Forests, fuel and fodder

From deficit to surplus: a success story of joint forest management from Sakwa, a tiny village in south Gujarat

Recognising the role of pastoralists in agrarian development

The farmer-herder relationship of mutual benefit and care is threatened by commercialisation of agriculture

Look back in hope: What America’s Hopi people can teach us about living sustainably

Down To Earth talks to author Daniel Pinchbeck about what the Hopi Native Americans of Arizona can teach the modern world which is warming …

Anantapur farmers take up polycropping to drought-proof agriculture

As a result of natural farming practice that encourages polycropping, groundnut is no more the solo crop in many villages across the district

Let the drylands bloom

By maintaining terrestrial forestation to improve the soils, drylands can be saved from being further degraded

Gender bender

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY IN INDIA: CASES, MATERIALS AND STATUTES By Shyam Divan and Armin Rosencranz •Second edition • Published …

Karanda: Rural India's rich fruit

Karanda is a versatile but under-exploited plant found throughout the dry regions of India. It is cultivated for its edible fruits in Rajasthan, …

Pulses, neglected for long

Despite being a world leader in pulses production, India has been forced to import due to crop loss and seed deficit. The sharp rise in prices is …

Explainer: What is the Farmers Distress Index?

The index will try to anticipate this distress and prevent its spread from a few farmers to the village or block level

How a water project put women in charge and turned the fortunes of a dry Bengal village

With men quitting agriculture to work as unskilled labourers, women lead measures to curb soil erosion

How India is killing the country’s largest economy of the poor

New restriction on cattle slaughter will severely cripple the livestock economy which is bigger than crop economy; poor farmers shifted to …

Drought in Kenya puts livestock at risk; crop failure triggers fear of starvation

Kenya is prone to drought because only 20 per cent of the country receives adequate and regular rainfall

Stalled monsoon to make little progress before June 25

In spite of unfavourable conditions, IMD expects a major progress of the monsoon in Central India

Orchards in desert

A simple technology assures continuous moisture supply to plants, helps grow orchards in water-scarce areas

It is not a drought but a cumulative outcome of decades of policy sins

It is not deficit monsoon, rather the lack of policies and mechanisms to drought-proof susceptible areas that turn the situation into a crisis

Towards a hopeful agricultural future

In India, no other industry has as many restrictions, controls and blatant discriminations as agriculture

Climate-smart agriculture: an answer to climate change

Sustainably increasing agricultural production, adapting to climate change and reducing emissions are the main points of climate-smart …

African dryland trees store less carbon than believed earlier, finds study

Study by team including NASA scientists estimates carbon stocks of trees in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa; calculates 840 million …

States told to roll out contingency plans

Plans cover crops, poultry, livestock and fisheries; Centre allows use of funds from agriculture schemes for funding contingency plans

Persistent in folly

Rice and wheat fetch a secure price and subsidies on farm inputs. Coarse grains have no place in the public distribution system, although their …

Rice: the real cost

It is said the future wars would be fought over the issue of water, not land. Yet Indian government promotes rice, which consumes water, over …

Cereal killer

By promotong rice over coarse grains, the government is promoting food scarcity and defeciency of micronutrients among India's most malnourished …

Salted lands of Australia

Bad cropping practices and ill-planned water management leads to salted Australian farmland

Grain of truth

India's public distribution system promotes rice and wheat. These water-intensive crops require more inputs and are less nutritious as compared …

Rs 1,86,000 cr illusion

Andhra Pradesh’s Jalayagnam irrigation scheme unviable, contract-driven, says CAG draft report