-Reuters   The world's trading nations are succumbing to protectionism in the wake of the global financial crisis, limiting exports of food and raw materials and installing new import barriers, the WTO warned on Friday. Commodities export restrictions from Indian cotton and Ukrainian wheat to Chinese rare earths and coal are "not without hazards", the World Trade Organization said in the report that assesses the protectionist behaviour of more than 180 nations. The...

-The Economic Times   World Trade Organisation (WTO), the primary international body to help promote free trade has questioned India for providing subsidy on only indigenous ammonium sulphate and not on the imported fertiliser. " WTO has asked India to furnish details as to why it has kept imported ammonium sulphate out of the ambit of Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) policy," a senior Fertiliser Ministry told PTI. The Fertiliser Ministry is still examining the...

What can make a real difference to food prices is determined international action to increase food production in regions that are richly endowed with land and water resources High food inflation has been the source of major concern in India for more than a year. Soaring food prices have been the cause of unease internationally as well. A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) press release of 3 March, 2011 indicates that...

DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have proved so controversial...

Why is every fourth Indian hungry? Why is every third woman in India anaemic and malnourished? Why is every second child underweight and stunted? Why has the hunger and malnutrition crisis deepened even as India has nine per cent growth? Why is “Shining India” a “Starving India”? In my view, hunger is a structural part of the design of the industrialised, globalised food system. Hunger is an intrinsic part of the...