-Down to Earth Asia houses 526 million of the 805 million chronically undernourished people in the world The good news is that the world today is producing enough to support the projected population of nine billion people by 2050. But the bad news is that still 805 million people-or one in every nine people-are hungry in the world, says a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund...

-The Huffington Post Farmers are committing suicide as you read this article. In countries like India, the rate of farmer suicides has become a national crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO) is particularly concerned with farmer suicides because of the impact it is having on families. WHO estimates that one person commits suicide every 13.3 minutes. The U.S. farmer suicides rates are just under two times that of the general population. In...

-The Financial Express The USDA projection of 29% of agri GDP is faulty as it counts rural development expenditure also, it is only 13% In a report titled "India's Agricultural Exports Climbs To Record High" (click here to access), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) speaks of a steep ascent in Indian agro exports-from $5 billion in 2003 to $39 billion in 2013. This may be flattering, but the facts and figures...

-The Hindu The Odisha government has made the right announcements to improve the plight of migrant workers, but a lot more needs to be done In December 2013, a labourer chopped off the palms of two migrant workers from western Odisha. He had paid them an advance for working in the brick kilns of Hyderabad and did not take kindly to their arguing with him about the payment and place of work....

-The New Indian Express   SAMBALPUR: Shortage of Urea fertilizer has adversely affected farming activities in Western Odisha districts and left farmers in a lurch. While well-off farmers are purchasing it at a premium from open market, the small and marginal ones are sitting with their fingers crossed waiting for the Agriculture Department to come to their aid. Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilizers. It has nitrogen...