-United Nations News Countries are expected to spend a staggering $1.8 trillion importing food they need this year; this would be a new world record but worryingly, it’s going to buy them less food, not more. That’s according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which on Thursday suggested that for some countries, the situation potentially heralded “an end of their resilience to higher prices”. Ever-higher fixed costs for farmers of so-called...

-The Hindu Business Line Pesticide residues in India’s agri exports calls for a multi-pronged policy response As reported recently by this newspaper, India’s cumin exports have suffered a setback in recent months, with China claiming that pesticide residues exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) spelt out by it about six months back. Chinese authorities have said that consignments must be accompanied by a pesticide residue report. India has been through all this...

-PTI/ The New Indian Express They also slammed the Centre for not announcing a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal of wheat, as demanded by them to compensate the drop in the yield on account of shrivelled grains due to intense heat wave CHANDIGARH: Farmers' unions in Punjab on Monday dubbed the Centre's decision of banning wheat exports as an "anti-farmer" move, saying that the Union government is not letting them reap...

-Livemint.com The political economy favours the government taking tough measures to protect the consumers — more numerous and more vocal than producers — even if these measures go against the grain of economic sense. India’s decision to restrict wheat export is disappointing but not a big surprise. Banning exports has been the government’s standard response to any shortage of agricultural commodities, denying farmers the benefit of global prices when these are high....

-The New Indian Express Poultry farming of this protein-rich black chicken paying rich dividends, reports Anuraag Singh MADHYA PRADESH: In many parts of the country, the colour black has been considered inauspicious. But in the forests of western Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated Bheelanchal region, the same colour is ushering in fortune and prosperity in the lives of people who were once forced to work as labourers in adjoining Gujarat. Welcome to Jhabua, Alirajpur and...