Climate crisis in North East India: An outlier in Arunachal, Upper Siang now experiences increased rainfall

Increased rainfall leads to decline in rice productivity: New diseases have emerged, pest attacks on the rise 

China's loss to US in WTO is not good news for India

India calculates subsidy the same way as China, which lost the case for giving too much subsidy to its wheat, rice farmers

India claims to be self-sufficient in food production but facts say otherwise

If the government decides to feed all its hungry people, India's tag of a net exporting country will be easliy lost

Improved heat tolerance and drought resistance help pearl millet fight climate change

The reference genome and analysis of 1,000 lines of the pearl millet genome has provided the clue as to how this dryland cereal survives in …

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 …

MS Swaminathan, a legend who will live on

Swaminathan will go down in history as the person who pulled India out of the ‘hunger trap’. This was the biggest achievement of the …

How India can be ‘atmanirbhar’ for edible oil production

In 2019, India imported around 15 million tons of edible oils worth approximately Rs 7,300 crore

COVID-19 lockdown provides opportunity to save Punjab’s declining groundwater

Pandemic forced Punjabi farmers to adopt a less water- and labour intensive rice growing technique because of labour shortage; it now might …

Last straw to stubble burning

Straw can be converted into fuel for use in vehicles. It can also replace coal in old power plants, reducing …

Study zeroes in on target plant hormone to improve potassium deficiency in rice

Plants deficient in Potassium more susceptible to salt, drought, chilling and other stresses

High temperatures reduce rice, sorghum yield in Karnataka

A recent study reveals that during kharif and rabi seasons the state is exposed to a high number of days when mercury climbs above 33 degrees Celsius

Rice for kings

Black rice is indigenous to the Northeast, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. In Manipur, it is considered food as well as part of traditional …

Model in a fix

Chhattisgarh's much appreciated public distribution scheme is falling apart due to corruption and mismanagement

The secret garden

Want to know about a lost variety of rice or a cure to asthma? Answers lie in the notebooks of schoolchildren and women of the Sundarbans and …

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 …

New eel discovered in Odisha after researcher mistakes it for another species

A researcher had initially collected individuals of the new species thinking it is rice-paddy eel

Crop nutrient management using digital tool improves yield, reduces greenhouse gas emissions: Study

More than 80% of 1,594 participating farmers reported an increased crop yield and farm income, according to the study

Ancient DNA is revealing the genetic landscape of people who first settled East Asia

It has shown rapid shifts in ancestry over the last 10,000 years across Asia, likely due to migration and cultural exchange

COP 21 and India's plan on climate change: What does it mean for our food systems and cultures?

For any food security strategy for the future to be climate-resilient, it must move away from the industrial, agribusiness model

UN body sets limit on arsenic levels in rice

Codex Commission to develop a new code of practice to help countries comply with the standard

The escape route

Punjab, which accounts for only 1.5 per cent of the total geographical area of the country, cannot continue producing for the whole country. It …

Cancer-struck

Incidence of cancer and other diseases have increased. But callous officials prefer to call it a 'coincidence'

Punjab: end of the revolution ?

Cost of production has spiralled, but the rate of increase in production has not shown a similar trend. Ecological and social costs, meanwhile, …