-The Economic Times   India's frequent ban on export of foodgrains and other farm commodities may soon become a thing of past as the commerce department is working on a policy to allow traders meet their exports obligations even in times of domestic shortages through imports.  The move will help India restore some global credibility as it has often faced flak for its banning spree.  "Once we are ready with the proposal, it will...

-Down to Earth   Buy an Indian breed from Australia In June last year, we visited Malaysia on the invitation of the country’s oldest and most active consumer action group, The Consumer Association of Penang, to study the livestock production systems and to advise on how these can be transformed into more sustainable and less industrial farming systems. The past 40 years of aggressive industrial growth in Malaysia has seen small-scale peasant agriculture and...

-Live Mint Realized prices for the farm sector continue to soften even though the government has raised the minimum support prices by over 20% Like every year the government has hiked minimum support prices to help the farmers realize good returns in early June, but India’s rural growth story is expected to run out of steam because of falling realizations of farmers and limited policy support, according to a recent report by...

-International Land Coalition   Rome, Italy - Information on land governance is critical factor for enabling developing and emerging economies to establish effective land tenure systems and ultimately ensure secure and equitable access to and control over land. To this end, the International Land Coalition, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), today announce the integration of information on land from FAO databases accessible through the Land...

IRONY RUNS its play every year in India as food grains rot in godowns while 23 crore people go hungry every day. GOI Monitor talks to food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma on the issues stalking agriculture and public distribution    One of the reasons for surplus food not reaching the needy is that states are not picking up the grain. Why is this happening? Food grain procurement and distribution is...