Sri Lanka's traders say that the supply of vegetables has dropped by 60% over the last couple weeks. The reason behind this shortage is the torrential rains that have ruined the vegetable plantations in Nuwara Eliya, Dambulla, Matale and Anuradhapura. Also, a large number of farmers shifting from vegetables to potatoes in Nuwara Eliya has caused a drop in vegetable production. Traders say that the next season's harvest will arrive next month. Until such time, the increasing prices of vegetables cannot be controlled, they added.

The ADB is set to make loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars to several Asian nations which have asked for emergency budget assistance to combat soaring food prices, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday. "A few countries have expressed their wish to seek some financial assistance from ADB," Kuroda told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Madrid, confirming for the first time that the Manila-based lender had received formal requests for cash.

With shortage of the food supply in Rolpa, families displaced during the conflict have been facing starvation, reports say. 32 tons of rice and five tons of pulses supplied by World Food Programme, Save the Children and USAID are yet to reach the district. The 243 families were given ration card last month to regularise the food distribution. As per the schedule of the local authority, the distribution of ration was to begin from the fourth week of April, but the Nepal Red Cross Society local committee is still unaware when the foodstuffs would arrive.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), expressing its concern over the rising food prices, has called for an immediate global response to tackle the crisis. "We need to build a global platform for dialogue and action to manage the crisis,' said CII director general, Chandrajit Banerjee in a statement. He said the entire issue of spiraling food prices needs to be seen in a global perspective rather than an issue limited to specific countries.

India, now under scrutiny due to rice export curbs and growing consumption that have helped drive grain prices to record highs, could help ease global food security fears, M S Swaminathan, the country's most revered rural economist, said. A rich diversity of secondary food crops, a huge base of rural workers and good rainfall mean India is able to raise production quickly with small investments, allowing it to export a bigger surplus to world markets, he said on Monday.

India is considering a blanket ban on trading in food futures, highlighting growing concerns in Asia over the role of hedge funds and financial market traders in the recent surge in commodities prices. An emergency move by India to shut down its food futures market, proposed on Monday by P Chidambaram, the finance minister, would reverse measures introduced only five years ago to aid the development of India as a financial centre.

Extensive cover, increased allotments and a relatively efficient distribution system have helped Tamil Nadu cope with the rise in food prices Tamil Nadu is reputed to have one of the best Public Distribution Systems in the country, with a majority aware of their entitlements and demanding their quotas from ration shops under the scheme The Public Distribution System is the only safety net for the poor and the low-income groups against inflation. Rice at Rs. 2 a kg, sugar at Rs. 13.50 a kg and wheat at Rs. 7.50 a kg shield them from the soaring prices in the open market.

Global cooperation is the need of the hour.

Allowing four states to import wheat directly from abroad is a move to dismantle the food distribution system. First the Central government allowed global food giants and private companies to buy wheat directly from farmers, thereby deliberately initiating a shortfall in procurement for the Public Distribution System (PDS). It has now directed four states

The member of the Planning Commission Abhijit Sen said that it was necessary at this stage for the government to strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) in the country and bring under its net a number of essential commodities.