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Supreme Court to look into deregulation of GM food imports Following Gene Campaign's challenge to the government's decision to withdraw all existing regulatory oversight over the import of genetically engineered foods, the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre, writes Suman Sahai.
During the last four to five years, the soil in several parts of Punjab has been regenerated and rejuvenated. Natural farmers are convinced it is working. The movement is led by experienced farmers who believe in Guru Nanak's tenet of Sarbat da bhala (well being of all). Umendra Dutt writes about the transformative work hundreds of farmers are doing.
The Association for India?s Development (AID) celebrated Gandhi Jayanti (2 October) this year with an ?Our Food, Our Farmers? global vigil organised at 18 locations across India and 39 locations in the United States. An IN-PICTURES feature.
Protection at home, preaching abroad In clear disregard for the ongoing multilateral negotiations, the United States is attempting to protect its already heavily fortified agriculture further. The House of Representatives passed the US Farm Bill 2007 in July, proposing 286 billion dollars of support for American farmers over the next five years. Devinder Sharma on the implications.
Life on credit, death in installments Four years, three men, one family. The tragedy unleashed by the agrarian crisis on the family of Deshmukhs in Katyar village of Vidarbha isn?t vanishing. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
Relief cows are milking Vidarbha farmers The Maharashtra government claims that a huge transformation is taking place in Vidarbha; the milk collection has risen 37 per cent. Distressed farmers, who were given the 'princely' cows as relief, feel otherwise. Jaideep Hardikar does a reality check.
GEAC's poor record of regulation How does one countenance a regulator that does not adhere to the law of the land? The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, says Bhaskar Goswami, itself needs to be regulated to ensure it plays a balanced role.
Fresh water scarcity demands fresh ideas A growing world population has led to rising demand for fresh water to ensure a growing supply of food and to meet rising nutrition demands. Where will this water come from? A new publication co-sponsored by CGIAR sheds some light on the narrowing options. Sudhirendar Sharma reviews the report.
Deprived of their lands, unable to find any kind of work, the female sharecroppers of Singur are today looking at bleak days ahead. Government compensation may come, but it may be too little and a poor substitute for a life-sustaining livelihood. Aparna Pallavi has more.
No matter which way India's seed policies are heading, the underlying purpose of Malnad's home garden program as a community conservation initiative for the preservation of genetic diversity, organic agriculture, health and ecologically sensitive livelihoods remains undiluted. Keya Acharya reports from northern Karnataka.
Devinder Sharma: Weeding out wheat Claiming highest quality standards in the world when it comes to its own agricultural imports, the United States has no qualms in exporting sub-standard wheat to India. US participation in India's wheat procurement cannot be at the cost of India softening quarantine standards, says Devinder Sharma.
Burning down standing surgarcane crops Farmers in Datodi village in Yavatmal, Mahrastra, turned to sugarcane when the Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, called on the debt-ridden cotton farmers of Vidarbha to shift to the sweet cane last year. They are now paying the price, reports Jaideep Hardikar.
Maharashtra's sugar cooperatives face a downturn Maharashtra's sugar cooperatives helped raise hundreds of thousands of farmers out of high-risk choices, and brought a measure of economic security to the sugar belt. But over the years, big farmers have hijacked the original premise of the cooperative movement, and the prosperous past is now fading. Gagandeep Kaur reports.
Fungus threat to Indian wheat advancing Stem rust, the worst of the three rusts that afflict wheat plants, has made a comeback. Wheat crops in Africa have been at its mercy and the fungus has already broken into the middle-east. India is directly on its parth, scientists predict. Sudhirendar Sharma has more.
Cooking numbers as agrarian volcano builds up Using a deviously devised method, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is claiming that 75 per cent of Vidarbha farmer suicides are not due to indebtedness at all. Meanwhile, the toll has crossed 250 this year and is rising. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
Under pressure, India makes U-turn At a two-day international seminar on "Saving Doha and delivering on development" that concluded at New Delhi on 13 March, India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath provided ample evidence of India's willingness to go along with the rich and industrialised countries. The writing is on the wall, says Devinder Sharma.
Savita, Sunita and Pratibha are three women from different contexts, background and age groups, yet engulfed by the continuing tragedy that plays out in Maharashtra. The number of widows is growing at a frightening speed in the cotton country. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
Contract farming: New terms of harvest Is contract farming the answer to the current woes confronting the nation's farmers, as various corporates claim? Or has the agri-business sector played the right trick at just the right time, with traditional agriculture in the doldrums in so many regions? Gagandeep Kaur reports.
Genetically engineered foods are blurring the line between acceptable and taboo sources of food for many people. This advance of technology is taking place without the informed consent of the consumers, and additionally raises questions about the safety of such foods and the labeling standards that ought to be adopted, writes Suman Sahai.
A green foundation for prosperity There is much that the nation's farmers need to hear in the Green Foundation's message, and avoid past mistakes. But there is also a positive message, reminding farmers that "traditional farming will help you gain control of your finances and your food security." Sudha Narasimhachar reports.
After the police firing incident at Wani in Vidarbha last month, the Maharashtra government's cotton procurement at the minimum support price rose to 20,000 quintals in four days at one centre alone. But in weeks, it's back to the old ways, making distressed farmers wait at market yards for days, writes Jaideep Hardikar.
Timbaktu Organic is scaling up This year, 160 farmers in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district committed 480 acres for organic production. Two complete cycles of procurement, processing, and marketing of organic produce in a number of cities have already been completed. Rajni Bakshi says Timbaktu Organic is expanding.
Jhum cultivation under sharper scrutiny Jhum, a traditional form of shifting cultivation common in the North-East, was the focus of a recent international meeting in Guwahati. But dilution of the original practice has impacted the ecosystem in some areas. Should jhum be banned? Surekha Sule has more.
Devinder Sharma: Reviving Agriculture In what appears to be a desperate move to prop up agriculture growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for reversing the declining trend in investment in agriculture. But his approach may end up compounding the already existing crisis, writes Devinder Sharma.
He grew a forest only to harvest water Running short of water, and with the rains playing truant, Wayanad coffee planter M P Chandranath sacrificed six acres of his prime coffee plantation to develop a forest. That helped increase his water sources and today, he has no regrets. Shree Padre reports.
Has the Bt cotton bubble burst? Cotton farmers around the country are following Andhra Pradesh's lead in growing cotton without pesticides or using Bt Cotton. And there are no pests. Why? There are 28 predators of the American bollworm, cotton main enemy. If you stop spraying pesticides, these beneficial insects devour the bollworm, notes Devinder Sharma.
Engineering crops, distorting livelihoods When technological change has the potential to put the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people at risk, it must be regulated differently from other products in a free market. Blindly promoting innovation, as is now being done with genetically engineered crops, is self-defeating, writes Suman Sahai.
P Sainath: What the heart does not feel ... After 15 years of a battering from hostile policies and governments, the world of the peasant has turned highly fragile. But the onus of changing is on the farmer. Not on those driving a cruel process and system, who have only contempt for ordinary folk, writes P Sainath.
P Sainath: A final note on farm credit The announcement of fresh crop loans came late in the sowing season for Vidarbha. And, say the suicide notes of farmers, the talk at the top has not been matched by credit at the bottom. Meanwhile, the rain is adding to the devastation, writes P Sainath.
Lens on Bt cotton: Flaky results, pre-determined consensus? Can transgenic cotton ever be a livelihood security measure for the majority of India's small-holder farmers? Keya Acharya is circumspect. She says that the Bt cotton story in India is one of confusion. Bt appears more to favour 'rich' farmers, who have access to water, better resources, and alternative support.
Give us a price, not relief packages? Vidarbha's farmers are unhappy with the "relief packages" announced by the State and the Centre. Debt relief and access to credit are certainly important to them, but they have more important priorities. They want the larger issues driving the suicides addressed first, writes P Sainath.
When the Maharashtra state government started punishing moneylenders in response to rising farmer suicides in Vidarbha, hundreds of cotton farmers complained. "Who will give us credit now?" they asked. Third in his series, records the deep-rooted factors for the dominance of the moneylender in Vidarbha.
P Sainath: Politics of relief packages Had there been a waiver of debt of up to just Rs.25,000, more than 80 per cent of Vidarbha's farmers would no longer have owed the banks money. People thought that waiver would come. It didn't, and the sense of being let down is great.
P Sainath: How Mumbai came to discover Vidarbha The Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Vidarbha has had an impact even before he's reached there. It would, however, be a transient impact if he does not see through the charade. The mess there starts right at the top. Vidarbha's condition is the product of design, not decay, writes P Sainath.
Bt cotton: Persisting on two left feet Five and a half years ago, a visit to nine Karnataka farmers who were trialing Bt cotton showed regulatory breakdown. Six years on, despite fresh criticism by NGOs, scientists and the media, India's regulatory practice with transgenic crops appears to have offered a repeat performance of its 2000 conduct, says Keya Acharya.
Bt cotton farmers are alert this year There seems to be a steady increase in the acceptance of Bt cotton by Karnataka farmers. And, after experiencing the disastrous consequences of spurious seeds, farmers are particular about buying only from authorised sources. But disturbing and worrisome trends remain, reports Keya Acharya.
Legislative brief on Seeds Bill 2004 Through registration and certification, the draft law seeks to promote quality seeds. But it's unclear if farmers can meet the standards set for commercial seeds. Controversially, the Bill also permits inspectors to carry out search and seize operations without warrants. M R Madhavan and Kaushiki Sanyal present a legislative brief.
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