-Press release by Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP)* dated March 4, 2022 A new evaluation has exposed the serious failures of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) — in its attempt to address hunger and farmer poverty. Funded by Gates, USAID, and western governments, for 15 years AGRA has promoted high-input agriculture, synthetic fertilizers, commercial seeds and subsidies to "catalyze a farming revolution in Africa." This evaluation...
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The under-nutrition problem in Bundelkhand should receive equal attention of the policymakers, if not more
Recent media reports point out that the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is likely to get about Rs. 6,300 crore projects ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, including a Rs. 400 crore worth plant for the propulsion system of anti-tank guided missiles in Jhansi. The foundation was laid for the first project in the Jhansi node (related to the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor) on November 18, 2021. The two...
More »Are we witnessing depeasantisation in Indian agriculture?
The newly released Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India (NSS 77th Round) establishes the fact that the farm households are more and more relying on wage incomes instead of 'net incomes from crop cultivation' for their livelihoods. In Marxian lexicon, proletarisation (a term that we can loosely use for depeasantisation) refers to the process in which the farmers/ tillers are...
More »The huge cost of producing cheap food -Devinder Sharma
-The Tribune The focus on producing surplus and cheap food threatens the survival of the country’s smaller farms, Prince Charles said, adding that if these farms disappear, ‘it will rip the heart out of the British countryside.’ The warning has been sounded at a time when a global business data platform estimates the number of employed and self-employed farmers in the UK to have come down to just 1.07 lakh. IN a...
More »Is ethanol blending in petrol really green? -Jasleen Bhatti
-Down to Earth Aggressive sugarcane farming contaminates land, water The Union government intends to increase the amount of ethanol in the energy mix to lower the country’s dependence on imported oil and carbon footprint, as well as stabilise petrol prices. India currently blends about 8.5 per cent ethanol in petrol. The government is targeting a 10 per cent ethanol blend by 2022 and a 20 per cent blend (E20) by 2025. E20 can save...
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