State election results grim reminder to how deep India’s rural crisis is

The Down To Earth’s coverage in the recent past has highlighted how the agrarian crisis led to what happened to BJP in Assembly polls

Doubling farmers’ income discussed in a closed door meeting

What is the use of strategy when no special budget was allocated to double farmers’ income, says a senior NITI Aayog official anonymously

Where will farmers go to get jobs?

There is a significant reduction in farm jobs. India must create alternative opportunities for those abandoning agriculture

Limited access to pesticides reduced suicides in Tamil Nadu villages: WHO report

In rural India, poisoning accounts for four in 10 suicides due to swallowing of pesticides

What does cluster development programme mean to India’s small farmers?

CDP has the potential to benefit farmers; however, asymmetric power relations can make farmer-producer organisations captive markets for the …

Organic takeover: How 10,000 farmers of Telangana, Andhra are steering a silent movement

A federation of farmer-producer organisations has tapped into the growing organic market to help members raise incomes 

Telangana farmers pushed to suicide after pest attack destroys chilli crop

There has been no announcement on compensation to farmers who have lost their crops

Farm laws repeal: How the farmers’ protests unfolded in a year

India’s longest and also the biggest farmers’ agitation has been demanding repeal of the farm laws that Prime Minister Narendra Modi …

First lesson in governance for PM Modi: Legislative tapasya (penance) is all about listening to outer world, not inner self

Union government will repeal all 3 controversial farm laws, Modi declares on Gurupurab   

What about harvest? Protesting farmers say colleagues back home have them covered

Farmers in Punjab plan to first harvest fields of neighbours who are away at Delhi borders in unprecedented solidarity 

No surrender: Farmer unions refuse Centre’s proposal to ‘hold’ farm laws

Farmer unions say they will stop at nothing short of a repeal of laws; talks on tractor rally inconclusive  

They have been vocal for farm laws: Farmer unions reject Supreme Court committee

We never asked for a committee; neither did we ask for the court’s intervention, they said

Government is offering farmers ‘death by committee’: Experts

The government had offered to form a committee to discuss three farm laws in talks with farmers December 1

New mobile app launched to assist farmers

The application called Meghdoot would be available for 150 districts in different parts of the country

Blazing India: Labourers, farmers struggle most to live, earn

A new set of victims are people in hilly regions areas who are not prepared for such high temperatures

Himachal's farm success story at risk of going awry

Controlled-atmosphere farming shows a way of bucking agrarian crisis

20,000 drought-hit tribal farmers march to Mumbai

This is the third mass farmer protest the state has witnessed this year

Farmer producer organisations need their very own Amul

Instead of encouraging them on paper, the government has to create a few model FPOs in the country and provide institutional support to them

Meagre payments, reluctant states mar Modi’s flagship crop insurance scheme

10 million farmers have dropped out of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in just a year

Farmers seek relief after hail, rain damage crops in Rajasthan, UP

The storm spoiled standing crops in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh

There is a strong consensus that afforestation will lead to more stable rainfall

“In India, rivers are mostly forest-fed; therefore bringing back the tree cover on the either sides of the river is the only long-term …

Marathwada in the grip of drought-like situation

With only 58 per cent rainfall this season, Maharashtra is likely to face one of the worst agrarian crises ever

Haryana hurdle: Paddy procurement season on, but farmers have no buyers

Crop moisture to logistics, government officials rejecting paddy, claimed farmers 

As told to Parliament (March 15, 2022): No proposal being considered by Centre to waive farmer loans

All that was discussed in the House through the day

Dramatic changes needed in global food systems to address nutrition disparity, poverty: IFAD

The report Transforming Food Systems for Rural Prosperity called for investment in rural farms and local small- and medium-size enterprises