Little hope of crop revival as rains to weaken further in Aug

Scorching heat and the worst drought in nearly a half-century are threatening to send food prices up, spooking consumers and leading to worries about global food costs.

The 2012 drought will dent farm profits and push up food prices

Washington: The US is facing its “worst drought” in 25 years that could fuel food price inflation as crop yields are hit, an Obama-administration official has warned.

Washington The United States is facing “worst drought” in 25 years which could fuel food price inflation in the country, a top Obama Administration official said here.

As many as 61% of the land mass of the United States is currently being characterised as being impacted by this drought, the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, told reporters at a White House news conference, noting that this drought is having an impact in crops. “78% of the corn crop is now in an area designated as drought impacted; 77% of the soyabeans that are being grown in this country also impacted.

World farm production must rise 60 per cent by 2050 to meet the needs of a growing population but this has to happen in a “more sustainable way”, the U.N. food agency FAO and the OECD said on Wednesday.

“It’s mostly going to be about productivity”, said Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at a press conference in Rome, explaining that farmland area would increase only slightly.

New Delhi If Central and state taxes and generous subsidies coexist in India’s fuel sector, the food sector is no different.

Various state-level taxes on grain procurement inflate the Centre’s food subsidy bill — a major component of its revenue expenditure — by almost 14 per cent, finds a Financial Express analysis. Besides, private traders in high-tax states like Punjab and Haryana stop buying grain, to the detriment of farmers. Worse, tax proceeds are seldom used in the food and farm sectors and get diverted to other programmes.