Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Small land holders can be self sustainable. This was proved by Shri. Santu, a small farmer in Gorakhpur, who started making a decent living from farming by increasing the diversity on the farms and integrating one into another.
The article highlights the strength of integrating farmer’s involvement in identifying native species, establishment of plant nurseries in the vicinity, timeliness of operations and shared ownership in terms of protection measures. This is an effort of CAZRI in collaboration with local farming communities to revive traditional agro forestry systems in …
Climate change has a profound impact on the dynamics of agricultural and natural ecosystems, particularly sustainability of agricultural biodiversity. The loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes affects not just the production of food, fuel and fibre, but also a range of ecological services supporting clean water supplies, habitats for wild …
Rice culture and consumption in Kashmir has been in vogue since the drainage of water from Satisar by Kashyap Reshi. Farmers had developed sound traditional knowledge about the parameters for good rice harvest and management of blast (rai) disease. Sustained rice production by adopting organic pratices coupled with indigenous farming …
health sciences Hooked, genetically Researchers of the University of Michigan, usa, have cracked the genetic secrets of nicotine addiction. Whether or not one gets hooked to smoking is dependent on a particular variant of a gene
Going by the text of the National Biotechnology Regulatory Bill 2008, the government of India and specifically, the department of biotechnology (DBT), have a clear disdain for the need to conserve biodiversity, or allow state governments to exercise their constitutional rights over their agriculture. (Letter)
Dinajpur district in West Bengal, India is traditionally famous for its indigenous rice biodiversity. However, this highly valuable biodiversity is under threat. The indigenous rice biodiversity of old alluvial region of North and South Dinajpur has been highlighted in this paper.
Greenpeace Seeks Data On Field Trials; Firm Says It's Trade Secret. It's a classic case of commercial interest vs public interest which could set an important precedent. Genetically modified brinjal
India must document and legally protect the farmers' varieties (FVs) and use them globally as a trade strategy. The FVs therefore can be equated with the prior art provision of The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005. Providing necessary legal framework will ensure that already known FVs are not encroached as
Late last month the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The facility is nothing less than a Noah's ark of plants for the 21st century, aiming to preserve the world's crop biodiversity while we still have a fighting chance.
A wheat disease that could destroy most of the world's main wheat crops could strike south Asia's vast wheat fields two years earlier than research had suggested, leaving millions to starve. The fungus, called Ug99, has spread from Africa to Iran, and may already be in Pakistan.
Later this month, the first batch of seeds will be stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to ensure that should a major catastrophe ever hit the planet, survivors should at least have access to a seed bank and so may be able to grow food. Eventually, over 200000 crop …
Rice and wheat are the two most important staple crops, which play a critical role in food security in India. The paper attempts to analyze the changing pattern of foodgrain production system and derive certain policy interventions in view of its relative importance in achieving avowed growth rates envisaged in …
An innovative attempt was made to promote the concept of village based seed banks by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as an intervention of Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Program (APRLP) in Andhra Pradesh state. In this case study, a detailed documentation of process in implementation …
The Andhra Pradesh government's appeal for an injunction against us biotech major Monsanto may fail in the face of weak anti-monopoly law. The state government had filed its appeal seeking to restrain Monsanto from charging exorbitant prices from farmers for Bt cotton seeds, before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices …
Europe's leading food safety agency has approved five genetically modified (gm) crops and foods that were banned in certain European Union (eu) countries claiming they posed no threat to human or animal health. The Italy-based European Food Safety Authority was asked by the European Commission (ec) to test the controversial …
