Political

 The objectives of the study included: i) assessing the application of a common method for measuring irrigation subsidies in order to develop accurate, replicable and reliable subsidy estimates and ii) providing policy advice aimed at improving and standardizing the reporting of data on irrigation subsidies. 

 Fluoride (F) is harmful to human health and knowledge of spatiotemporal distribution of F content in groundwater is thus a prerequisite for taking preventive measures.

Poplar (Populus deltoides) has gained considerable importance in agroforestry plantations of western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir due to its deciduous nature, fast growth, short rotation and high industrial requirement. Poplar based agroforestry systems are prevalent among farmers of Saharanpur (UP) and Yamunanagar (Haryana) districts of northwestern India.

More than 16 states in India are facing the fluorosis problem. Several southern-peninsular states are experiencing monsoon climate condition, where the rainwater is harvested through tanks and used for agriculture.

This set of presentations from the conference on Outstanding Organic Agriculture Techniques held during September 2009 at Bangalore deals with pest and disease management practices in organic farming, which rely primarily on preventive and integrated methods.

Crop production and plan protection in organic farming

This paper by S R Sundararaman presents organic farming as the only recourse for farmers, to save both livelihood and the health of the soil. Organic farming methods enable farmers save money and turn their farmyard waste into value-added products for increasing crop production. Farmers will not have to be dependent on agri-business companies for seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Our self-reliance is thus preserved. A large portion of our country's foreign exchange is used to pay for the import of petroleum products. By going organic we will also help our country save on valuable foreign exchange. Our land will keep giving us returns for extended periods of time unlike farming as per the green revolution, where the land stays productive for a short time and then becomes sterile.

The uppermost question in the minds of farmers who have recently converted to organic farming or who want to turn organic is how to ensure that crop production does not reduce and how to protect the plants from disease, without the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that their fields have grown used to. This paper provides the answers and it also seeks to reassure all farmers that there is no farm which cannot turn around and produce quality crops in sufficient quantity, using organic farming methods.