-The Economic Times It is ironical that food inflation surged to around 18% in August when agriculture is the primary hope in the economy. The culprit was mainly vegetables and, within that, onions. Onions are once again in the news due to steep rise in retail prices by almost 25% in a fortnight. Safal outlets in Delhi have set the price at Rs 60 per kg whereas some other retailers are charging...

-The Economic Times PUNE: Vegetable farmers from Maharashtra, a major producer of vegetables in the country, will not be able to get new seed varieties this rabi season. The seed companies will have to give trials of their seeds on the lands of agricultural universities before seeking licences for marketing them in the state. The Maharashtra agriculture department has made it mandatory for the seed companies to give trial of their new...

-The Hindu Bangalore: In a major shift in its lending practice, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has opened a lending window to the corporate sector for construction of warehouses and creation of cold storages and cold chains. NABARD had only been granting soft loans to State governments for social sector projects. Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, G.R. Chintala, Chief General Manager (CGM), Regional Office, Bangalore, said it was...

-Press Information Bureau The India Rural Development Report 2012/13 was released here by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Rural Development, Government of India. The Report was prepared by IDFC Foundation in collaboration with network partners, the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), the Institute for Rural Management Anand (IRMA), and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), with contributions from several other researchers, experts and civil society organisations. On...

-The Hindu That one-third of the food produced annually for human consumption is wasted is in itself unconscionable in a world where 870 million, or one in eight people, go hungry every day. A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report now says that this high volume of wastage that occurs right through the food supply chain exerts an adverse impact on land, water, biodiversity and climate change. This impact...