Inflation has made the fight against malnutrition harder. In a country where 46% of the country's children below three years are underweight and inflation has spiralled to above 15%, a meagre allocation of Rs 4 per day to feed a child is a mockery of the food programme. Small wonder then that states have demanded an increase in allocation and linking the government's Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) with consumer...
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Managing the anticipated food crisis by MS Swaminathan
FAO has warned that 2011 may witness a global food crisis. Proactive action is needed to meet the challenge of price volatility, chronic hunger, agrarian despair and climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has alerted developing countries about possible steep rises in food prices during 2011, if steps are not taken immediately to increase significantly the production of major food crops. According to FAO, “with...
More »Record 16.5 Million tonne pulses production likely this year
India is likely to harvest a record 16.5 million tonne pulses this year. This was announced by the Agriculture Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar, at the 6th Agriwatch Global Pulses Summit here today. The Minister said that though India presently imports a large quantity of pulses, the use of new production technologies and agronomic practices, and government support will lead to self sufficiency. Shri Pawar said that more aggressive promotion of available technologies...
More »Need for documenting traditional food systems of tribals: FAO
There is a need for documentation of traditional food systems of the tribal population to "retain" and "protect" them in a number of countries and this is "never more so" than in India, an FAO official said here today. "There is a clear imperative to protect traditional food systems, local food resources and their biodiversity in a number of countries and this is never more so than in India," Food and...
More »Hunger alarm by TK Rajalakshmi
The Global Hunger Index report paints a gloomy picture of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. WITH the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals just five years away, the 2010 Global Hunger Index report prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) paints a gloomy picture of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Some 29 countries in these regions, it says, have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming....
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