| Heavy rainfall may dent export of major crops | 12-NOV-09 |
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| The heavy and incessant rain that has hit Maharashtra and Gujarat over the last three days, is all set to dent the export of cash crops such as grapes, pomegranates, alphonso mangoes and cashewnuts. Output of other crucial crops such as rice, sugarcane and cotton is also expected to suffer in Konkan, northern and western Maharashtra and southern Gujarat. |
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| Surinder Sud: Good carbon dioxide! | 03-NOV-09 |
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| Carbon dioxide (CO2) is infamous as a pollutant. It is one of the key greenhouse gases (GHGs), along with methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases, which cause global warming and consequential climate change that has ominous implications for agriculture. But, what is generally not duly appreciated is that the CO2 also acts as a yield booster. |
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| Shanthie Mariet D'Souza: Opium, charity and Kabul's 'war economy' | 30-OCT-09 |
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| Opium, and the economy it spawned, has for long been regarded as the root of Taliban funding. Poppy cultivation in the insurgency ravaged South and East Afghanistan was estimated to have contributed almost 50 per cent to the nation’s GDP. In recent months, analysts have pointed to other branches of funding for the Taliban. Of these, foreign donations in the form of “Islamic charities” have emerged as the largest source. |
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| Farming with mobile phones | 22-OCT-09 |
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| For long, they have brought good news about friends and family, but now they will tell farmers when to sow their crops and what fertilisers to use. |
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| Farmers' resounding no to Bt brinjal | 22-OCT-09 |
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| It was the biggest line-up of farmers’ organisations and they came to Delhi from all parts of the country with one clear message: they did not want to grow the genetically modified (GM) version of one of the country’s most popular vegetable, the brinjal. The leaders looked mild enough but they said they would resort to “direct action ” if their voice was not heard and they said they represented 200 million farmers in the major brinjal-growing states. |
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| Monsoon above average for 2nd week | 11-SEP-09 |
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| India’s monsoon rainfall, the main source of irrigation for the nation’s 235 million farmers, was above average for a second week, improving prospects for bigger crops of winter-sown wheat and oilseeds. |
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| Production of most crops to be near normal | 10-SEP-09 |
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| The belated surge in the monsoon in September, when it should normally be packing up, has lessened the worries about big drop in kharif harvest. Besides, it has generated optimism about good and timely rabi sowing which can help partly offset the likely drop in kharif production. |
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