Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, while admitting inflation was a cause for concern, attributed the upward trend to the gap between supply and demand. Pawar was speaking to reporters after inaugurating the Centre of Excellence for vegetable, under the Israel-India cooperation in Agriculture. Pawar maintained while the production of a few commodities was increasing, the demand was invariably surpassing the supply, leading to inflation in prices. He maintained the government was looking to...

What’s Going Wrong?     * Market intelligence remains a weak link; farm policies rarely reflect correct scenario     * Extensive damage to crop in Maharashtra not factored in promoting onion, tomato exports     * Middlemen make capital while farmers realise 10-15% margin, not enough to recoup losses     * Government market intervention capacity limited to foodgrains and pulses **** India’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed when the government threw up its hands in despair in the...

Genuine fear of genetically modified (GM) crops arising from relatively less studied science combined with the fear of the unknown and lack of transparency of the companies dealing with GM crops made most governments and their citizens in Europe and other countries oppose the technology. Fearing that nanotechnology, another promising technology, may face the same fate, the U.K. Royal Society had published a detailed report on nanotechnology in 2004. The report, made...

Condemning the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government for the continued suicides by farmers in the state, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said the 'insensitive behaviour' of the state government was forcing farmers to take the extreme step. In a statement issued on Thursday, Singh said that "because of the state government's insensitive behaviour, farmers were losing patience and being forced to take the extreme step of ending their lives." Seven farmers...

Their crops destroyed by frost between January 5 and 9, five farmers in Madhya Pradesh committed suicide while three are battling for their lives after consuming pesticide. The weather destroyed their standing crops of wheat, soyabean, gram, peas, opium and oranges in just five days. Their crops gone, farmers in the state, like their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, also faced the prospect of defaulting on repayment of loan from banks...