Betel leaves were once dubbed green gold. But farmers do not find betel farming lucrative anymore. Besides low demand, it is the rising input cost, primarily for irrigation, that is discouraging betel farmers. Since it is a tropical plant, growing betel in the subtropic climate of India requires extra care …
The way paan is associated with India, a Chaurasia is associated with paan. But both the equations are changing, said Lalta Prasad Chaurasia, spitting blood red betel juice into an elegantly designed brass spittoon. The 58-year-old is among the last generation of Chaurasia farmers in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh …
Read this special report by Down To Earth on the iconic Paan losing its appeal. Its trade has dipped 40-50 per cent in the past decade, while consumption of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, increased during the period. Farmers now prefer other crops. Iconic paan no more appeals to farmers, traders …
A LOOMING food crisis in the world and high food inflation rates at home made Pranab Mukherjee’s proposals to boost agriculture in his 2011 budget more keenly watched than usual. These are factors that clearly weighed with the finance minister who repeatedly said that his principal concern this year has …
About a decade ago, farmers of 15 villages in Mahuva block in coastal Saurashtra could barely grow one crop a year. This was because the groundwater they used for irrigation was saline. Their fortunes changed in 2000 when the Gujarat government created a reservoir—Samadhiyala bandhara— by building a dam at …
THE government should offer assured income to farmers and shield them from erratic weather conditions. These are a few of the demands of farmers’ groups from the Union Budget 2011-12, which will be tabled in February-end. To address the declining growth in agriculture, the government should allocate more funds for …
EXTREME weather conditions over the past few weeks have destroyed crops in several states, triggering farmers’ suicides. In all, over 300 farmers reportedly killed themselves in Andhra Pradesh (275), Odisha (36) and Madhya Pradesh (7), the worst hit states. Media reports said some of the deaths were caused by heart …
Some hundred people, men and women, were gathered on the hill. Many more, I could see, were trudging up. Their faces were resolute. I asked why they were opposing the cement plant. Their answer was simple: “We cannot eat cement.” “But the plant will bring you employment and prosperity,” I …
It came to them as a small business proposal. About 10,000 farmers in the semi-arid Shekhawati region on the edge of Thar desert turned it into a fortune spinner and have become major organic farmers in Rajasthan. It was 1994, recalled Om Prakash Sharma, farmer in Korela village near Nawalgarh …
IT IS back to square one for the farmers of Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh. Reeling under persistent drought from 2003-08, they were driven to mentha (mint) cultivation that promised good returns. Instead, it increased debts. Cultivation of this water-intensive crop is fast shrinking due to depletion of groundwater and …
Giyasilal Saini is a marginal farmer who has market savvy. It comes from experience. Living in a semi-arid area like Alwar in Rajasthan, he always knew he could not depend on farming alone. So he would keep some goats, like others in village Jaitpura. Then three years ago the pond …
ABOUT 100 farmers in Karnataka destroyed a paddy field where multinational seed major DuPont was conducting field trials for genetically modified (GM) rice in collaboration with University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore. The police have arrested 12 farmers for vandalism and trespassing. The trial was on about a hectare field at …
IT HAS been drafted several times in the past six years. The Union agriculture ministry is confident the seeds bill will make it through Parliament this winter session. But opposition parties, and some MPs from the ruling Congress Party, are getting ready to corner the ministry over legislation. The Seeds …
The new nutrient-based fertiliser subsidy policy provides implicit incentives to farmers to test soil samples regularly and get crop-wise recommended doses of nutrients, and offers prospective benefits from the agro-environmental management point of view. A study of six villages in the lower Bhavani Basin in Tamil Nadu reveals that despite …
Oil wells fitted with pumping devices are a common sight in Mehsana district, north of Ahmedabad. For the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) the district is the most prized onshore oil asset in India, producing about 40,000 barrels crude oil a day. But for farmers the wells spell …
COME winters, farmers in 50 districts of the country will be covered by an experimental crop insurance scheme by the Centre. The new scheme is a modified version of the current programme with new features like providing indemnity and advance relief to farmers. The unit area for the new insurance …
FARMERS of 15 coastal villages in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district have intensified their stir against Nirma company’s cement plant proposed on a waterbody. Activists are mobilizing people against the plant by screening films showing the impact the project will have on farmers of Mahuva tehsil. The latest round of protests were …
INDIAN government’s policy to regulate cotton exports to make it available for the domestic textile industry may affect farmers. In a decision that has cotton growers worried, the Centre on September 28 deferred cotton exports from October 1 to November 1. The registration of exports has begun and no duty …
TWO months after a cloudburst and floods destroyed their crops and land, hundreds of farmers in Leh are struggling to make a living. Farmlands in the district of Ladakh are covered with thick layers of dried mud and boulders. Stanzin Dorjey, 48, of Taru village, one of the worst affected …
Chronic renal failure (CRF) associated with elevated dietary cadmium (Cd) among farming communities in the irrigated agricultural area under the River Mahaweli diversion scheme has reached a significantly higher level of 9,000 patients. Cadmium, derived from contaminated phosphate fertilizer, in irrigation water finds its way into reservoirs, and finally to …
