Agriculture

'Permaculture can feed the world'

A permaculturist who believes that hunger is more about distribution and quality of food than quantity and production, Malvikaa Solanki says it can end hunger and mitigate climate vagaries

Agriculture

'Suicidal thoughts among farmers can be triggered because of non-agricultural problems as well'

A new study is focusing on identifying vulnerable farmers in Punjab, Maharashtra and Telangana, the three states that experience high rate of suicide

Agriculture

'Biotechnology does not mean only GM crops'

The media and policy makers need to be sensitised more about the concept and advantages of biotechnologies in crop improvement for developing better varieties, which can lead to food and nutrition security

Agriculture

'Smallholder farmers are on the front lines of climate change'

After winning the Africa Food Prize 2016 for his advocacy to place smallholder farmers at centre of agricultural agenda, Kanayo F Nwanze explains how betterment of the community is necessary for world's food security 

Agriculture

How will the drought in India affect food prices worldwide?

Cristina Coslet is Country Monitor, Far East Asia at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Agriculture

'Kuwait could face serious climate change impacts over the next few decades'

Down To Earth speaks to Salman Zafar, founder of West Asian environmental group, EcoMENA on the green challenges facing the tiny Gulf nation of Kuwait  

Agriculture

'Agricultural censuses can monitor environmental changes'

From providing agricultural information for specific countries to identifying trends in the sector, censuses serve a variety of purpose

Agriculture

'People can farm insects to produce cheaper animal feed'

Senior FAO officer Paul Vantomme talks about food recycling, improved nutrition and the many uses of insects

Agriculture

'Farmers in Ladakh are among biggest victims of climate change'

After inventing the first artificial glacier in 1987, Chewang Norphel came to be known as “Ice Man of India”. He talks about how depleting glaciers and rains are affecting Ladakhis

Agriculture

'New GMO directive provides necessary legal framework to complex issue'

The European Commission says that with the directive, it has listened to the concerns of many European citizens, reflected in the positions expressed by their national governments

Agriculture

'Failing to support GM crops single most damaging element for growth'

The European Association for Bio-Industries (EuropaBio) says the decision by 16 EU nations to opt out of GMO crop cultivation has taken away the right of farmers to choose

Agriculture

'There is a need to introduce climate-smart agriculture in Africa'

In the southern African region, lack of sufficient rainfall led to failed harvests

Agriculture

'The biggest driver of tropical deforestation is industrial agriculture'

Wealthy countries should provide adequate funding for tropical countries that conserve forests, says environmental economist Jonah Busch 

Agriculture

'We are unable to produce quality seeds'

India is facing a shortage of pulses. Untimely rains have caused their prices to rise by up to 64 per cent in 2014-15. Experts say we need to invest in research to produce better seeds 

Agriculture

'India is likely to experience strong relative impacts of climate change'

Overexploitation of groundwater reservoirs and dependence of surface water reservoirs on monsoon rainfall may lead to decreasing freshwater availability for agriculture in the country

Agriculture

'Open forests for livestock grazing'

Otaram Dewasi, Rajasthan's Minister of Dairy, Devasthan and Gaupalan department and India’s first cow minister, tells Down To Earth how the government can arrest the decline of Rajasthan’s livestock

Agriculture

'They asked me to withdraw my court case'

P PARDHA SARADHI is tenacious. This mild-mannered professor at the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi (DU) has exposed some extraordinary cases of misdemeanour by its senior professors. As a result, Saradhi claims, he has been harassed by the university which suspended him and tried to tarnish his reputation by charging him with academic lapses and sexual misconduct.…

Agriculture

`Family farming is not a romantic idea. It is business'

The food price rise of 2007-08 highlighted that investments in the agriculture sector have reduced in the past three decades. One of the most effective ways to increase production and fight rural poverty is by repositioning family farming at the centre of agriculture. This is the reason the UN has declared 2014 as the year of family farming. Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the International …

Agriculture

Agriculture is egocentric

Norman Uphoff, professor emeritus of government and international agriculture at Cornell University, US, likes to say that the system of rice intensification is a virus. He says he caught the virus in 1990 and that it took a full three years for the virus to set in. Uphoff, 73, is talking about SRI, the system of rice intensification, a bug that he caught in Madagascar from a French priest …

Agriculture

Lowland rice is a carbon sink

Pratap Bhattacharyya, senior scientist at the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) in Odisha, along with his team at the institute, says rice is not the villain it has been portrayed as in the global debate over greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. Going against the mainstream view that rice cultivation is a major contributor to GHGs, the research team says in a paper published …

Agriculture

`Growing food is like printing your own money'

Ron Finley grows food and for this he has been branded as a guerilla gardener, a renegede, an ecolutionist. It all began four years ago, when Ron, a fashion designer, planted a vegetable garden in the open space outside his home in South Central Los Angeles in the US. It was illegal because the city council owned the open spaces. Ron got cited for gardening without a permit, but joined hands …