-Livemint.com Spoilage and pilferage are not something the country can afford given its low ranking in the hunger index The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently approved a proposal to restructure around Rs30,000 crore of food credit given to Punjab state agencies, allowing for the conversion of cash credit into a 20-year loan at a lower interest rate. The central bank also sanctioned a cash credit limit of Rs26,000 crore for this...

-AFP Rome: Climate change could sink up to 122 million more people into extreme poverty by 2030, mostly in South Asia and Africa, where small farmers would see their output plummet, the UN warned Monday. In an annual report, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) warned that a worst-case scenario involving high-impact climate change would pound the communities that rely on agriculture for their livelihood. It called for a “broad-based transformation of...

-PTI India’s index of industrial production contracted by 0.7 per cent in August, the second month in a row that it has remained in negative territory, following a slump in manufacturing, mining and capitals goods segments. Factory output as measured by movement in the IIP had slipped to an eight-month low of (-)2.49 (revised) in July on account of declining output in manufacturing and capital goods sectors. The IIP slump in August is...

-The Hindu Business Line UN study says climate change hits the poor hardest New Delhi: Do women hold the key to dealing with one of the most scorching impacts of climate change — food insecurity. According to a UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs study, titled ‘Climate Change Resilience: An Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities’, eliminating gender inequalities could increase agricultural output by as much as 4 per cent, reducing the number of...

-Livemint.com The problem could be most acute for pulses with production hitting a record high but prices falling below the govt’s minimum support prices New Delhi: Following consecutive years of drought, India is set to harvest a record crop of foodgrains but farm incomes could take a hit due to falling wholesale prices. The problem could be most acute for pulses with production hitting a record high but prices falling below the...