The implementation of the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) has resulted in an increase in food grain production by 42 million tonne as against the target of 20 million tonne set for the Eleventh Plan.

Agriculture and Food Processing Industries minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday informed members of parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry that various interventions under NFSM have resulted in the distribution of almost 75 lakh of farm equipment, nearly 175 lakh quintals of highyielding seeds of rice, wheat and pulses, and knowledge transfer through more than 49,000 farmer field schools and 8 lakh field demonstrations.

AHMEDABAD: "If the Government of Gujarat keeps allotting land arbitrarily to industries, 62% of the state's land will be acquired by industrial corridors and corporates in just 15 years. Where will you grow crops then? The farmers of Gujarat will have to pay heavily for this," said environmental activist Mahesh Pandya from Paryavaran Mitra.

To mark World Environment Day, Paryavaran Mitra held a press briefing on Tuesday. This year's theme is 'Think.Eat.Save'. However, there has been a decline in the state's crop production.

The scientists transferred some of the resilience of the ancient ancestor of wheat into modern varieties

Cambridge-based scientists claim to have developed a new type of 'superwheat' which could boost productivity by 30 per cent.

Law ministry asked if ordinance can protect entitlement envisaged in food bill

The UPA government will write to chief ministers soon, urging them to be ready with enhanced grain storage facilities. The decision to build the political tempo for the national food security scheme comes a day after the budget session ended without passing the UPA government’s ambitious bill.

Nobel laureate upset at disruption of Parliament by Opposition

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is upset that disruption of Parliament has held up passage of important legislation including the UPA’s flagship National Food Security Bill. He feels that if the Bill is not passed — even if without amendments — several hundred children will go hungry or die from under-nutrition. The Bill has been criticised as “limited” and “targeted” by activists such as Jean Dreze and Kavita Srivastava, who on Monday shared the dais with Prof. Sen to advocate its passage albeit with changes.

The Centre on Friday revised its foodgrains production estimate upwards by 5.22 million tonnes for 2012-13 over earlier expectation on account of higher output of rice, wheat and coarse cereals.

The total foodgrains output is now estimated at 255.36 million tonnes with wheat production pegged at 93.62 million tonnes and rice at 104.22 million tonnes.

"Climate change is projected to reduce timely sown irrigated wheat production by about 6% in 2020. In case of late sown wheat, the projected levels are to the extent of 18%," Pawar said in the Rajya Sabha.

Climate change is likely to bring down the production of key foodgrain crops like wheat and rice in the country by up to 18% in 2020, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said today.

The Punjab Government is considering reducing taxes on both wheat and basmati in certain thrust areas to make diversification a reality in the state besides giving a fillip to the food processing industry.

Sources said the Food Processing Department had made a proposal for doing away with a majority of the taxes on durum wheat and basmati meant for export and processing purposes.