When he drank poison on January 11, farmer Hargovind Harne’s run-down hut was bursting with freshly harvested paddy. Yet he was neck-deep in debt. Even the bottle of pesticide that he used to take his own life had been bought on credit, as the bill shows. His large stock of grain wasn’t the only puzzle in the 47-year-old’s suicide. Vidarbha is infamous for continuing suicides by cotton farmers but Harne grew food,...

-PTI   To protect farmers' interests, India has made it clear to EU that duty-free imports of wheat, barley, lemons, apples, pears and meslin flour will not be allowed under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). "The EU has asked for duty elimination on wheat, barely, apple, pear, lemon and meslin flour. We have clearly explained to them that India cannot offer concessions on any of these products," a senior Agriculture Ministry...

Ensuring food security to all is one of India’s top policy agendas today. Given a large mass of poverty in the country, it is not surprising and no one would perhaps disagree with the need to achieve this as soon as possible. But the varied policy instruments that can be used towards achieving this goal draw sharp differences among the stakeholders. What is food security? The World Food Summit of 1996...

-The Indian Express   Reeling under the pressure of huge foodgrain stocks, well above the storage capacity across the country, the government on Thursday decided to send 50 lakh tonnes of grains to the states at much below the minimum support price (MSP), leaving a window open for export at a later date. “We will look into the issue once the Agriculture Minister is back in town,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is...

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. Welcome to the 21st-century food wars. In the United States, when world wheat prices rise by 75 percent, as they have over the last year, it means the difference between a $2 loaf of bread and a loaf costing maybe $2.10. If, however, you live in New Delhi, those skyrocketing costs really matter: A doubling in...