-The Hindu The World Bank has joined the chorus warning the world of an impending food crisis with damaging food price inflation. In its late-August edition of its Food Price Watch the Bank reported that global prices for food as reflected by its Food Price Index rose 10 per cent in July 2012 alone. The prices of staples such as corn and soya bean were at an all-time high that month,...

-Reuters Water levels in India's main reservoirs were at 65 per cent of capacity in the week to September 6, down 14 per centage points from a year ago, reflecting this year's weak monsoon, government data issued late on Thursday showed. The latest level was one per centage point higher than the 10-year average for the week. It was 4 per centage points higher than the previous week as the monsoon rains...

-The Guardian A spike in prices caused by poor harvests and rising demand is an apt moment for the west to reassess the wisdom of biofuels The last decade saw the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy after the second world war. This summer's increase in maize, wheat and soya bean prices – the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of...

-The Times of India India's wheat and rice production can be increased by over 60 percent, sugarcane production by 41 per cent and cotton production by 73 per cent by 2050 - without cutting down forests or increasing farmed area in any other way. Sounds like a dream? A study, published in the scientific journal Nature last week, shows that this is indeed possible. In fact it is possible to feed the...

-The Economic Times The worst of drought may be behind after the near normal rains since fourth week of July, raising hopes that the economy could bottom out in the current quarter and even get a big push from a likely good Rabi harvest. The deficit in the weekly rainfall in the three weeks to August 15, the crucial sowing period in north India, has been less than 4%, almost normal rainfall. The...