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 …
Satya Devi’s 35 apple trees have borne few fruits this year. The 60- year-old blames it on too little moisture in the soil and too much dust in the air that settles on the leaves. The horticulture department of Hima chal Pradesh agrees. Construction of dams on the Sutlej in …
Securing enough food to meet the needs of a growing global population requires managing the complex interplay between farming at home and trade with others. Andrea Wolverton, Anita Regmi and Ann Tutwiler look into challenges of political economy that undernourishment presents and how donors, such as the US, may be …
Muktsar, June 20 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged state farmers to switch over to organic agriculture to prevent further contamination of underground water sources with pesticides. He was addressing farmers at sangat darshan programmes in several villages of Muktsar. He also released funds for the development of the …
The government of Maharashtra is offering subsidies for liquor production from foodgrains. This policy will turn jowar into a cash crop and divert huge quantities of foodgrains to alcohol production, creating scarcity and causing food inflation. Moreover, Right to Information documents have revealed the extent to which the claims made …
The hailstorm that lashed Sikkim on April 27 has caused extensive damage to crops, especially kharif, affecting about 3,000 families, Horticulture and Cash Crops Development department said today. The department held two consecutive meetings on April 29 and 30 to review the progress of various schemes and modify strategies for …
NEW DELHI The tobacco industry is not only hazardous to society but it also exploits its workers by paying them meagre wages, especially women and children. The Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), on the basis of a study in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, released a report …
Battered and shamed in the recent Lok Sabha polls and gaping at the cracks in its own front, Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) is going against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that India has signed with ASEAN. It formed a 550 km 'human chain' across the state to demonstrate …
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan fell by 22 percent this year as prices for the drug tumbled causing farmers to switch to other crops, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Some 1.6 million Afghans, or 6.4 percent of the population, are involved in the illegal drugs trade compared to 2.4 million …
Scientists expect climate change to dramatically affect coffee production in Central America in the coming decades, but some lowland farmers in Guatemala say they are already feeling the effects. The United Nations forecasts temperatures will rise one to six degrees over the next century, which will make some lower-lying coffee …
GANDHINAGAR: Erratic and poor rains across Gujarat is spelling doom for the year's agricultural production. Sowing operations has been completed on a mere 24 lakh hectares of agricultural land, compared to a whopping 49 lakh hectare around this time last year. "Cultivation on 24 lakh hectare area heavily depends on …
Senna (Cassia angustifolia) a native of Saudi Arabia is now cultivated extensively in Western Rajasthan. The main advantage of the crop is that it does not require the application of any fertilizers and it is not devoured by insects, animals or birds. Also the plant is eco-friendly as it can …
Within a vast deforested area on Borneo island, Australia and Indonesia hope to turn an ecological disaster into a global lesson on how to help local communities save tropical forests and fight climate change. Borneo, like the Amazon, is at the center of efforts to fight deforestation that is a …
BARABANKI: After withdrawal of the facility of growing poppy under licence from the district, the farmers of opium producing plants have adopted Mentha production as a substitute for cash crop. Sown in an area of approximately 12,000 acre of land, the mentha crops are drying due to severe heat, scarcity …
Planting delays in key areas of the U.S. Corn Belt this spring could lead to tight supplies of corn during the next year, forcing prices higher and further threatening profit margins at ethanol plants and livestock companies. The slow pace of corn planting east of the Mississippi River, including major …
Brazil's biosafety regulator CTNBio has approved the use of Monsanto's Bollgard 2 genetically modified cotton seed, the company said on Thursday. The pest-resistant cotton variety must still be approved by Brazil's Agriculture Ministry before it can be planted in the country. U.S.-based Monsanto has a total of six genetically modified …
Tobacco cultivation is posing a threat to the public health and the environment in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Although tobacco cultivation is strictly prohibited, the tobacco companies are doing brisk business, violating the rules. Besides, they motivate the farmers openly by offering incentives in cash and kind to cultivate tobacco. …
