Full Coverage: Agriculture

28.02.2006 The south Indian state of Kerala has approved the Organic Agriculture policy of the state in order to promote organic farming. The policy comes in the wake of a growing international demand for organic farm produce.

28.02.2006 Focussing attention on bridging the urban and rural divide, the Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced plans to speed up the pace of building infrastructure, power and irrigation facilities in rural areas. This initiative has been given a filip by Indian President APJ Kalam under his much-talked about PURA scheme (Providing Urban Amerinities in Rural Areas).

28.02.2006 KATHMANDU: The poverty alleviation agenda of the government is being well-supported by the Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTGN) providing employment opportunities to more than 7,000 marginalised people in 46 districts of the country.

28.02.2006 Farmers snatched 50 sacks of urea at Keshabpur upazila in Jessore on Sunday evening after failing to collect any from dealers.

28.02.2006 ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will decide to extend financial assistance for mega water reservoirs once the government of Pakistan achieves a complete consensus and ensures comprehensive compensation to the people affected by the dams, said Peter L Fedon, country director ADB resident mission.

28.02.2006 ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to investigate the sugar shortage in the country and fix responsibility on those who caused this crisis.

27.02.2006 Bird flu may take its toll on the environment too. Indian healthcare experts are worried that the large-scale burial of infected birds, using unscientific methods, by panicked farmers may contaminate soil and water.

27.02.2006 Suman Sahai from the Gene Campaign writes in this opinion that US multinational Monsanto’s genetic cotton seed - Bt cotton - has proven to be a failure. Gene Campaign had conducted a field study in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Andhara Pradesh to analyse the performance of Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton.

27.02.2006 International organization Oxfam has called upon EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and his US counterpart Rob Portman to urgently make necessary concessions to ensure that the Doha Round of trade negotiations benefits the developing countries.

26.02.2006 Villagers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, which is one of India's most prosperous states, are migrating to cities to look for work because of a severe drought. Many are working as casual labourers to eke out a living for themselves and their families back home in villages.

26.02.2006 The Indian government has said that 94 of the 95 human samples for the H5N1 strain of bird flu have tested negative, and the last is being subjected to further tests to conclusively establish its status. Meanwhile, culling operations within a 10 km radius of Navapur in Maharashtra, ground zero of the disease outbreak in India, have concluded.

26.02.2006 In Bhutna has seen a substantial increase in honey production in Bumthang this year. The Beekeeper’s Association said that there had been an increase of almost 6000 kilograms compared to previous year. The association this time saw a total production of more than 12,000 kilograms of honey.

23.02.2006 KARACHI: Brisk trade was witnessed at the Karachi cotton market on Wednesday when around 14,000 bales changed hands. The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rate stayed stable at Rs 2,550 per maund.

23.02.2006 The United Kingdom is giving aid of £20m a year in efforts to stop opium cultivation. However, farmers will not get monetary compensation matching the amount they will lose if they agree to abandon poppy cultivation.

23.02.2006 Thousands of farmers angered by the persisting crises of fertiliser, diesel and power laid siege to different local government offices, blocked roads and staged demonstrations in Satkhira, Jessore, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Cox's Bazar and other districts across the country yesterday.

17.02.2006 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to help Pakistan create non-farming jobs in rural areas through a technical assistance loan of US $5 million over the next three years.There is a pressing need to create an enabling environment to stimulate enhanced employment opportunities in rural areas beyond traditional farming. This project aims to diversify job and income-earning opportunities, particularly for the landless, wage earners, and women in rural and peri-urban areas," Ahsan Tayyab, a project economist, said

16.02.2006 BP and TERI plan to undertake a $9.4 million project by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to demonstrate the feasibility of producing biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas, a non-edible oil bearing crop.

16.02.2006 As onion prices hit an all-time low of Rs 2 per kg, a bumper harvest sows seeds of despair among onion growers who are the latest to be hit by Maharashtra’s worsening agrarian crisis.

16.02.2006 The recommendation by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), headed by Professor M. S. Swaminathan, to make India a single common market for agricultural produce is not new. Indeed, the government is already committed to doing so.

15.02.2006 The Cabinet today recommended to the President for the Maldives to become party to the International Treaty on Plant and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The decision was taken at today’s meeting of the Cabinet after members had deliberated on a paper presented by the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture and Marine Resources.