-Down to Earth International prices of basmati have been declining over the last two years With prices of grains and cereals plummeting worldwide, basmati rice exporters have urged the Union commerce ministry to include packaged basmati rice in the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS). MEIS allows exporters of certain goods access to “Free on Board (FOB)” value, which means the shipping charges are borne by the importer instead of the exporter....
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Delhi's organic farming shocker: Data a load of manure
-India Today Believe it or not, almost 70 per cent of the national Capital was used for organic farming in 2011-2012, according to National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), which comes under the Ministry of Agriculture. While the total geographical area of Delhi is 1.48 lakh hectares, NPOF data shows 100238.74 hectares (almost twice the size of Mumbai) was used for organic farming during that period. What smacks of data fudging and...
More »Organic foods: Are they more nutritious? Are they safer? Or are they plain lies? -Rhythma Kaul and Shehzin Shaikh
-The Hindustan Times Despite paying as much as double the price, many health-conscious consumers who think they've gone organic really haven't. Information obtained by Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) under the Right to Information Act proves that farms that claim to be organic regularly use chemical pesticides to protect their crops, yet market and sell their produce under the organic tag. Evidence of this practice came to light after information from...
More »Big push to organic farming -R Ramabhadran Pillai
-The Hindu Kochi (Kerala): The State Horticulture Mission (SHM) is planning to implement organic farming and certification in 2,000 hectares in the State. The programme is to be implemented initially in the three districts of Idukki, Wayanad and Kasaragod during 2014-15, under the guidance of the National Horticulture Mission (NHM). Under the programme, financial assistance will be provided over a period of three years for groups of farmers covering an area of...
More »Rice and shine -Sandip Das
-The Financial Express With newer varieties and improvement in yield, packaging and marketing, basmati-long hailed as the ‘king of rice'-is spreading its sweet aroma worldwide WALK INTO any supermarket today and the most eye-catching items will be in the section selling packaged rice. Rice, that humble, century-old staple of the Indian diet, has emerged from its traditional image-grains in an open gunny bag-to a slick new avatar. Today, rice, and basmati in...
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