Years after Bihar banned alcohol, its active ingredient, ethanol, is finding a fresh use. The central government has approved 47 ethanol plants in the state, of which at least 32…
This three-part series reports the advances in agricultural technology in India. Part 1 discusses the emerging technologies in the pre-sowing stage. Part 2 and Part 3 throw light on the…
Agroforestry, the amalgamation of agriculture and forestry within the same land area, may seem straightforward, yet its intricacies often require significant scientific intervention to optimise outcomes. Traditional methods for evaluating,…
Government initiatives over the past decade are accelerating the use of technology and innovation in the agriculture sector, with significant funding and potential job creation, despite challenges such as limited…
A new study evaluating the impacts of the 740-kilometre long Konkan Railway line has thrown up some surprising results related to the impact on forests. Launched in 1993, the railway…
“Imagine this. Your palm is the region of Jaisalmer and the slope that reaches the centre of your palm forms the khadeen,” farmer Chhatar Singh tells Mongabay-India, explaining how the…
For nearly three decades of negotiations on ways to contain global warming, food systems and agriculture did not feature prominently at the annual UN climate summits. That changed in the…
A recent report reveals that the global agrifood system, while having benefits of nutrition and livelihood, has hidden costs, such as those related to health and the environment. These add…
Sustainable food systems will be a key consideration at the UN climate change conference this year, with a day dedicated to food, agriculture and water, at the event where world…
While India races ahead with dreams of how it will emerge as a leader in the world, little attention is being paid to the massive degradation of soil. It is…
Eminent agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan breathed his last on September 28. He had celebrated his 98th birthday on August 7. Swaminathan had been keeping indifferent health for the past few…
This is the second story in a three-part series, where Mongabay-India examines the reasons for stubble burning in central India, the possible solutions to end stubble burning and also analyses…
A popular snack in India, makhana, is the seed of a water lily species, Euryale ferox, found in south and east Asia. When harvested, it is actually a tough blackish…
Sabhalgarh Compartment 8, in the Haridwar forest division is known to the residents as Gaindi Khatta. This is a settlement of the Van Gujjar community, who have been relocated and…
This is the first in a three-part series, where Mongabay-India attempts to identify the reasons for stubble burning in central India, find out possible solutions to end stubble burning and…
Delighted to have recorded an unprecedented harvest of 41 quintals (one quintal = 100 kilograms) of pearl millet towards the end of 2022, from an acre (0.4 hectares) of land,…
Every few weeks, 53-year-old agricultural entomologist Rajendra Hegde addresses a large gathering in Bengaluru, where he puts forth a proposition: imagine walking up to your rooftops or balconies and foraging…
Armed with the idea that shifting cultivation is primitive and unsustainable, based on a certain narrative she was exposed to in the academic world, Assam-born researcher Joli Rumi Borah had…
India's wheat crop this year has been hit because of excessive rainfall in the crucial month of March, when the crop enters the vital grain-filling stage and gets ready for…
Buoyed by a “geographer’s heart”, environmental geographer Ruth DeFries started using satellite data in the 1990s to generate global vegetation maps to feed climate models. Unraveling drivers of deforestation in…