Grains of culture

Why China lost out to Europe in industrialisation

Getting more with less

System of crop intensification, specially in rice, has shown sizeable savings in water and seed usage. Yet its adoption has not spread despite …

Kagga in peril

This rice can tolerate brackish water but is on the brink of extinction. Can government save it?

Rice from dry river

Farmers in an arid Andhra Pradesh district revive traditional irrigation system to tide over drought

Model in a fix

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

Budget 2008: missing the big picture

Poor regulators do not a rich country make

Rogue GM crops wreak havoc

Monsanto’s unauthorised GM wheat in the US has spooked the world, but contamination is widespread

Dharohar's dividends

Farmers and activists in Bastar reject high-yielding rice varieties to preserve traditional varieties

Villagers unite to conserve resources

The Academy of Development Sciences has brought tribals in the Konkan region of Maharashtra together to make efficient use of scarce resources.

Rice goes against the grain

An Asian staple for over a millennium, rice has become important enough for the North to start raiding and patenting strains

Looks like Basmati but

India is losing the pride of many a pulao -- the aroma and taste of basmati rice. What are scientists and legal experts fighting about?

Pantabhat - well slept rice

Rice has been a staple food of West Bengal from antiquity and thus was grown in abundance all across the region. At one time, 60 varieties of …

Seeds of starvation

Intensive agriculture is destroying China's soil

Tarnished terrain

Pesticides used in rice cultivation are having just the reverse effect than the one intended -instead of decimating pests, extensive studies …

Navara, the rice that cures

The rural weather department

Folklore guides farmers about droughts and rains

In Troubled Waters

In coastal Kerala, rice cultivation is alternated with prawn farming. The method requires no fertilisers or pesticides. But many farmers in the …

Kalanamak

The future of Indian scented rice?

Arice and fight

Two new proposed Indian legislations will please the World Trade Organisation. But will they protect the rights of Indian farmers over the …

Rice does not need water

The system of rice intensification method shows how

Bundled in a sacred basket

Tribal farmers in Jharkhand use mora made of rice straw to store grains

Ragi is back - but only as exotica

No body knows for sure how the ragi bandwagon started, but all of a sudden the urban elite became curious about the grain. Today, it is being …

Keeper of grains

An ecologist has been guarding seeds of more than 750 rare rice varieties for over a decade

Thin on facts

High sales pitch of Saffola’s ‘healthier’ rice relies on unproven data