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Tobacco use is associated with an annual global economic cost of two trillion dollars and mortality of half of its regular users. Tobacco leaf cultivation is the starting point of the tobacco cycle. Tobacco farming employs millions of small-scale tobacco farmers around the globe, most of whom are out growers who rely on the tobacco industry. This paper aims to map the regions of greatest tobacco production globally (i.e., the US, Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, and Zambia) and tobacco use rates in these locations. Smoking rates were higher in those areas, except for India, where important population subgroups reported an upward trend for tobacco smoking. In general, there was a relationship between tobacco farming and tobacco smoking. Tobacco farming may lead to a higher risk of tobacco use and lower adherence to tobacco control policies. Therefore, promoting viable alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers must have dual benefits. Additionally, specific health prevention policies might be necessary for those populations reporting higher tobacco use and lower perception of tobacco-related health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The July 2008 attempt by a group of ministers to agree on modalities for the WTO's Doha Round broke down in part because they could not agree on a proposed 'Special Safeguard Mechanism' (SSM) for developing countries in agriculture. This paper offers a corrective to the conventional story that the breakdown was due to a simple conflict of interests over the SSM between the United States and India. The term SSM was first used in a Doha Round text in 2004, but neither the principles nor the commercial implications had ever been discussed by ministers before July 2008. The conceptual origins of the SSM go back to proposals in the late 1990s for a 'Development Box', but by the time of the ministerial, negotiators had been unable to agree on the purpose of the safeguard, or how it would work, including the agricultural products it would cover, how it would be triggered, the remedies (additional tariffs) allowed, or the transparency requirements for its operation. The SSM was therefore one of the least 'stabilized ' parts of the text placed before ministers in July 2008. Members were far from reaching a consensual understanding of the SSM, which resulted in a fiasco that might have been avoided. Ministers should not have been asked to engage in a poorly prepared discussion of a sensitive issue, because inevitably they staked out incompatible positions. Members may subsequently find it difficult to back down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jammu and Kashmir is the seventh largest state (now a union territory) of India in terms of area, with about 1.25 crore inhabitants. It has 11 universities (Central and State) and 308 colleges affiliated with Jammu and Kashmir universities. With such a diverse higher educational structure, one presumes the region will have sufficient scientific output for scientometric analysis. The study tried to assess its research output and impact in science and technology by analysing 4,697 journal articles indexed in the Science Citation Index–Expanded database Web of Science. The examination of articles revealed that they are predominantly dealing with plant sciences, dairy and animal science, agriculture, and chemistry. All these articles have a mean of 7.24 authors and citation per publication of 6.43. The Jammu and Kashmir researchers' international collaboration is primarily with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The most prolific institutions are the University of Kashmir, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST), and Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). The most productive researchers are Sheikh Javid Ahmad from Cluster University Srinagar, and Farooq Ahmad Masoodi and Aijaz Ahmad Dar from University of Kashmir. The study will serve as an index to assist researchers and organizations in Jammu and Kashmir and their publication profiles in the overall science and technology output of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With supermarkets sourcing produce from around the world, small farmers in the United States have learned not only to survive but to thrive by employing direct marketing strategies aimed at consumers interested in obtaining locally-grown produce. In India today, small and marginal farmers are burdened by global price fluctuations, mounting debt, and unsustainable agricultural practices. Rather than give up farming, we argue that India's farmers could successfully adopt low-input farming methods as well as direct marketing models used in the US, such as farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture. With appropriate public, private, and community support, these models could hold great promise for Indian farmers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article was published online on 30 June 2009. An error was subsequently identified. This article should be a research article but was incorrectly tagged as a Policy Arena article. This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that both have been corrected [26 February 2010] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the status of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in the agricultural sector in various countries. Several acts protect plants in the U.S. including the Plant Patent Act (PPA), the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act and the Utility Patent Act. In India, the Protection of Plant Varities and Farmers' Rigts Act was enacted to protect plant varieties.