-The United Nations Global food prices dip for a third consecutive month in June following a ten-month surge, the United Nations agriculture agency said today. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index- which measures monthly changes in the global price of a basket of meat, dairy, cereals, oils and fats, and sugar- averaged 206.0 points in June 2014, down 3.8 points (1.8 percent) from May and nearly 6 points (2.8...
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Make forestry policies people-centric, says FAO -Midhat Moini
-Down to Earth UN agency's latest state of the forests report says poverty alleviation and rural employment should be the ulterior driving force in amending old forest policies Recognising the role of forests in providing livelihood to people, UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has asked nations to formulate people-centric forest policies. "It is time for forestry to shift perspective from trees to people," says FAO's annual "The State of the World's...
More »High-yield wheat wins Indian scientist Rajaram 'Agri Nobel'
-The Times of India CHENNAI: Indian scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has won the prestigious World Food Prize, considered the Nobel prize of food and agriculture, for 2014 for his contribution to developing high-yield wheat cultivars 'Kauz' and 'Attila'. The wheat varieties produce at least 15% higher a yield than any other type, by holding more grains on each stalk, and are currently cultivated over more than 40 million hectares across the world. Rajaram is...
More »Agriculture And Not The Stock Market Is The Reality Of India -Roshan Kishore
-The Citizen.in This piece is a rejoinder to an article by D K Joshi, which appeared in ‘The Indian Express' on June 4, 2014. The main arguments made by the author are neither new nor unique. Many neoliberal economists, including some occupying crucial policy-making positions have been making arguments which propose dilution of Minimum Support Price (MSP) policies to take care of excess food stocks with the government and also control...
More »Punjab's paddy straw burning impacts climate, health
-IANS Bangalore: A study by an international team using satellite and ground-based instruments has shown that crop residue burning, a common practice in northern India and particularly in Punjab, is contributing to atmospheric pollution over the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that may have climate and health implications. "Every year, during the post-monsoon season (October-November), extensive agricultural crop residue burning takes place mainly in the northwestern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, and western...
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