Inaugurating the programme, the Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik urged the farmers to switch to organic farming. The government will extend a helping hand in marketing their products, she said.

Underscoring the need to bring about a mindset change among farmers, she said that they should personally take care of their lands and become technology savvy. Over dependence on subsidies should be eschewed.

Anew site being explored by the Mars rover Opportunity has yielded soil samples unlike any examined before on the red planet and that appear more favourable for life, scientists said.

Opportunity, the indefatigable robot that has been exploring Mars for seven and a half years, arrived three weeks ago at the edge of a 22 kilometer wide crater named Endeavour and has been sending back images of the surrounding environment.

The chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), CP Gautam, on Sunday said more than 60% of distilleries in the state do not comply with pollution control laws, becoming a major source of soil pollution.

He was delivering the keynote address at a day-long workshop on ‘Zero liquid discharge in distilleries’ at Vasantdada Patil Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune on Sunday. Union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, was present.

A Subba Rao, Director and his associate K Sammi Reddy, Principal Scientist, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, jointly conferred prestigious 'Hari Om Ashram Trust Award 2008-09'.

They received a cash award of `1,00,000 and a citation from Union Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar on July 16, 2011 at New Delhi.

It is projected that India will need to grow its agricultural output 12% to feed its people in 2020. Much of this has to come by growing more on the same amount of land.

THRISSUR: Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran has urged the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) scientists to formulate a naturefriendly package of practices to stimulate organic enrichment of soil.

Addressing a conclave of the scientists from KAU, Central Plantation Crops Research Institute(CPCRI), Spices Research Centre, and Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK), at a