Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the lowest calorie consumption seem to show better health outcome indicators This report, a joint initiative by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation — an institution with a remarkable long term commitment to issues related to food security — and the United Nations World Food Programme, should serve as an excellent hand book on urban food insecurity. Aside from providing all the relevant information in a consolidated...

A key government panel has warned that the country's overflowing grain bins will lead to a crisis if the government did not come up with a plan to dispose of the stored grain . The Commission for Agricultural Costs and prices (CACP) painted the grim picture in a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week. It said the Centre, which is the biggest buyer of grain in the country, was sitting...

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has forecast improved wheat harvest in Pakistan in 2011 as the crop is expected to be 24 million tons, a three per cent increase over 23.3 million tons in 2010. World wheat production in 2011 has been forecast at 676 million tons, representing a growth of 3.4 per cent compared with 2010, according to the Crop Prospects and Food Situation report for March released by...

Farmers with irrigated fields in Punjab and Haryana will start sowing cotton in a fortnight. Agriculture department officials estimate a 10% to 15% increase in acreage this season as cotton has become more lucrative than paddy, basmati and pulses. Government's paddy procuring agencies and basmati exporters don't think that the staple's production will take a hit. "We estimate the area under cotton across the country to increase by 15% and prices will...

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) recently in New Delhi, India gathered more than 900 participants for an international conference to examine ways that agriculture can enhance the health and nutritional status of poor people in developing worlds. Scholars, Politicians and activists during the conference tried to exploit the nexus between agriculture, nutrition and health. Most people would say that agriculture is for growing food, and on one level, they are...