Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed a conference on ‘Leveraging agriculture for improving nutrition and health’ in New Delhi, organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), as part of International Policy Consultation. “Nutrition and health are issues are particularly topical today as the world faces rising food prices in many countries and there is growing recognition that climate change may endanger food security in many developing countries. Leveraging agriculture for...

So what caused the French Revolution? food prices did. A hailstorm destroyed French crops, food prices rose 88 per cent in one year, and hungry Parisians turned on their rulers. Ditto with the Tian-an-men showdown exactly 200 years later, in 1989: consumer prices rose 21 per cent in a country that had known virtually no inflation under Communist rule. The Suharto regime got overthrown in Indonesia in 1998 after food...

Just over a year since it was crippled by a drought, India’s agriculture sector is firing on all cylinders again, a much-needed turnaround that could keep overall growth high and make fighting inflation easier. The country looks set to reap its second-highest harvest of foodgrains in 2010-11, which includes an estimated 81.47 million tonnes of wheat alone, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday. Apart from cereals, record output in pulses...

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan made the plea following farmers' protest Go-ahead for export of 3 non-basmati varieties Onion prices as low as Rs. 4-5 a kg in Maharashtra Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday said the government was actively considering a request from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to lift the ban on export of onions whose prices crashed last week triggering farmers' protest. In a related development, the government...

Food inflation dropped sharply to 13.07% for the week ended January 29 from 17.05% in the previous week. According to data released by the ministry of industry and commerce on Thursday food inflation declined to a seven-week low due to decline in the prices of pulses and potatoes. On an annual basis, prices of potatoes declined 8.87%, while pulses fell 8.63% and wheat by 3.58%, the government data said. Although the...