AgrotechThe UK startup's autonomous robots treat strawberry crops with UV-C light instead of fungicide sprays, and it now wants 300 of them deployed in 2027 as growers buy the machines outright.
ICAR-IISWC planted bamboo and kachnar on erosion-prone slopes and guava and amla on field bunds in three villages of Kalsi, Dehradun, to show farmers how trees can stop soil loss and add income.
The cabinet purchase committee approved six proposals to buy 110,000 tonnes of urea from KAFCO, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and 80,000 tonnes of DAP and 70,000 tonnes of TSP from Morocco.
LivestockFarmers and traders from neighbouring districts come to Bhangura's Sharatnagar market on Saturdays and Wednesdays for local cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep; cattle once came by boat on the Baral, now by minitruck and pickup.
EnvironmentThe Met Office monthly review: rain above normal in Khulna division, normal in Barishal and below normal elsewhere; two of three lows over the Bay of Bengal became depressions.
EnvironmentThe Met Office's long-range forecast: more short spells of rain in Chattogram, Barishal, Dhaka, Sylhet and Mymensingh from 1 to 10 October, mostly clear weather from 11 to 20 October, and a slight chance of a low over the Bay between 15 and 20 October.
On International Coffee Day, FAO describes how washing stations in Rwanda and a reformed cooperative in Kenya's Baringo County are raising the quality of smallholder coffee and the earnings that come with it.
WorldEnset, the 'false banana', survives drought and has fed Ethiopian farmers for centuries as kocho, but strict laws, laborious processing and an unfamiliar taste have kept it inside the country.
IslamCouples living under one roof are drifting apart; Muhammad Muhsin Mashkur draws on Surah Ar-Rum, An-Nisa and Al-Baqarah and the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) for five ways to strengthen a marriage.
FisheriesPuti, shing, magur and taki caught overnight in Kuruliya beel are sold at dawn in Chatmohar and carried by traders to city markets, but blocked canals, water hyacinth and pesticide run-off are cutting the beel's fish.
OpinionWriting in Kolkata's Sangbad Pratidin, essayist Aditya Ghosh says about 444 million people in India were exposed to others' tobacco smoke in 2023, and smoking in public places can no longer be shrugged off as a petty offence.
A consumer rights directorate drive around Chattogram Medical College Hospital fined two eateries, a supershop and two pharmacies; cooked food was found stored with raw fish and meat.
EnvironmentThe Copernicus Ocean State Report published on 30 September says the rate of ocean warming has doubled in two decades and ocean heat set a record for the ninth year running, with rising seas and dying coral.
FruitsThe plant-derived product triggers grapevines' own defences against Botrytis, leaves no residue and needs no pre-harvest interval; it goes on sale from October 2026.
HealthHalf a million dengue NS1 rapid tests from the US-funded STRIDES programme will go through the Central Medical Stores Depot to every district and upazila hospital; talks on a dengue vaccine are under way with WHO, UNICEF and Gavi, the minister said.
Market ManagementTur, moong, soybean and sunflower will be bought at minimum support price under the Price Support Scheme in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana for kharif 2026-27.
CropsAbout 25 million households, most of them smallholders in developing countries, grow around 80 per cent of the world's coffee; the value chain from picking the cherries to green coffee, export and roasting.
CropsDepartment of Agricultural Extension figures show coffee imports rising from 264 tonnes in 2012 to 1,745 tonnes in 2025, while commercial coffee farming has spread from the three hill districts to Tangail, Rangpur and Nilphamari.
FlowersThe shiuli, or night-flowering jasmine, with white petals and an orange stem, opens at night and drops before dawn; from September to November its fallen flowers and soft scent mark autumn, though cities are losing the big trees and open ground it needs.
Writing in Down To Earth, Monika Arora, William Joe and Tina Rawal back FSSAI's proposed red hexagon warning for packaged foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat, and ask that it go further.
