Consumers may have to pay substantially more for pulses, oilseed, and rice in the coming months if the government accepts the recommendations of an expert panel to increase farm-gate price of these commodities by up to 30%, further stoking food inflation. The Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), under the ministry of agriculture, has recommended a 25% rise in the floor price of cotton, 16% rise in paddy, 30% rise...
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A second White Revolution for India?
-One World South Asia The World Bank signs an agreement with India to inject $ 352 million into the National Dairy Support Project, an initiative designed to revive the flagging fortunes of milk production in the country. Other than being crucial to the nutritional security of the country’s population; dairy farming or dairying is also a major source of livelihood for 147 million rural households in India. Spurred by the success of the...
More »An Ineffectual Start for Elder Sister by Dan Morrison
When Mamata Banerjee defeated the Communist Party of India (Marxist) last May after 34 years of power in West Bengal, her victory was portrayed by optimists as the beginning of a Kolkata Spring. Free of the communists’ rural thugs and urban heelers, the story went, the state would finally enter the 21st century. One year after Banerjee’s landslide, however, the new boss is looking a lot like the old one —...
More »Capital formation in agriculture up 87% in last 6 years: Official
-PTI The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in the agriculture and allied sectors in the country rose by 87 per cent to Rs 1,42,254 crore in the 2010-11 fiscal as compared to 2004-05, an official statement said today. "As per annual report of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation for the year 2011-12, GCF in agriculture and allied sectors in 2010-11 was Rs 1,42,254 crore. It was Rs 76,096 crore in 2004-05," it...
More »Growing Food Demand Strains Energy, Water Supplies-Jeff Smith
The northern region of Gujarat State in western India is semi-arid and prone to droughts, receiving almost all of its rain during the monsoon season between June and September. But for the past three decades, many crop and dairy farms have remained green—even during the dry season. That's because farmers have invested in wells and pumps, using massive amounts of electricity to extract water from deep aquifers. The government has artificially propped...
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