Few politicians can match Sharad Pawar when it comes to having one’s finger on the aam aadmi’s pulse, er pulses.At a time Indian entrepreneurs are manufacturing Jaguars and Landrovers abroad, the Union agriculture and food minister wants them to cultivate daal overseas.That would not only help fulfil the growing domestic demand for lentils, Pawar declared today, but also curb the environment-unfriendly dependence on animal proteins.At the sixth Agriwatch Global Pulses...

Edible oil Imports have surged to a record 9.24 million tonnes last year and were estimated to be nearly Rs 38,000 crore. They have emerged as the third most important import item, next only to petroleum products and gold. India is now the world’s largest importer of cooking fats, meeting more than half of its requirement through overseas supplies. Considering the country’s huge and fast-growing demand for cooking oils, such...

India's oilseeds production dipped to 249.3 lakh tonnes in the crop year 2009-10, compared to 277.2 lakh tonnes in the previous year, Parliament was informed today. The country had produced 297.6 lakh tonnes of oilseeds in 2007-8, Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. As a result of the fall in oilseeds production, the minister said, India has been facing shortage of edible...

Asian governments, battling soaring food inflation, are pumping ever more resources into agriculture but will struggle to offset rapidly expanding demand in top consumers China and India. China, stung by consumer prices running at a 25-month peak, has been selling state stockpiles. It has also ordered banks to urgently offer support to farmers, an example of the sort of firepower these governments can deploy. With China and India also in many cases...

The government today informed Parliament that the European Union (EU) has banned Imports of honey from India on account of the presence of heavy metals in the consignments. The EU is the second largest destination for Indian honey exports after the US. India exports honey to over 60 nations. India’s honey exports totalled $32.39 million in 2008-09, a quarter of which went to the EU. “The EU has banned the export of...