Category Agriculture, Food, Nutrition Security and Rural Development

Indian Agriculture’s Bright High-Value-Added Future

India Business and Trade engages in conversation with Dr. Parashram Patil and explores the symbiotic relationship between agricultural value addition and MSP. Dr. Patil emphasizes the need for value addition to increase farmers’ profitability, reduce post-harvest losses, and promote exports. He also underscores the potential of the food processing industry in enhancing the value of agricultural produce and transforming the Indian agricultural landscape. 

Managing fires without harming farmers

SENIOR officials of the government are certainly very different from quantum particles. Yet, both have a common quality: their state changes when they are observed — the very act of observation induces the change. Now that the Supreme Court has ordered the authorities of north Indian states to put an end to stubble burning, leaving it to them to figure out how, we can expect to see some action. Here are a few suggestions as to how to act on the court directive without creating a conflict with farmers, who need to clear their fields of the crop residue in order to plant the next crop.

Rationalization of Price Support Policy is Essential for Better Crop Procurement

It is essential to promote diversification of crop production to pulses, oilseeds and millets. There is a need to spur the development and adoption of innovative technologies and practices for resource use efficiency and reducing the cost of production. Such innovations should also focus on adaptation to climate change. The integration of farmers into the value chain of agricultural commodities should be prioritised for ensuring better incomes with a larger share in consumer prices.

Sugar-Coated Illusions: The Flaws of Ethanol Fuel

If there is a wild goose running for its life ahead of the target to blend ethanol into petrol up to 20 per cent of the volume by the end of 2025-26, it is keeping itself pretty invisible. But make no mistake, any attempt to use a farm-grown crop like sugarcane to produce biofuels is little more than a wild goose chase.

Stalemate on GMO Crop Policies: A Barrier to Agricultural Advancement

A Amarender Reddy GEAC’s Recommendation and the Promise of DMH-11 The government’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has recommended the environmental release of transgenic Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) for testing in farmers’ field crops and seed production. If testing in…

M.S. Swaminathan: A Legacy of Food Security and Sustainability

MS Swaminathan was a remarkable scientist who changed the course of the history of India through contributions to India’s food security in a very difficult time of frequent famines, hunger and poverty. He was born on August 7, 1925, in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, went for higher studies in England and completed his PhD from Cambridge University in the year 1952. After his studies, although he was offered a position at Wisconsin University (USA), he chose to return to his motherland where he had no job, to serve the country on the back of famines, poverty and hunger due to food shortages and crop failures.

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