Monsanto will roll out the third generation biotechnology product in cotton next year.

Anand Sharma in hectic parleys with state governments

Ten workers of an agrochemical company were injured in a fire following an explosion at the plant in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district Saturday morning, police said.

The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has termed as “most alarming” the current performance of the state’s agriculture sector.

“Over the years, the contribution of agriculture to the State’s GSDP has declined from 16 per cent in 2004-05 to 12 per cent in 2011-12,” FKCCI said in a background paper for the technical session ‘Agenda-Development Karnataka’ of its 95th AGM on Thursday.

The Government has to step in to curb the stranglehold the seed companies have over the choice of seeds, speakers at a round table on ‘Protecting Farmers from Seed Crises' said.

Multinational seed companies like Monsanto are dominating the market and not allowing farmers to retain a portion of their crop for seed, K Nageswara Rao of the All-India Kisan Sabha said here on Friday. He demanded that the Government step in to curb black marketing of seeds.

Agri-biotech and plant breeding company Krishidhan Seeds, a developer of commercial hybrid seeds for Indian agriculture market has announced the launch of Praja, a new variety of BT cotton seed.

LUCKNOW: In a landmark decision on Monday, Uttar Pradesh government cleared the decks for setting up the state's first Mega Food Processing Park at Jagdishpur in Sultanpur district.

The Annual Plan for Manipur for 2012-13 was on Wednesday pegged at Rs.3,500 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi.

During the discussions on the State's performance, Mr. Ahluwalia pointed out that while Manipur has been performing satisfactorily, the gaps in infrastructure needed to be bridged on priority basis and that the State government should encourage private participation in development of this sector.

Illegally smuggled into Brazil 14 years ago, transgenic soy has proved a boon to domestic farmers and now accounts for 85 percent of total production.

'No GM spuds," proclaimed a banner wielded by protesters in opposition to a trial of genetically modified crops last weekend.