Global food prices rose for the eighth straight month in February, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today, while also warning that unexpected spikes in oil prices could exacerbate an already precarious situation in food markets. The FAO Food Price Index – a measure of basic food prices at the international level – averaged 236 points in February, up 2.2 per cent from January, the highest record in...
More »SEARCH RESULT
High on rhetoric, low on delivery by Himanshu
Budgets are no longer statements of accounts or expenditure. In the contemporary context, they are to be seen more as a statement of intent, ambition, reform and politics of inclusion. If these are the parameters on which Budget 2011 is to be judged, it fails despite an implicit statement of intent. For a government which has been elected on the agenda of inclusion, even the statement of intent is not new....
More »State eyes Rs 60cr for Green Revolution II by ASRP Mukesh
Buoyed by a fresh Rs 400-crore fillip to transform the east into the country’s next food bowl, the state has set its eyes on a chunk of Rs 60 crore to give shape to what is being termed as the second green revolution. Speaking to The Telegraph, state agriculture secretary A.K. Singh said the department was drafting a detailed proposal that would be submitted to a central team, which will visit...
More »“Encourage organised retail for agri-produce” by Neena Vyas
Ban futures trading in essential commodities, says Modi report As chairman of the working group on consumer affairs, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has recommended that futures trading in essential commodities be banned and that organised retail in agri-produce be encouraged to make a dent in food inflation. The working group, comprising the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, was set up in April last. Mr. Modi...
More »Pranab takes an agro stand
Rattled by soaring food prices and falling farm productivity, the FM has announced a slew of measures to boost the farm sector and vowed to deepen the process of attracting more private investment in agriculture and agro-processing. He announced an increase in bank lending for farm sector as well as interest subsidy to farmers who pay short-term crop loans on time. "I propose to enhance additional subvention to 3% in 2011-12....
More »