-Down to Earth Shanta Kumar committee report recommends privatisation, outsourcing and cash benefit transfer to cut food procurement and distribution costs The high level committee set up to look into the restructuring of Food Corporation of India has recommended reducing the number of beneficiaries under the Food Security Act-from the current 67 per cent to 40 per cent. It has also recommended allowing private players to procure and store food grains, stopping...
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It's trust vs certification -Aparna Pallavi
-Down to Earth For farmers, trust sells more than organic licence A FOOD SAFETY and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) official walked into Restore, an organic food store at Kottivakkam in Chennai. He picked up a packet of rice off the shelf and noticed some bugs in it. "How can you sell groceries with bugs?" he asked. The staff told him their customers buy their goods precisely because of the bugs in...
More »Low Productivity is Bane of Agriculture in India
-The New Indian Express The latest data from the World Bank shows that around 60.3 per cent of India's land area is agricultural. India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust established by the ministry of commerce and industry, confirms this. At 157.35 million hectares, India holds the second largest agricultural land, next only to the US. This should set at rest the fears that have been raised in the aftermath of the...
More »Scientists concern over impact of climate change on Indian agriculture -Amit Mitra
-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: Scientists and researchers struck a note of concern over the projected impact of climate change on Indian agriculture, especially coastal agriculture, and livestock at the just-concluded international conference on Bio-resource and Stress Management here. Laxman Singh Rathore, director general of Indian Meteorological Department, set the tone for the discussions by pointing out that mean warming in India is likely to be in the range of 1.7 to...
More »The next farm downtrend -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express It's likely that India's crop production this year will be lower compared to 2013-14, given deficient rains both in the southwest (June-September) and northeast (October-December) monsoons impacting kharif as well as rabi plantings. But that by itself needn't be cause for concern. We have seen one-off farm output declines even in 2009-10, 2004-05 and 2002-03, which were also drought years. What should worry us more, instead, is the...
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