After announcing food prices had reached record levels last week, the United Nation’s (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is now trying to play down concerns about shortages. The FAO’s representative for Asia and the Pacific region, Hiroyuki Konuma, admitted that food supply and demand were tight but said there were sufficient grain stocks to feed populations. Though certain foods such as sugar, meat, corn and soybeans are selling at a...

What’s Going Wrong?     * Market intelligence remains a weak link; farm policies rarely reflect correct scenario     * Extensive damage to crop in Maharashtra not factored in promoting onion, tomato exports     * Middlemen make capital while farmers realise 10-15% margin, not enough to recoup losses     * Government market intervention capacity limited to foodgrains and pulses **** India’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed when the government threw up its hands in despair in the...

A small farmer in Maharashtra, whose high-yielding rice variety is popular in five States, is denied the benefits of his research. TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, Dadaji Khobragade of Nanded Fakir village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra noticed yellow seeds in three spikes of a paddy stalk in his field. Intrigued by the freak harvest, he preserved the grains. He subsequently planted them in a six-foot square plot, which he covered with thorny...

Managing high agriculture commodity prices is becoming a concern for policy makers in India as well as globally. While Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has already warned of a ‘food price shock’, concerns are raised that this situation could worsen as various exporting countries could consider restrictions which will further create supply bottlenecks. As global food prices hit a record high, India just trails behind with food inflation touching a 23-week...

In a major decision that is likely to add to the double-digit food inflation, the government has quietly raised foodgrain prices for Above Poverty Line (APL) families by over 40 per cent. The decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 30. “The Committee considered the note dated 04/10/2010 from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,...