-Newsclick.in Devastated by the pandemic and lockdown, people are now facing a back-breaking inflation, especially in everyday food items like vegetables. In just the past month, inflation (annual price rise) has zoomed up, delivering a body blow to family budgets. Recently released government data shows that retail inflation rate hit an eight-month high of 7.34%, up from 6.69% in August. This is general inflation, including all items of consumption. For food items, the...

-Livemint.com Wide disparities in agri-marketing regulations have resulted in fragmented markets across states. The new farm bills aim to change this but the jury is still out on whether it will have the intended impact. On 26 September, government procurement of food crops commenced across the country, five days in advance, following the enactment of three contentious farm bills. Under the new policy regime, farmers need not sell their produce through designated...

-The Hindu As for milk and milk products, only 8.7% in rural and 14.3% of the population in urban areas consumed as per the recommended intakes. Hyderabad: City-based Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) has initiated ‘Mapping of nutrition and health status – A national level participatory real-time data generation programme’ to develop a mobile-based device to be used by nutrition researchers at district level nationwide during this ongoing...

-The Indian Express Nearly half a century later, millet is making a comeback, thanks to the intervention of the local administration and NGOs. Today, Hanhaga is among 1990 farmers across 163 villages in Keonjhar who have taken up the cultivation of millet. Keonjhar: In the 1960s and ’70s, with the advent of the green revolution, the Indian taste for cereal tilted towards wheat and rice. This was the time when Rumbi Hanhaga (56),...

-The Hindu Business Line Crops on over 21 lakh hectares damaged, Agri Min tells Parliament Bengaluru: Timely and quick spread of monsoon this year did help boost the kharif acreage, but the heavy spell of rains witnessed across several parts of the country over recent weeks are seen spoiling the party for several farmers this cropping season. “There have been extreme weather events in the form of heavy rains in some parts of...