-Down to Earth Reasons behind the trend include high inventory levels, lower oil prices and renewed strength of the US dollar The Food Outlook report released on Thursday states that agricultural commodities are going through a period of lower prices and less volatility. After dramatic price rise from 2007 till early 2011, cereal and vegetable oil prices are now steady as well as on the decline, the biannual publication of the Food...

-Deccan Herald India’s food grain output for 2014-15 fell by nearly five per cent owing to poor monsoon and untimely rainfall last year. The Fourth Advance Estimates of production of major crop pegged the farm output at 252.68 million tonnes – about 4.66 per cent lower than that of 2013-14. The farm sector is set for yet another year of low production as the weather office on Monday forecast 12 per cent...

-The Financial Express The criteria for fixing MSP of pulses should be sensitive to prevailing market prices The agricultural price policy, which aimed at providing a remunerative and stable price environment to farmers through MSPs and obligatory procurement by government agencies, has helped India overcome massive food shortages to emerge as a net exporter of food. Though the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Agricultural Prices Commission requires that policy-induced incentive should...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A UN report has projected steady decline in prices of foodgrains over the next decade, attributing the gradual price fall to increase in overall agricultural production and diversification of dietary choices towards meat and dairy products. The report, released last week, however, emphasized that prices of foodgrains would not fall below early 2000-levels "despite the advantageous scenario regarding global food pricing". It noted that additional agricultural...

-DNA India doesn't need genetically modified mustard to boost its already robust production When winter comes, I crave for sarson ka saag. As far as I can remember, even when I got my first job, my mother would send me a container full of saag that would last me for a week or so. I could eat saag with every meal, or at least once a day, a habit that I...