Uttar Pradesh Agriculture and Technology Entrance Test (... Jayalalithaa announces Rs. 984.70-crore package to boost agriculture production Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday unveiled a Rs. 984.70-crore package to give a stimulus to agriculture production, taking into account the shrink... State to unveil comprehensive organic agriculture policy soon The State government will soon come out with a comprehensive organic agriculture policy, according to K. Ramasamy, Vice- Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricu... No wealth tax on agriculture land: Finance Ministry New Delhi: Under attack over proposal in the Budget, the government today sought to explain that wealth tax was proposed only on urban land and not on... Indian agriculture – pampered and terribly exploited Politicians love to swear by the poor farmer. That explains why the Congress (I) – the ruling party at the Centre – has opted to squander away money t... US rejects India’s unlimited farm subsidies proposal to WTO The US has rejected India’s proposal to the WTO seeking flexibility to continue helping poor farmers through support prices without a limit on the sub... 2013-14: Boom prospects for Indian economy? Сall it good luck rather than good management. The Indian economy and stock markets could be on course to an excellent 2013-14. The favourable port... Climate change sends India's apple farmers up the Himalayas The hills of Thanedar-Kotgarh lie four hours from Shimla, the capital of this Himalayan state in northwest India. This is where Samuel Evans Stokes, a... Coming shortly, Lamborghini tractors for rich farmers Rain or drought, farming in India is going to get a high-profile makeover. And the agent of this face lift is SAME Deutz-Fahr, who bought out the trac... Farm output can rise 130% in 20 years: CII-McKinsey report India can achieve a leadership position in the world food market and also meet its growing domestic demand, promises a report by CII-McKinsey, issued ... ‘Chicken farming created more jobs than MNREGA’ With about 80 percent of Indian households being wage dependent, Credit Suisse in a report titled ‘The Silent Transformation of India’ has observed... Fish hatchery to come up at Hariana To promote fish farming, the state government plans to set up a new hatchery complex at a cost of Rs. 25 lakh in fish farm Hariana, and a model fish p... Indian agriculture: a big bet Thinking of investing in India? There is one sector you may have overlooked: agriculture. With its growing population, rising income levels and gro... Farmers rounded up for protest Solapur farmer Bhaiyya Deshmukh, who was at the centre of Ajit Pawar's remarks over drought, was detained on Tuesday for staging a protest outside Pri... India, Indonesia to enhance agricultural cooperation India and Indonesia have agreed to enhance collaboration in horticulture, natural resources management, agricultural engineering, crop science and foo... Six elephants destroy crops in Hazaribag block A herd of six elephants, which went on a rampage in some villages of Choubepanchayat of the Chalkusha block of the district, damaged rabi and oilseed ... Indian firm fails to compensate farmers Punj Lloyd Upstream Ltd, an Indian company which is building an extension of the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline, has been accused of failing to co... Poultry business to be hit as Thursday's for the vegans Meat and poultry business in the city will suffer a huge setback as most people will celebrate Holi on a Thursday when many men and women abstain from... India cannot completely abandon GM crops: Jaipal Reddy India cannot afford to completely abandon genetically modified (GM) crops and the government is trying to build a consensus among various stakeholders... Rising mercury cools down poultry prices With the winter season in the North coming to an end and resurfacing of avian flu in Bihar, prices of poultry products are on the decline. In the l... India strives to become 'drought proof' Over a period of two centuries (between 1801 and 2002), India experienced 42 severe droughts, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation. One... Poultry feed prices unchanged Heavy fluctuation in the prices of its input materials kept poultry feed prices unaltered this week. Aditya Mishra, a commodity expert, told Busine... A lot in the budget for agriculture Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget for 2013-14 will be remembered not only for its strategies to stimulate economic growth and control fiscal de... Indian agriculture sector performs well Despite agriculture and allied activities accounting for only 14.1 per cent of the GDP in 2011-12, the Economic Survey recognises the sector’s role in... Inside India’s bullish beef market Alas for the sacred cow: Beef exports from India are expected to surge 30 per cent this year, giving this country a quarter of the world market. Th... Indian farmers produce record crops without GMOs For years, much of the news to come from India’s farming regions was dismal. The country was facing an agrarian crisis, and thousands of farmers were ... GM crops - India falls behind While developing countries across the globe have fast-tracked the adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops - outstripping industrialised nations - ... Area under genetically modified crops continues to grow Global acreage under biotech or genetically modified (GM) crops continued to expand in 2012, but the pace was a bit slow than previous year. Intere... Pawar favours field trial of GM crops Amid depleting natural resources, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Monday again pushed for field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops saying suc... Illegal slaughterhouse raided in India, 6 cattle rescued Animal rights activists and the city police found three men slaughtering cows and calves at a beef stall in Chromepet on Sunday. Though 28 animals wer... Unseasonal rains ruins crops in Nashik Lack of adequate rainfall for the last two years has brought on a severe drought in the state with farmers not being able to salvage their crops and e... Elephants destroy crops An herd of five elephants destroyed banana crops and arecanut trees on farms on the Mettuppalayam – Vanabadrakaliamman temple road in the last two day... Narmada's catchment area to be converted into organic farming belt BHOPAL: An ambitious 10-year action plan to convert river Narmada's catchment area into organic/natural farming belt will be released during the upcom...