The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Global warming and climate change may worry people elsewhere, but not in India. Indian agriculture minister Sharad Pawar recently told Parliament that climate change has not had any impact on farming. In the past five years, he said, production of wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton "has not dropped, but increased". …
Bhubaneswar: In order to help improve the condition of farmers and the farm sector, the Odisha government has set a target to provide an estimated Rs 3,000 crore crop loan to 15 lakh farmers during the 2012 Kharif season. Besides, it has decided to disburse Rs 600 crore towards agricultural …
Other States Too Face Similar Woes, Send SOS To Centre New Delhi: Massive procurement of wheat has posed serious storage problem for various states, who are now urging the Centre to intervene to help them tide over the crisis. Latest figures show that Madhya Pradesh is fast catching up with …
The Ministry of consumer affairs in an extra ordinary gazette notification, made an amendment to bring in GM food labeling under G.S.R. 427 (E) 2 (b) (ii) after sub rule 6, the following sub rule shall be inserted with effect from 1st day of January 2013, namely Every packaged containing …
Aren’t critics of genetically engineered food anti-science? Isn’t the debate over GMOs (genetically modified organisms) a spat between emotional but ignorant activists on one hand and rational GM-supporting scientists on the other? A new report released , “GMO Myths and Truths,” challenges these claims. The report presents a large body …
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) has decided to lay emphasis on research of new breeds of various agro products, including paddy, jute, pulses, cotton and oilseeds in the current fiscal year. Dean (Research) S S Nanda said this year new varieties of rice like Tanmayee, Hiranmayee, …
Large-scale crop plantations are expanding at a rapid pace across southeast Asia, with multinational firms often benefiting the most at the expense of local communities and the environment, two U.N. rights experts warned on Wednesday. Demand for agrofuels, such as those derived from sugar cane and palm oil, has boomed …
BHUBANESWAR: Having witnessed a quantum rise in the production of horticulture crops in the last 10 years, the State Government has now decided to lay emphasis on floriculture, coconut and banana crops. Three new schemes - floriculture development, coconut development, banana development - besides inter-cropping have been introduced under the …
Agriculture output topped the target by 7 million tonnes last year, thanks to good monsoon After clocking a record food grain production of over 252 million tonne in 2011-12, the government now targets 250 million tonne of production in the crop year of 2012-13. “We have set a conservative food …
The Sri Lankan government is to provide the fertilizer subsidy currently granted to paddy cultivation to supplementary crop cultivations as well. Wild Life and Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena has said the Rs. 350 fertilizer subsidy granted to paddy cultivations would be granted to supplementary crop cultivations from today (21). …
PUNE: Weather scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology are studying high resolution climate projections over South Asian Monsoon region which is expected to contribute to future crop and water management and planning in India. The study undertaken is part of the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO) Coordinated Regional …
After last year’s failed rainfall dried up most wells and the depeleting water table drove the hand pumps to a trickle, farmers in the nearly 200 villages in Mann and Khatav talukas in Satara are now struggling to save their cattle. While both farmers and their livestock await government relief …
Government data released on Monday said 255.67 lakh tonnes of grain had been procured by different agencies across the country with Punjab alone reporting 112.04 lakh tonnes of wheat being picked up. NEW DELHI: Record procurement of foodgrain -- 44 lakh tonnes over what was bought last year by this …
Senior European Union officials failed on Wednesday to agree on how to measure the full climate impact of biofuels, prolonging uncertainty in a debate that threatens to wipe out large parts of Europe's biodiesel industry. The talks followed warnings from scientists that using biodiesel made from European rapeseed and imported …
In flood-hit fields in the Philippines, farmers are testing a hardy new variety of rice that can survive completely submerged for more than two weeks. In Kenya's Kibera slum, poor urban families are turning around their diets and incomes just by learning to grow vegetables in sack gardens outside their …
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Iogen Corp have scrapped plans for a commercial-scale biofuel plant in Manitoba, spelling the loss of 150 jobs and raising questions about widespread and near-term use of fuel made from agricultural waste in Canada. The Iogen Energy joint venture had been studying building a plant …
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday approved a proposed five-year farm bill that seeks to make steep cuts to subsidies while expanding government crop-insurance programs. The proposal met sharp resistance from lawmakers in Southern states, who say it goes too far in peeling back billions of dollars in subsidies that …
Following directions from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in respect of growing cancer incidence on account of indiscriminate use of pesticides in Punjab, the state government has banned the manufacture, import and use of pesticides injurious to health. Responding to the NHRC orders, the Punjab Government has informed the …
India's first genetically engineered (GE) drought-resistant rice variety has been developed in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. The University of Calcutta developed the rice having drought tolerant features and its field-trials would be conducted within two-three years, a top official of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) said here. …
Hisar, March 28: Dr Gurbachan Singh, Chairman, Agricultural Scientists' Recruitment Board (ASRB), has cautioned that climatic changes taking place due to global warming pose a threat to sustainable agriculture. He was addressing the inaugural session of a national seminar on “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: Challenges in Changing Climate” organised …
