The government has assured full support to Indian companies exploring opportunities to acquire agricultural land in Africa for cultivation of pulses in order to deal with its domestic shortage. "We import pulses and we will be more supportive of more land being brought under cultivation and for value addition. India is the market and we have been investing in agriculture...," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had said. With the unabated...

Rice exporters from India are upbeat over the higher projections of basmati output and better prospects of exports. The loss of crop, in Philippines due to storms and in Thailand and Pakistan due to floods, is driving Indian exporters to speculate for better realisations this year. The satellite image procured by All India Rice Millers Association and Agriculture and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA) depict an increase in area under...

A Greenpeace India delegation Tuesday met the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and demanded a ban on Genetically Modified (GM) crops, saying that they were a threat to the country's agriculture, food safety and environment. The delegation made a presentation before the standing committee and presented evidence and credible publications outlining the threats posed by GM crops. 'We want the committee to make recommendations that will ensure a sustainable future for our...

One billion people worldwide still live in extreme poverty Agricultural growth remains central to poverty reduction, as one billion people worldwide continue living in extreme poverty, many of them in rural areas, a World Bank Group on agriculture, the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), said in a report released on Tuesday. Drawing on the World Bank Group's (WBG) experience in supporting agricultural growth in the past decade, the report — Growth and Productivity...

State-owned trading firm MMTC Ltd, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco) and the conglomerate Bharti Enterprises plan to join the growing number of Indian entities engaged in commercial farming in Africa. Cheap land and labour costs in Africa are attracting a number of Indian firms with interest in agriculture. A large number of people in East African countries such as Kenya work in the cultivation of tea, coffee, corn, vegetables, sugarcane,...