Urges govts to shore up programs to protect their most vulnerable populations

World food prices jumped 10 percent in July as drought parched crop lands in the United States and Eastern Europe, the World Bank said in a statement urging governments to shore up programs that protect their most vulnerable populations. From June to July, corn and wheat prices rose by 25 percent each, soybean prices by 17 percent, and only rice prices went down, by 4 percent, the World Bank said on Thursday.

Madhya Pradesh boasts of being a leader in soybean production in the country, with the crop accounting for more than half the area under cultivation.

Experts have warned that vital corn-producing and soybean-producing states in the U.S. are in the throes of intensifying drought conditions — a revelation that has resurrected concerns of sparking another global food price shock. In 2008, it was a spike in food grain prices in global markets that led to widespread rioting and political instability across nations.

In a report released last week, the U.S. Drought Monitor agency (USDM) noted that “The widest drought to grip the U.S. in decades is getting worse with no signs of abating

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.

With more intense heat on the way, the USA is in the middle of its worst drought in more than 55 years, data released Monday by the National Climatic Data Center show.

Illegally smuggled into Brazil 14 years ago, transgenic soy has proved a boon to domestic farmers and now accounts for 85 percent of total production.

A prolonged dry spell in most parts of India is hurting the sowing schedule for paddy, a major kharif crop, raising the country’s anxiety about monsoon rains, as parched fields urgently need moistu