Food security and organic farming can go hand in hand. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today gave a green signal to efforts under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture to promote green manuring and organic farming while talking about bringing in the Food Securtiy Act this year, settling the debate on high pesticide and chemical fertiliser use in Punjab and Haryana. He said his government is mulling to also bring urea,...

Although rising food prices remain a critical concern, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is counting on better supply management, improved output of pulses and rice, better access to rural credit and strengthening of existing agricultural schemes to bolster India’s farm output. The rural economy employs about 60% of India’s work force, contributes about 17% of gross domestic product, and is expected to post 5.4% growth over last year, according to advanced estimates...

The sharp rise in food prices inflation will remain a major cause of concern as inflationary pressures on the domestic front are likely to be exacerbated by higher levels of global commodity prices, the Economic Survey has said. It also indicated that the political turmoil in the Middle East and the “easy money” policy being followed by developed nations trying to jump-start their own economies after the global recession of 2008-09...

The Government does not bother to know what crops are being sown “India's daily turnover from vegetables and fruits could be easily about Rs. 275 crores (US$ 59 million). The estimated cost of ‘wastage' per day, is around Rs. 130 crores (US$ 27 million). In summary, it's a lot bigger than some of the Indian IT sector's daily turnover”, says Mr. Venkat Subramanian, Founder and Managing Director, Matchbox Solutions, a company...

Food inflation moved up to 11.49 per cent for the week ended February 12 as compared with 11.05 per cent for the previous week even as prices of certain items fell marginally. Despite the increase, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said while inflation has been a concern for the last 18 months, it will come down to 7 per cent by the end of the current fiscal. According to the Wholesale...