-PTI WASHINGTON: Agricultural population of India grew by a whopping 50 per cent between 1980 and 2011, the highest for any country during this period, followed by China with 33 per cent, while that of the United States dropped by 37 per cent as a result of large scale mechanisation, a latest report has said. "Between 1980 and 2011, the economically active agricultural populations of China and India grew by 33...
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Why India needs a futures exchange for water? -Nilanjan Ghosh
-The Hindu Business Line The risk of water availability is a painful reality in south Asian agriculture including India. Any deviation from the monsoon causes problems for the farm community and poses threat to food security in the region. The variability in precipitation in India has actually increased in recent years. While comparing the variability of precipitation (given by standard deviation) between two phases, 1950-75 and 1976-2010, in two geographically dispersed districts...
More »Regulating genetic modification-MS Swaminathan
-The Hindu In the case of technologies with benefits and risks, it is important to have regulatory mechanisms which can help analyse them in an impartial manner It is 61 years since the beginning of new genetics based on the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. It is also 31 years since the production of transgenic plants. The first patent for a living organism went to Dr. Anand...
More »Small-scale fish farmers not benefitting from big-scale fish profits, UN reports
-The United Nations The international fish trade is breaking records, the United Nations today reported, but benefits from the trade are not trickling down to the small-scale fishing communities which make up the majority of the sector's global workforce. "The proportion of fish production being traded internationally is significant, at around 37 per cent in 2013," said Audun Lem, Chief of UN Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) Products, Trade and Marketing Branch....
More »'Farm Tech Can Help Boost Food Output' -Papiya Bhattacharya
-The New Indian Express Bangalore: Agricultural technologies can help increase global crop yields by as much as 67 per cent and cut food prices by in half by 2050, according to a new book, ‘Food Security in a World of Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies.' The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, has released this book recently. The book cites an increased demand for food due to population and...
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