India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world.
The fall in global prices resulted in a drastic decline in the Food Price Index compiled by the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization. Based on the prices of a basket of internationally traded food commodities, the FAO Food Price Index averaged at 203.9 points in July, down 4.4 per cent (2.1 percentage point) from a revised value in June. This level was seen earlier in January, at 203.2 points.
The locusts initially entered Rajasthan from Pakistan and from there the swarms moved towards Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab over the last few weeks and are now threatening to enter Uttar Pradesh, putting at risk the summer crop.
Trend could continue on downward revision in winter harvests.
The global body on the farm sector has pegged India's rice production to be lower at 100 million tonnes in the 2012-13 crop year (July-June) from record high of 104.32 million tonnes in 2011-12 crop year.
Dairy, sugar prices fall sharply, despite El Nio fears
A whopping $700 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) is paid annually as bribe in India for land administration services, a joint study by United Nation's body FAO and Transparency International has observed.
Lower global prices and freights, together with less cereal purchases are predicted to reduce global expenditure on imported foodstuffs in 2012, the bi-annual global market report added.
The global agricultural production growth is expected to be low at 1.7 per cent annually during 2011-20 as compared to 2.6 per cent in the previous decade, due to lower growth in oilseeds and cereals, an agri survey said.
Consumers are unlikely to get relief from high food prices till December 2012, despite a modest increase in global foodgrain production.
Gates, who is also co-chair in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, further said since the issue of climate change is "complicated", different interventions are required to be taken including developing new variety of seeds and their distribution to farmers.
The United Nations on Friday expressed concern that food prices continue to remain high in developing countries, hurting millions of poor in both rural and urban areas.
Even as the prices of food items in the international market dropped sharply from their peak in 2008 in response to higher global stocks and improved export supplies, food prices in most of the developing countries have defied this trend and remain high.
The global food production must shoot up by 70 per cent to be able to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday.
The first Global Agro-Industries Forum will be organised in New Delhi from 8 to 11 April 2008.
In its bi-annual report 'Food Outlook', FAO noted that much of the boost in cereal production took place in developed countries, where farmers were in a better position to respond to high prices. Concepcion Calpe, one of the main authors of the report, said this year's record cereal harvest and the recent fall in food prices should not create a false sense of security.
Calvin Miller, senior officer, rural finance, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is happy with the country's rural finance when compared with the rest of the world.
Ducks, rice and human beings -- and not chickens are the "most significant factors" behind persistent outbreaks of bird flu, a new study has claimed. The study released by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found ducks, rice and people not chickens to be the "most significant factors" in the spread of the bird flue in Thailand and Vietnam.
A locust warning issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Organisation has asked India and Pakistan to take immediate steps to safeguard their crops.
'His speech at the bhoomi puja will stand out for a long time in the memory of those who listened to it for touching the pinnacle of excellence and brilliance in both style and content,' declares B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh ended Sunil Chettri's two-year hold on the AIFF men's Player of the Year trophy, while in-form striker Bala Devi was chosen for the women's honour for a second successive time in the AIFF Annual General Body Meeting held in Goa, on Sunday.
'Any normal human being, even if he is the American president, will find it hard, at least in the initial stages, to get over the gnawing feeling that Modi is Trump's man.' 'Modi should not be surprised if India and its requirements are treated as of low priority by Joe Biden,' warns B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Food companies would not need to seek product approval from FSSAI if they meet these norms
'If Trump is out, Modi is going to find himself in a hotspot, having to reset his relations with the new US President with whom he will have to co-exist for well-nigh his full term,' notes B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
On the occasion of Chinese president Xi Jinping's two-day visit, Indian exporters are looking for a big boost in export of agricultural commodities, especially the ones that have been impacted by the ongoing trade war between the United States and China.
Only he, with his tremendous political capital and personal stature, can pull it off, observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
With its gaze steadily fixed on the well-being of its people, the government is going about taking all the imperative measures that need to be taken to beat back the pandemic, observes B S Raghavan.
'Howdy Modi is an unforgettable celebration of the crowning of Modi as a world statesman,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
It is important to approach the belief of people in ancient India's achievements with a sense of proportion, balance and empathy, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'It doesn't look as if any sensible, worldly wise, person is in charge in China.' 'If at all anybody is in charge, it can only be a bunch of bumpkins of whom Xi has become a puppet,' observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
The number of hungry people in India has fallen to by 9.5 per cent to 190.7 million now from 210.8 million two decades ago, but in neigbouring Pakistan the number has risen by over 38 per cent in the same period.
Although this may not be music to Raghuram Rajan and Viral Acharya's ears, the real reason in my estimation for their quitting is expatriate over-sensitivity, intolerance or arrogance, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Since 2000, India has had three serious droughts.
'The time has come to substitute the present Constitutional set-up with an alternative democratic framework,' argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'There was no need for opting for such an elaborately and expensively organised spectacle,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'If development, investment, employment, implementation, credibility and commitment are ensured, security will automatically improve and subversive and militant elements will lose ground and be neutralised by the people themselves,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'Speaking this year from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he excelled himself in content, diction and delivery -- all extemporaneously flowing, replete with felicitous expressions and captivating word play. 'The only other Indian prime minister with whom he stands comparison is Jawaharlal Nehru who too shunned prepared speeches and established instant rapport with his audiences,' says B S Raghavan.
Modi should bluntly ask Chinese President Xi Jinping why he was willing to put his neck in the Pakistani noose, ignoring all that is known of Pakistan's perfidy, says B S Raghavan.
'It disappoints and saddens me no end that Mahua has allowed herself to be carried away by the Goebbelsian onslaught mounted on the BJP and Narendra Modi by certain vested interests which find themselves exposed and thrown out of the gravy train,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
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