The price of below-cost sales of FCI wheat stock has to be juxtaposed with the relief in inflation
A Seshan / April 17, 2010, 0:25 IST

K P Prabhakaran Nair

Monsanto devotes an annual budget of $10 million to harassing, intimidating, suing -and in some cases bankrupting -American farmers over alleged improper use of its patented seeds. This will become the norm for India as well

In this study we use long-term satellite, climate, and crop observations to document the spatial distribution of the recent stagnation in food grain production affecting the water-limited tropics (WLT), a region where 1.5 billion people live and depend on

Food prices in the immediate future can be controlled only through large imports. Wheat stocks are adequate but rice stocks are not. There will be a fiscal cost because global prices are above domestic prices, but this will not be above 1 per cent of central government expenditure. This may be the best option since food inflation is now threatening to become generalised.

The main reason for the current surge in food prices is the supply shock due to the drought in 2009 and the carry-over effect of the low growth of food production in 2008-09. As the frequency of such shocks is expected to rise, India needs to have an effective food management strategy to deal with these episodes.

The Central Statistical Organisation's advance estimate of a decline in the agricultural sector's output in 2009-10 by a mere 0.2% is a highly optimistic forecast. An analysis of the numbers in the latest estimates of foodgrain output and a comparison of output/GDP changes in the drought years of 2002-03 and 2009-10 tells us why.

CHENNAI: Top scientists and policymakers from leading national and international institutes on Wednesday issued a declaration calling on all nations to prioritise conservation of the earth

CHENNAI: For every one degree rise in temperature, 6 million tonnes of wheat will be lost in India, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN estimates. How do you feed a hungry, growing world population with climate change knocking at the door?

Pune With decreased food grain production in Maharashtra and around 80 lakh farmers quitting the occupation over the last two decades, the state is in for a severe food crisis, said senior journalist P Sainath here on Thursday.

Sainath was interacting with journalism students and reporters at a programme organised by the Pune Union of Working Journalists.

Visakhapatnam, Jan. 31: Worried about the availability of essential commodities to the poor, Union minister of state for human resource development D. Purandareswari expressed her concerns regarding the looming food crisis in the country.

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