India, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of pulses, has extended ban on pulses exports until further orders, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday, as it battles to rein in high food prices. The government had in June 2006 banned exports of pulses, which has a weight of 0.72 per cent in the wholesale price index. India’s food price index rose 12.13 per cent in the year to December 11, government...

Food prices globally are rising to dangerous levels. There is talk of a coming crisis, like the ones that produced riots around the world in 2008 and 1974. Many of the ingredients of a disaster are present, but governments can stop the problem before it causes too much damage. A warning sign is the price of traded staples like wheat, corn and rice. Prices shot up in 2010, soaring 26...

In more ways than one the calendar year 2010 would go down the memory lane as a watershed year for the food and agriculture front in the country which recorded unprecedented growth rate of 4.4 per cent in July-September quarter but by December unprecedented price hike of essential food items especially left consumers in tears.   As the year comes to an end, an embattled government and the Union agriculture ministry stood...

With the arrival of big onions from Pakistan and a ban on onion exports, wholesale onion market in Dindigul, one of the biggest markets in the State, witnessed a crash in the prices of big onions. However, prices of small onions remained stable. The prices of big onion that were hovering between Rs.90 a kg (top quality) and Rs.70 a kg for medium quality last week, came down to Rs.40 and...

Be it a bumper or lean season __ life for Karnataka's farmers remains unchanged as they are exploited by middlemen. While last week came as a boon to onion farmers as prices skyrocketed in an unprecedented manner, it all came to an end on Wednesday following the government's decision to stop exports until January 15 to contain the rates here, resulting in a sudden drop in per quintal rates and sending...