-PTI The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council today projected 3 per cent growth for the farm sector in 2011-12 buoyed by record grains output, strong growth in horticulture and animal husbandry sectors. Last year, the agriculture sector had grown by 7 per cent. "The Council expects that in combination with the strong trend growth in horticulture and in the animal husbandry sectors, the overall farm sector GDP growth for 2011-12 will average 3...

-The Business Standard   A proposed move by the Centre to slash natural gas supplies to phosphorous and potash-based (P&K) fertiliser manufacturing units has seen a number of farmer bodies, agro-experts and scientists raise a howl of protest. The move could seriously impact soil fertility, which in turn could hit Food Production in the country, they warned. Nutrients in soil are necessary to increase overall productivity of agri-commodities to help meet the country’s...

-Reuters   India's wheat output in 2011/12 will cross the current government forecast of a record 88.31 million tonnes due to favourable weather conditions, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday. Early this month, the farm ministry in its second foodgrain production estimate had projected output for the main winter season crop at 88.31 million tonnes. India, the world's second biggest producer of wheat, produced 86.87 tonnes in 2011. ...

In a report released on January 30, and covered by the world’s press the next day, the United Nations has warned of a severe resource crisis that would overtake the world if current trends persist. A growing population and a rise in the number of middle-class consumers will increase the demand for resources so rapidly that even by 2030 the world will need at least 50 per cent more food,...

There is a rush to cash in on micronutrient deficiency in India through fortification of food Andhra Pradesh Foods, a state government enterprise, is ramping up its fortified Food Production capacity. It provides ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods like upma mix, sweet porridge and khichdi mix, fortified with iron, zinc and other vitamins, to infants and pregnant and lactating women under the Centre’s Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The effort to double its...