The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
Patna: A central team of experts from the agriculture ministry, sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is assessing the drought situation in 28 rain deficient districts in Bihar.The team made an on the spot study in Vaishali, Begusarai, Sitamarhi and other districts and took the stock of damages caused to …
Shoumojit BanerjeePatna: With the drought situation in Bihar steadily worsening, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called a special Cabinet meeting this Saturday to review the situation.A Central arrived here on Tuesday to assess the situation after the State Government last week declared 28 of the 38 districts
Anantapur, Aug. 10: A city in a drought-prone district has set an example by banning the use of plastic below 20 microns (0.2 mm) and that too from 2006.Tadipatri, the industrially developed town in Anantapur, is completely free of plastic and other hazardous substances.Even roadside tea-stalls and fruit vendors have …
Vladimir RadyuhinMOSCOW: A catastrophic drought and wildfires that have hit much of Russia this summer may slash its grain harvest by more than a third against last year.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia is likely to harvest 60 to 65 million tonnes of grain this year, compared with 97 million …
Several regions of the world are currently coping with severe weather-related events: flash floods and widespread flooding in large parts of Asia and parts of Central Europe while other regions are also affected: by heatwave and drought in Russian Federation, mudslides in China and severe droughts in sub-Saharan Africa. While …
Richard WrayRussia is the world's second largest producer of barley after the EU and the cereal crop is used by many farmers as animal feed.Shoppers could see the cost of the meat and poultry in their baskets rise as the price of barley has more than doubled over the past …
Recent events in Russia, one of the largest suppliers of wheat in the world, have raised concern about the current and future price of wheat and wheat-based products. This article briefly examines the issue and determines if there is in fact cause for serious alarm.
The impact of climate change on agriculture depends on the environmental and socio-economic contexts in which the changes occur. However, current tools to anticipate climate change impacts focus almost entirely on biological and environmental processes. For example, most large-scale crop models can identify where yields are sensitive to new temperatures …
Feeding the world is going to require the scientific and financial muscle of agricultural biotechnology companies. Natasha Gilbert asks whether they're up to the task.
Gargi Parsai NEW DELHI: The foodgrains output for 2009-10 is expected to be 16.27 million tonnes lower at 218.20 million tonnes than the record production of 234.47 million tonnes last year. The decline, mainly in rice, edible oils and coarse cereals, is due to the widespread drought in the kharif …
A once-in-a-century drought struck much of the Amazon rainforest in 2005, reducing rainfall by 60–75% in some areas — and giving scientists a window on to a future coloured by climate change. The drought foreshadowed the Amazon drying that many climate modellers expect to see in a warmer world. But …
JAIPUR: Initiatives for stepping up preparedness for natural disasters, establishment of safety nets such as grain bank and fodder bank and exercises for hazard vulnerability analysis at the village level in Rajasthan were highlighted at an international workshop on disaster prevention organised in Japan earlier this month. A two-member team …
Yoginder K Alagh : If agricultural output did not go down in a major drought, some big comments and questions should have been raised. The comments should have been on the changing nature of the economy, its resilience and strengths. There should have been questions about how we can sustain …
Recent studies have linked climatic and social instabilities in ancient China; the underlying causal mechanisms have, however, often not been quantitatively assessed. Here, using historical records and palaeoclimatic reconstructions during AD 10
Alarmingly deficient monsoon rains, canals with little water and defunct tube wells have brought back the fear of a drought in large parts of Bihar for the second consecutive year. Sensing the farmers
K Narasimhamurthy, July 8, Kolar: The method adopted to assess crop damage seems to be a significant deterrent for farmers. Of the 2.09 lakh farmers in the drought-ridden district, only 3,227 chose to insure their crops last year. The district has about 59,500 small farmers and 1.45 lakh marginal farmers. …
Emissions of African dust increased sharply in the early 1970s, but the human contribution to land degradation and dust mobilization remains poorly understood. Now, a 3,200-year record of dust deposition off northwest Africa has been constructed. On the basis of this dust record and a proxy record for West African …
In this paper Greenpeace illustrates proven, modern farming approaches that help cope with drought using ecological farming. Elaborates on the drought-resistant crop varieties and calls for policy makers to increase funds for research on the system. Human-induced climate change is resulting in less and more erratic rainfall, especially in regions …
Birmashri Rathore knows exactly how much water to add to milk so that it can still be accepted as milk. As the price of this essential commodity shot up across the country over the past two years, so did the level of dilution in the family’s daily milk. Three years …
