-FAO FAO today forecast that 2012 world wheat production will be the second highest on record at 690 million tonnes and also announced that international food prices rose one percent in February — the second increase in two months. Published today, FAO’s quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report forecast a 2012 wheat crop 10 million tonnes or 1.4 percent down from the record 2011 harvest but still well above the average...
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India has no plans to buy farmland abroad: Pawar
-Reuters The Indian government has no plans to buy farmland abroad or help private companies do so, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Monday, after a local media report said New Delhi was debating the issue. “There is no government proposal. The ministry has not taken up this proposal,” Pawar told reporters. The Economic Times had in its Monday edition quoted the ministry’s top civil servant, farm secretary P K Basu, saying it...
More »Global food prices rebound for first time in six months–UN
-The United Nations Global food prices rose overall last month for the first time in six months, demonstrating the volatility of international food markets, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. The FAO Food Price Index rose by four points or nearly two per cent to a measure of 214 points in January, with the price of oils increasing the most, followed by cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat. This...
More »Vigilance probe clears Chandy in palmolein case
-PTI In a relief to Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, a vigilance probe has found he had no role in the palmolein import corruption case in the early 1990s when he was finance minister in the then UDF ministry headed by late Congress veteran K Karunakaran. In its report filed in a special court on Saturday, Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) said its investigation did not come across any proof that suggested Chandy...
More »Record grain output in 2011 facilitates Bill
-PTI The agriculture sector performed exceedingly well in 2011, with record grain production of over 240 million tonnes giving enough leeway for the government to lift a ban on exports of wheat and non-basmati rice and introduce the food security bill in Parliament. Farmers’ long-standing demand for crop loans at a 4% rate of interest was met during the year, although with a rider that the facility would be available to...
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