New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh govt will file contempt petiition against Delhi government in Delhi High Court for its failure to implement the interim  orders of Delhi High Court in which Delhi High Court had directed the, Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board and APMC Azadpur Mandi to enforce the APMC bye laws to ensure that commission shall [...]

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): A Spokesman of the Himachal Pradesh Government said here today that there has been increasing demand of Hybrid Maize varieties from the farmers in the State for some-time past. Since Hybrid Maize seed varieties have not be developed by the Agriculture University so far, therefore, in order to fulfill the demand of [...]

Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir): Farmers in Jammu and Kashmir”s Ladakh region are switching to organic farming and have decided to avoid the usage of pesticides and other chemicals that prove harmful to the ecosystem. Aiming to grow local products without using pesticides, the farmers are attempting to use the land in such a way that [...]

Even after seven years of launching the programme, there is no awareness about this scheme even in different stakeholders, forget about the farmers. A study done by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group in Uttar Pradesh revealed that only 5% farmers know about crop-insurance scheme whereas 95 % of them had never heard about it. But they [...]

Shimla: The growing of flowers is no more the domain of plain areas only. The hilly State of Himachal Pradesh has been bustling with the fragrance of flowers and the State has emerged as a pioneer in the cultivation of flowers during the last about a decade. It is quite amazing to note that in [...]

Sant Bahadur writes: With a large number of people living on subsistence level of income, the government has to safeguard their interest by ensuring availability of food grains at an affordable price. Success of any policy or programme to this effect depends on growth in agriculture production and procurement of wheat and rice, the main [...]

Nahan: In view of the commonwealth games 2010 the industrial houses are accepting a big market for their product promotion at international level. On the same lines the Himachal, Paonta Sahib based food processing industry and export house Himalaya International Private Limited (HIL) has decided to install 100 food carts in the national capital till [...]

New Delhi: The world–renowned scientist Dr. M.S.Swaminathan has stressed the need to set up a national regulatory body to mitigate the anxiety caused by genetically modified agricultural produce. He was chairing the plenary session on ‘Food and Nutritional security’ held as part of the 97th Indian Science Congress at Thiruvanathapuram. Dr. Swaminathan said that the [...]

This year’s insufficient Monsoon has forced people to pay more attention to agriculture and food security, but these have already been a very high priority for the Government. While the focus presently is on saving the standing crops and trying to maximize the production of winter crops, long-term strategies remain very important. These strategies have [...]

Alka Pande, CNS writes: THE crisis of sugarcane in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in the current season, has forced the sugar mills as well as the government authorities to contemplate on ways and measures for enhancing the production of sugarcane crop as well as sugar, in the state. All stake holders including the [...]

Manish Desai writes: Few people have quietly changed the world for the better more than this rural lad from the mid-western state of Iowa in the United States.  The man in focus is Norman Borlaug, the Father of the ‘Green Revolution’, who died on Saturday, (September 12, 2009) at age 95. Norman Borlaug spent most of [...]

Sanjay Kumar writes: The Farmers Participatory Action Research Programme (FPARP) has been initiated by the Ministry of Water Resources during 2007-08 kharif seasons onwards in the irrigated land of arid, semi-arid, hilly and coastal areas of the country with a view to facilitate demonstration of technologies for achieving the goal of “More crop and income [...]

Agriculture continues to be the main stay for providing food, nutrition and livelihood security to large and growing population of the country. The Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE)/ Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) through its vast network of 97 research institutes including 4 ICAR institutes as deemed to be Universities, 46 Agricultural [...]

New Delhi: As per the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan Committee, the Government of India has approved a Revival Package for Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS). Revival Package envisages an out lay of Rs. 13,597 crore for recapitalization of STCCS. An amount of Rs.6072.71 crore has been released by NABARD as Government of India share [...]