India became a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994. The CBD is a multilateral treaty aimed at conserving biodiversity, its sustainable use and ensuring “fair and…
Even as modern science grapples with the rapidly declining bee population, we could look back and take a lesson on sustainability from the ancient culture of the adivasis (the first…
Hundreds of women with painted earthen pots on their heads joined the march to a venue in the outskirts of Gambharikhol, a village in Daspalla block of Odisha’s Nayagarh district.…
Shifting cultivation, variously known as swidden agriculture, slash and burn, or locally as jhum in Bangladesh and northeast India, has been vilified and blamed for deforestation and environmental degradation since…
Zero Budget Natural Farming is a fairly self-explanatory term. An alternative to conventional farming, ZBNF claims to have an almost negligible investment in farming by adopting chemical-free agriculture, drawn from…
Asha’s husband did not believe her initially. Neither did most of her neighbours in Pichompa Kalan, Haryana. An orchard of citrus fruits, mangoes, watermelons, amla, jamun, apricot, pulses and cereals—how…
In Mizoram’s rugged mountains, telltale signs of climate change and population pressure show on slash-and-burn agriculture (jhum or shifting cultivation) and its indigenous practitioners (jhumias), who soldier on despite production…
First reported in Central America 2004 and then in the United States, the rugose spiraling whitefly, an invasive alien insect pest, was quietly siphoning out the sap from coconut palms…
Caught in the transition from shifting cultivation (jhum) to rubber monocropping, members of indigenous communities in a remote district in Tripura - India’s second rubber capital - are “struggling” or…
The onset of rains in Goa not only mean change in the weather but also eating habits. As monsoon winds and a two-month fishing ban make fishing in the sea…
Can nutritionally diverse cropping systems make India’s children resilient to future drought-linked stunting? According to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the…
As southwest India finally has a respite from the recent heavy rains, the discussions have now turned to what went wrong. In the district of Kodagu, nine days of non-stop…
Maize farmers in many parts of Karnataka were taken by surprise in July last year when an unknown caterpillar attacked their crop. It didn’t take scientists long to identify the…
It was September 7, barely a month after the floods of 2018 had wrecked large parts of Kerala. Though life was far from normal in Thrissur's coastal Kodungalloor, 48-year-old Jaison…
Twenty-six-year-old Laxmi Salami comes from a long line of farmers who have remained true to the tried and tested ways of cotton cultivation that they know. Not surprisingly, she was…
As salt-spoiled soils increase across the world, can neglected and underutilised crop species be the rising stars in sustainable agriculture in salinisation-hit countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? Spotlighting…
As you sip the freshly brewed craft beer, there is nothing to indicate the pale brew is generously infused with bajra, or pearl millet, a grain that has been grown…
Father George Quadros hit upon the idea of collective farming almost by accident. As an amateur farmer, he has been dabbling in various cultivation methods since 1986 at southern Goa’s…
Biopesticides are yet to take off in a major way in India because of mixed constraints, despite their enormous market potential and the national and state initiatives to promote them…
Once upon a time, in the semi-arid plains of Kutch, grew plants that bore soft white tufts of indigenous, Wagad cotton. The cotton’s softness was in contrast to its hardy…
