-The Economic Times Food inflation in India, as measured by food articles price index, has averaged 11.3% for the period FY 2008-09 to December 2012, with a maximum of 15.6% in 2010-11 and minimum of 7.3% in 2011-12. In December 2012, wheat prices stood 23% higher than in December 2011, and rice prices 17% higher in the same period. Although this spurt in wheat and rice prices in the face of...

-The Hindu UN-Habitat has commenced a new global consultation to reiterate the crucial role of wastewater management in the water cycle and explore policy options for a sustainable future. These consultations have also become necessary to set a future goal for water use, particularly for the years following 2015, which is the target year for the Millennium Development Goals. For India — a severely water-stressed region — this offers an opportunity...

-The United Nations Consumers, food retailers and governments can take simple actions to dramatically reduce some 1.3 million tons of food waste every year, according to a new campaign launched today by the United Nations and its partners. Launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners, the campaign – ‘Think, Eat, Save. Reduce Your Foodprint’ – seeks to accelerate action to eliminate wasteful practices...

-Global Research The widely held belief is that genetically modified ‘terminator seeds’ are not available on the commercial market anywhere. Since 2001, there has been a de facto worldwide moratorium on the use of terminator technology (UN Convention on Biological Diversity). By definition, such seeds are genetically engineered to make them sterile and unusable for replanting, resulting in farmers having to buy new seeds from a central supplier each year. Under Article...

-Down to Earth An ecologist has been guarding seeds of more than 750 rare rice varieties for over a decade Lit by a kerosene lamp, the two-room hut just outside a sleepy hamlet in Odisha’s Rayagada district can easily pass off as any other farmer’s house in this tribal region. Step inside it, and one is taken aback by the hundreds of earthen pots labelled with coded stickers stacked in a corner...