Climate change is springing an unpleasant surprise on agriculture in India, catching both farmers and governments unprepared. The erratic and deficit rainfall pattern and rise in temperature in recent years has even forced farmers to change cropping patterns and several areas have been declared drought-hit.Agricultural scientists acknowledge that even a mere one degree increase in average day temperature would adversely impact production of both wheat and rice crops (total annual...
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FCI's intentions of outsourcing food security could spell disaster: Swaminathan
On an RTI ( Right To information) lodged by CNN-IBN, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has revealed its intentions to outsource India's food security. Prof. M S Swaminathan, the father of India’s green revolution, reacted to the news calling it a national disaster. The government did a poor job of both storing and distributing food grains and let thousands of tonnes simply lie and rot. "Outsource India's food security,"...
More »Rural areas face challenges to eradicate extreme poverty by James Melik
Some 350 million people living in rural areas being lifted out of extreme poverty in the past decade, according to The Rural Poverty Report, published by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations (UN) agency. However, in spite of this, more than a billion people around the world still continue to suffer. The UN describes extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 (80p) a day. But factors such as...
More »Keeping millions undernourished by Biswajit Dhar
International prices of most agricultural commodities are on the rise again. Prices of major food crops have increased disconcertingly, with wheat, rice, maize and soybean registering double-digit increases between June and October. Wheat prices increased alarmingly by more than 71%, while maize recorded a more than 50% spike. The Food Price Index released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the most widely accepted barometer for food prices, also painted...
More »Chief players at Cancun climate summit by Darryl Fears
Chief playersThe United States came to Cancun without its commanding influence as a world leader against global warming. It has failed to pass a climate change bill - again - making other countries more skeptical of President Obama's pledge to dramatically reduce the nation's carbon emissions 17 percent compared with 2005 levels. So the U.S. goal to increase transparency by persuading other nations to let outside reviewers measure their emissions...
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