Despite the fact that over 350 million rural people have escaped poverty over the past ten years, the bulk of the world’s poor are still found in rural areas, says a new United Nations report, which calls for greater investment in agriculture and efforts to boost livelihoods. The Rural Poverty Report 2011, released today by the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), found an overall decline of extreme poverty –...

A new food security report for Asia has been launched in Mumbai by The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Asia Society, calling for increased investment in rice research. The report, Never an empty bowl: sustaining food security in Asia, emphasizes the importance of rice as the primary staple food in Asia and a major source of income for Asian farmers. It also recommends more research on: climate change mitigation for...

A projected global population of 9 billion concentrated mostly in the developing world and a higher income level alone are enough to put pressure on world’s supply of food grains. But with changes in temperature levels and rainfall pattern beyond an acceptable limit on account of climate change, the pressures on food prices can be expected to enormous. World prices of staple food grains are projected to rise from anywhere...

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...

NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...