The state's rice bowl is left empty An unviable minimum support price (MSP) for rice has forced farmers in Andhra Pradesh to leave their lands fallow. The movement is spreading to other states. “Farming never pays” is a familiar slogan among agriculturists across the world, and especially so in India. Nevertheless, many continue to cultivate their fields year after year, barely eking out an existence, toiling in the hope that the tide...

-The Times of India   Speaking at a seminar organized for honouring farmers here on Saturday, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar announced that awards should be instituted by all states for honouring innovative work done by farmers in the country. "Rajasthan has already started honouring farmers for their innovative work. The other states should also follow it. I will write to chief ministers of other states to start honouring farmers and give away...

-The Hindu   India will support the removal of food export restrictions for humanitarian purposes during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington later this week. The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, will attend the two-day meeting on September 23-24. According to the agenda note prepared for the meeting, India has welcomed the recommendations of the Development Working Group (DWG) of the Agriculture ministerial. One of these...

A survey conducted across nine states by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Allahabad University suggests that the much maligned system has revived, prodded by politics, good governance and the apex court. It also found the poor to be averse to cash transfers Kotri is a mid-sized village in Desuri block (Pali district, Rajasthan), about 15 kilometres away from the nearest large bus stand and market place. We walked to...

Studies by the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Academic Forum on food security issues in the three countries suggest that providing food access works best when backed by cash transfers. A paper on food security brought out by the UNDP’s Brasilia-based International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), under the Forum, shows that despite the great strides in food production made by India people in this country are just not eating enough. Citing indices...