The year 2022 was supposed to mark the recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of the preceding two years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February pushed up prices of food, fuel and fertilizer worldwide. In India consumer price inflation, which had declined to under 5 percent in the September-November period of 2021, has steadily increased, staying above 6 percent throughout 2022.    What happened to rural incomes in 2022? An...

The World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2022, released in December 2022, provides its readers a plethora of useful statistics and data across the countries pertaining to agriculture and food security. The yearbook by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) primarily covers four themes -- Economic Dimensions of Agriculture; Production, Trade and Prices of Commodities; Food Security and Nutrition; and Sustainability and Environmental Aspects of Agriculture.  While going through the report,...

-The Hindu It’s imperative that ‘good nutrition’ becomes everyone’s mantra if we are serious about addressing the challenge Malnutrition continues to be a major challenge in India 75 years after independence and we need concerted action around it. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report on Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 puts the number of undernourished people in India in 2019-21 at 224.3 million, i.e., 16% of a...

-The Hindu Business Line Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is the new buzzword among development professionals and NGOs — both public and private! Everyone wants to mobilise the community and establish FPOs. Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is the new buzzword among development professionals and NGOs — both public and private! Everyone wants to mobilise the community and establish FPOs. FPOs present the power of aggregation, farmers’ come together, form an organisation, which collectively buys...

-ThePrint.in With prices of chana trickling for two years now, the government must revisit its policies and save the crop before it is too late. Chana prices in India have been ruling below their minimum support price (MSP) levels since the last two years. But unlike cereals, edible oils, and vegetables, where inflation is regularly reported, falling prices of such crops seldom make it to the national media. These prices are important...