CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …
the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (cag) recently unearthed a Rs 2,125 crore scam involving the Food Corporation of India (fci), under the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution (mocafpd). cag has charged both fci and the ministry with unduly favouring foodgrain exporters in fixing the …
In a development that would immensely help rice breeders worldwide, scientists from the Beijing Institute of Genomics (BIG) have come out with fine genome maps of two most widely grown sub-species
the use of combine harvesters in India for rice and wheat is generating millions of tonnes of crop residue every year. To dispose the waste, farmers usually burn it. This causes significant loss of nutrients in the soil and destroys its microbes, besides adding to greenhouse emissions, a study by …
leaves of pandan plant (Pandanus amaryllifolius) are an integral part of traditional cooking in south east Asia. They are used to flavour preparations ranging from rice to chicken to sweet dishes. A team of Indian and Thai scientists has now found a wild variety of the plant in 24-Parganas district …
The rice-wheat annual double cropping system occupies an estimated 0.5 million hectares in Nepal where it provides food for about 23 million people. Current production levels of both rice and wheat are far below their reported potential with N-deficiency being the major production constraint. Pot and field experiments were conducted …
staple shortage: Cambodia is faced with a severe drought that could lead to a shortage of rice, the country's staple food. "Some provinces will face a shortage of rice in the coming months,' Nhim Vanda, chairman of Cambodia's national disaster committee, was quoted as saying . "We are working with …
Studied were conducted to monitor the terminal pesticide residues in unpolished, polished and parboiled rice. Fifteen rice varieties were collected from Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Titabar of Assam Agricultural University during 2002. Each variety was tested in terms of unpolished, polished and parboiled form, for the presence of pesticide …
china’s agricultural revolution has come at a cost. With farmers abandoning the millennia-old tradition of growing rice in favour of fruits and vegetables, the soil quality has declined owing to the application of too much fertiliser. This is causing a profound and detrimental affect on the agricultural produce. These are …
Hyderabad's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ccmb) and the Directorate of Rice Research (drr) have developed samba masuri and triguna rice lines (varieties) that are resistant to the bacterial leaf blight (blb) disease. blb is one of the biggest snags for rice growers in India, as it reduces yields …
The Chhattisgarh Seed Satyagrah continues its struggle to prevent foreign multinational companies from getting hold of the rice germplasm collection with the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya. AKTI signals the start of the farming season in Chhattisgarh. But this April, farmers across the State observed Akti not by going to the …
A good mango harvest augurs well for paddy production, says a popular Oriya folklore. So, many farmers in paddy-intensive regions of the state, such as Bargarh district, plan their paddy-selling quota on this basis. Another popular folklore in Orissa links good tamarind harvest to floods. There are many such examples …
The armyworm has devastated crops in several provinces of Pakistan. Sindh is plagued by the pest, which has damaged 25 per cent of the rice crop and a substantial part of the banana crop. Even as Sindh is expected to face a crop deficit of 100,000 tonnes, the current wheat …
a farmer is often worried about the price a season's produce is likely to get. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee called this the "risk of the market' while inaugurating rice and wheat futures trading on the Ahmedabad-based National Multi-Commodity Exchange (nmce) in December 2003. Futures trading of these commodities brings …
Usually, end-November/December is a busy one for cultivators in Kurigram district of northern Bangladesh: it is time to sow the boro (winter) rice. But this year, as the sowing deadline loomed, an unaccountable shortage of paddy seeds occurred, threatening to throw the cultivation season out of gear. The seeds were …
Ladakh was opened to tourism in 1971. Since then the tourist inflow has increased several times over (see graph: Welcome to Ladakh). Though Ladakh gets more foreign tourists, domestic tourists have increased recently. The biggest tourist activity is trekking and jeep safaris; the biggest tourist attractions of Ladakh are its …
In Ladakhi, lango khel means conquering the highest point of a pass in the mountains. In Ladakhi schools, it means the matriculation (class X) examination. From 1947 to 1998, matriculation results in Leh district hovered between 0-5 per cent. The reasons are not difficult to fathom. Children grew up speaking …
