The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …
Hill farming system involves diverse crops and their varieties, medicinal plants, forest species, practiced by the Adi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. These tribal farmers are conserving biodiversity and meeting the food, balanced nutrition and health benefits from this farming system. Recognizing and rewarding the custodians of biodiversity and conserving the …
Supporters of small-scale farming claim that it provides livelihoods, and it can also conserve agrodiversity. In an attempt to show this, an international network of scientists joined hands with farmer communities to document agrodiversity. By sharing this knowledge with other farming communities, they showed how it is possible to achieve …
Spate irrigation is an ancient form of water harvesting. It is a method of managing unpredictable and potentially destructive flash floods for crop and livestock production. By making water available, it can contribute to increasing the diversity of farming systems where it is found. It is the major source of …
In 1999, Aspen and David Edge bought Semilla Besada, a 12 hectare farm in southern Spain, with the intention of re-establishing its family farming tradition. They faced various challenges: the dryland environment, lack of markets and little social support. However, through using various management and design tools, encouraging diversity on …
Farmers in the Yoro and Otoro regions of Honduras have organised themselves into agricultural research teams to improve the diversity and resilience of their farms. Supported by local and international organisations, these farmers have diversified their plant genetic resources and developed hardier varieties that grow well on their soils. Their …
Spreading risk is an essential means to reduce vulnerability, especially for already vulnerable people. Increasing the use of underutilised crops is one of the better buffers to help farmers diversify, and sustain, nutritional, environmental and financial security in times of change.
Professor Bruno Messerli, together with the team at ICIMOD made a tangible proposal for the long-term preservation of Himalayan genetic heritage: to select four representative
Nepal has been moving towards the fulfilment of its commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Since long time, Nepal has been adopting all the decisions emanating from the Conference of the Parties. Nepal has also become party to various legally binding international instruments that are in line with …
Every day, millions of rural people who depend on agriculture confront technical, economic, social, cultural, and traditional obstacles to improving their livelihoods. To cope with these obstacles, the rural poor draw on indigenous knowledge and innovate through local experimentation and adaptation. Indigenous knowledge alone, however, is not enough to deal …
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 …
The art of rice cultivation has descended from one generation to another in Apatani tribes. The practice based on traditional wisdom which has sustained over generations, has made rice production economically viable, ecologically safe and often energy efficient.
Many in tribal India have given up on traditional food Some months ago I went on a long journey through parts of tribal India. Getting off the bus in Malkangiri district, supposedly the most backward region in Orissa, I headed for a village which I frequented a decade ago. I …
Online Farming * Agropedia, an open source encyclopaedia for agriculture, has been launched by the government (http://agropedia.iitk.ac.in) * It disseminates information to farmers and enables sharing of knowledge amongst them * The site is a follow-up to a-Aqua, an online agriculture Q&A; forum Is India's next farming revolution taking roots …
Talk about weeds changing labour market Vandana Khobragade, a small farmer, knew the wheat and chickpea growing on her half hectare farmland needed weeding. But she could not afford to pay Rs 50 a day for labour to farm hands in her village Matkazari in Maharashtra
Last November in Beijing, government officials representing member states of the World Health Organisation adopted a declaration that provides a powerful endorsement of traditional medicine and may one day become the foundation for a legally binding resolution.
The Annam festival held in the last week of December 2008, in Thiruvananthapuram is the first event of its kind. It is a brave attempt to bring focus to the growing concern over the present food habits in Kerala and the deleterious effects they are having on public health. Among …
