A food company has been "requested' by the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) to halt work on a proposed dairy farm, since it is located in a protected area where such activities are strictly restricted and require a specialised assessment on environmental impact, Dawn has learnt.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Saturday alleged that the Kerala government had betrayed farmers by failing to release Rs. 60 crore it owed them due to paddy procurement.

Allaying fears of a high foodgrain inflation due to global problems, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen on Thursday said India is insulated against any such crisis, at least in the near future. "Foodgrain inflation in India is under control... In the last three years, our foodgrain production has increased by 30 million tonnes to 230 million tonnes. The wheat stock with the government is likely to go up by at least four million tonnes this year,' Mr Sen said here at a meeting on food inflation. He, however, said much needs to be done at the global level to increase grain output.

THE rate of inflation has soared into the double digits. This has set alarm bells ringing. News channels beam the bad news into homes through the day and this creates a pervasive sense of gloom. Double digit inflation has been associated with the collapse of economic growth. Many wonder whether the present bout of inflation augurs the end of the high growth phase of the past five years.

P. Sainath The shift from cotton to soybean has major implications for agriculture, livelihoods and the future of the Vidharbha region. "The shift began a few seasons ago but has picked up' "Cotton gets more risky each season' "Soybean input costs are far lower'

The monsoon's early arrival has not only brought cheer on the faces of the farming community of this paddy-rich district but has also brought relief for agencies of the power-crunched state. Thanking the rain god, officials concerned said they were free from the tension of providing ample power to run tubewells for irrigating fields. A visit by a team of The Tribune to different parts of the district today revealed that due to timely rainfall, the state agriculture department and farmers expected a bumper crop this year.

The government raised the procurement price for paddy last week, from Rs 645 per quintal for common varieties to Rs 850 per quintal. Under normal circumstances, this would have been seen as a pretty substantial increase, being almost 32 per cent, but it turned out to be less than the 55 per cent increase that the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices had recommended, taking the proposed price to Rs 1,000 per quintal. From a strictly economic perspective, the government's decision to split the difference does have significant merits.

Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow With record wheat procurement in Uttar Pradesh this year

Labour pangs for farmers seem to be far from over. First it was the overall shortage of manual labour and now early rains are becoming a cause of worry for farmers. An early monsoon is good news for farmers, but the need to transplant paddy as soon as possible has only hiked labour expenses. A rough estimate says in the last couple of days alone, the labour expenses have gone up by 30 per cent. Beginning June 10, about 20 per cent of paddy cultivation in Punjab has been completed, says government data.