Resurgent global food prices, which averaged 10 per cent in many economies and posted record increases in the first two months of this year, may push nearly 30 million Indians and 64 million people in the Asian region into extreme poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday. In a report titled “Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia,” the Manila-based bank warned that a 10 per cent rise in...

Resurgent food prices, which rose by 10% on average in many regional economies in Asia this year, can push an additional 64 million people into extreme poverty, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report says. The study, titled, 'Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia', by the multilateral lending agency, finds that a 10% rise in domestic food prices could push an additional 64 million people, out of 3.3 billion people living...

According to the third advance estimate, India’s foodgrain production in the current farm year (to end in June 2011) will be a record 235.88 million tonnes, including an all-time high wheat output of 84.27 million tonnes against 81.47 million tonnes projected earlier. Ahead of the wheat harvest, the country had buffer foodgrain stock of 47 million tonnes at the start of 2011 in the central pool. A buffer close to double...

Ahead of a crucial meeting, on the coming Monday, of a group of ministers to finalise the Food Security Bill, a consensus is emerging on a dual system of subsidy. This is that families below the poverty line (BPL) be given food subsidy through direct cash transfer. And, those above the poverty line (APL) be distributed foodgrains at a level equal to the minimum support price (MSP) offered to farmers, which...

As the World Bank and International Monetary Fund convene for their annual Spring Meetings here, soaring food prices are high on the agenda, prompting some analysts to fast-forward to 2050 and the question of how to nourish the mid-century's estimated world population of 8.9 billion people – the majority of whom will live in developing countries. "More poor people are suffering and more people could become poor because of high and...