The role of AI in making complex agricultural technologies easier to discover, compare and evaluate
Agriculture has always been driven by choices. Every season, farmers have to decide what to grow, when to sow, how much to irrigate, when to apply fertilisers, and in the end, how and where to move their produce to market. In the past, these kinds of decisions mostly came from experience plus local knowledge. Even […]
Can agricultural waste become India’s next commodity?
Every year, India generates 350 million tonne of agricultural waste – from paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse to coconut husks, banana stems, rice husk, cotton stalks and arecanut waste. Much of it is burnt, dumped or left to decompose, contributing to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and resource loss. Yet these same materials are increasingly […]
India’s ISMA, coop sugar mills seek incentives to offset early crushing losses
Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) have offered their support to the government to begin crushing operation 10-15 days earlier in October so that supply in domestic market improves during festival season. This comes at a time when the country faces low sugar availability, with the […]
India’s rice procurement up 5% in 2025-26, as Govt buys 18% higher from rabi crop
India has achieved 99 per cent of its rice procurement target of 575.52 lakh tonnes (lt) so far. It is 5 per cent higher than the year-ago level. As the new marketing season begins from October 1, the government may have to fast-dispose of its stocks before the next purchase for the 2026-27 marketing season […]
ICAR develops India’s first fully annotated T2T genome of pigeonpea variety Asha
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on Tuesday announced that it has developed India’s first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) variety ‘Asha’. The newly developed T2T genome sequence comprises 752.65 million base pairs, assembled into 92 contigs, providing a complete representation of all 11 chromosomes of pigeonpea. The genome […]
Monsoon set to head north, east under El Nino shadow
The monsoon has reached the halfway mark after a season of striking contrasts, with a disastrous June being followed by a reasonably productive July, traditionally the wettest month. The uneven performance has reflected the constant tug-of-war between the monsoon and a steadily strengthening El Niño. The second half of the season could tell a different […]
Kerala Agri Varsity launches home garden model to promote nutritious vegetables
The Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has launched innovative home garden model aimed at encouraging families to grow safe, nutritious vegetables in limited spaces such as terraces, balconies and small kitchen gardens. The initiative called Panchakam recommends cultivating five selected crops—drumstick, papaya, chilli, curry leaf and cowpea—in at least five pots or a small patch of […]
IMD predicts 7% rain deficit during Aug-Sept, sticks to 90% of normal rainfall projection
India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecast “below normal” rain in August and during August-September period. It predicted quantitatively less than 94 per cent of the long period average rainfall during the second half of the monsoon. The weather bureau stuck to its earlier forecast of 90 per cent (or 781.74 mm) rainfall during the […]
El Nino likely to further strengthen during October-December, Indian govt tells Upper House of Parliament
The Indian government has said that El Nino is likely to further strengthen during the October-December period, and may reach a very strong category. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said El Nino events are generally […]
Cotton imports likely to rise to a record 60 lakh bales
Trade body Cotton Association of India (CAI) has raised the import projections of the fibre crop for the 2025-26 season ending September by 13 lakh bales to a new high of 60 lakh bales (of 170 kg each). This is in view of the consuming sector, taking advantage of the 11 per cent duty exemption, […]