Expanding irrigation network in the country is considered as essential to raise agricultural production in the face of increased frequency of droughts. However, a newly released report from the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare shows that there has actually been a fall in the growth rate of net irrigated area during the recent two decades. The report entitled State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 reveals that the growth rate in...

-Livemint.com Healthy, living soil is the most essential element in ensuring food security. Yet it is often ignored by policy planners The global population, which stood at 6.1 billion in 2000, is estimated to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. India has 2.4% of the world’s arable land and more than 17% of the global population. Meeting the demand for fibre and food to feed this growing population...

-Livemint.com The transformation of the Indian countryside has been slow and messy One of the celebrated success stories of India’s growth experience over the past decade was the rapid transformation of the countryside, with a massive shift in the rural labour market away from farm jobs. Two labour economists have now challenged the empirical foundations of that success story, raising deep questions on the nature and scale of that transformation. Their research also...

-Down to Earth Around 15 per cent of India’s population is undernourished and 38.7 per cent of children suffer from stunted growth Reductions in the prevalence of undernourishment, child stunting, child mortality and child wasting (low weight for height) have led to the improvement in Global Hunger Index (GHI), but looking at the pace at which the progress is being made, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of 2030 is unlikely to...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Hunger levels in developing countries may have fallen 29% since 2000, but India was still rated as a country with ‘serious’ hunger levels in the 2016, shows Global Hunger Index that was released on Tuesday. Despite improvements in hunger and nutrition over the years, India still has a long way to go before it is able to achieve the United Nations goal to end hunger by 2030 If hunger...