A Bangladesh village briefly touched by Tagore’s philosophy of sustainable development remembers the polymath fondly

Tagore's vision of nature-based and people-centric holistic rural development took shape in Patisar

US government’s new food security plan for Nigeria to stem post-harvest loss, boost grains’ production

Experts in Nigeria welcome move, say it can even end food scarcity in the country 

Annual investments of $260 billion required to halve agrifood emissions by 2030, achieve Net Zero by 2050: World Bank

New report claims twice the amount spend on agricultural subsidies; suggests India replace diesel irrigation pumps with solar

Exploitation, brutality and misery: How the opium trade shaped the modern world

The opium trade that impoverished and crippled India also financed and helped forge the modern state

Poll sop? Centre lifts onion ban, but export duty only to benefit major exporters, traders

Farmers demand all restrictions to be lifted for exports to maximise profits  

Bad year for Muzaffarpur’s litchi farmers? High temperature, hot westerly winds result in high fruit drop

Litchi farmers staring at crop loss planning to demand compensation 

Organic experiments

Women of Maharashtra village experiment with organic farming to improve incomes

Is ban on onion exports lifted? Farmers say new notification political gimmick, past decisions recirculated during polls

Even if true, notification allows little to be exported, say farmers; new notice comes after furore over allowing exports of only Gujarat …

Seeds from the past

For a decade, 200 villages in Odisha have conserved and grown 190 indigenous rice and millet varieties with proven climate resilience

In Tamil Nadu, a model for participatory production & distribution of farm products

Non-hierarchical collectives, horizontal networks & local markets provide a path of self-reliance to farmers in Tiruvannamalai

Wheat worries: Standing guard over future pandemics

Down To Earth visited villages on the West Bengal-Bangladesh border that have been struck by wheat blast. Here is a report on what is happening there

World Earth Day 2024: Global network presents solutions for cutting down plastic use in food chain

Slow Food Earth Markets around the world suggest steps undertaken by it to reduce plastics in their food systems

Upset over onion export ban, this Maharashtra taluka has shut doors to Lok Sabha campaigning

Farmers in onion belt vow to express resentment during elections, point out opposition parties also failed to offer respite

Cyclic droughts in Marathwada fuels underage ‘gate-cane’ marriages

Practice of 'gate-cane weddings' convert adolescent girls into wives and labourers 

Seeds of solace

Jharkhand’s Pahariya tribe aims to achieve seed independence by depositing native varieties in community-led banks

Bitter end to sweet limes: Farmers in parched Marathwada forced to uproot citrus orchards

Growers grapple with financial burden as water tankers become only lifeline for citrus trees

This Ladakhi village is growing organic watermelons; here is how

Army scientists helped Ladakhi farmers use mulching and changing climate to grow a hot weather fruit in a cold desert

Criollo: This breed of cattle developed in the New World can withstand climate change, say Irish scientists

Descended from Iberian cattle brought by Spanish colonists to the Americas, the Criollo has a myriad of climate-adaptive traits

How Odisha is promoting climate-resilient agriculture through rice fallow initiative

Cultivation of short-duration pulse, oilseed crops in rice fallow is helping maximise land use efficiency, boost farmers’ income and …

Back to farming roots: Odisha reinforced linkages among traditional grains, nutrition, resilience, food sovereignty 

Thousand farmers have been supported by Odisha Millets Mission (OMM) to promote millets through a farm-to-fork approach

Avartansheel Kheti changing lives with periodic farming

The purely organic method of growing food involves dividing the land into zones for cereal crops, vegetables, fruiting trees and animal husbandry

Kishanganj maize farmers at wit’s end as elephant herds from Nepal raid standing crop days ahead of harvest

Although such events have occurred in the past too, their frequency has gone up, say forest officials

West Bengal farmers shift from wheat to lucrative banana, lentils and maize cultivation

Cultivation area of maize has increased eightfold and tripled for pulses in last decade

India’s parched rivers: At least 13 without water, much lower than same period last year

With peak summer days ahead, condition particularly alarming for farmlands that make up 60% of basin

Simply Put: Double U-turn