World migration report 2024
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the World Migration Report 2024, which reveals significant shifts in global migration patterns, including a record number of displaced people
Food Security
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Agflation and the Public Distribution System
The demand for "universalisation' of the public distribution system during a period of rising prices is not relevant since, more than four-fifths of households in rural areas and two-thirds in urban centres are already covered by it. Yet, a very small proportion of rural/urban households actually make purchases of either rice or wheat from the PDS; an insignificant amount of consumption is met by ration shop purchases. The pattern is somewhat better for below the poverty line households with ration cards.
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Fuel for thought
Within a couple of years of the global rush to promote biofuels new questions are being asked about the claimed benefits of these fuels and serious negative impacts are coming to light. It is in this regard that the focus of the biofuel policy in India has been towards utilising an "oil bearing' plant, jatropha carcus, for oil extraction, processing and eventual blending with diesel. The advantage of this plant lies in the fact that it can be grown on cultivable wasteland and requires very little fertiliser and other inputs as normally required in agriculture. (Editorial) May 3-9, 2008
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Retrospection and introspection of effect of climate change and their adaptation strategies in Indian agriculture
The inter and intra-year fluctuations in agriculture production will continue as long as agriculture depends on weather. The effect of weather on agriculture is related to location specific which directly link with the variability in local climates rather than in global climate patterns. Many scientists hold the position that agricultural shifts are likely due to climate change.
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Draft national biotechnology regulatory bill, 2008
An Act to establish the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India and to regulate the research, manufacture, importation and use of products of modern biotechnology.
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Food crisis spurs research spending
More than 20 United Nations development agencies joined the World Bank and the World Trade Organization this week in Bern, Switzerland, to discuss emergency humanitarian aid and other measures to combat the growing world food crisis. The World Food Programme says it needs an extra US$755 million just to meet existing needs for food aid.
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A research menu
This was not a sudden crisis. It may be only this spring that food prices have started sparking riots on the streets of Haiti and Egypt, not to mention rice rationing at Wal-Mart's cash-and-carry stores, but food prices have been rising since 2000. The rises accelerated in 2006, when global cereal stocks dropped to levels not seen since the early 1980s. And although the factors driving them are many and various, a good few of them look likely to persist for years to come. (Editorial)
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Will the WTO mandate stand up against the tragedy of the commons in fisheries?
The Doha negotiations on fisheries provide a significant opportunity to address overcapacity and overfishing. However, to be effective, future subsidy disciplines need to be coupled with stronger fishery management regimes, including in both public and private access agreements.
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Rising world food prices: How to address the problem?
Strong and new forces of change in the world food equation are transforming food consumption, production and markets. Unlike the pattern prevailing for the past few decades, today's global agricultural system is very much driven by the demand side. With income growth in emerging economies, globalisation and urbanisation, the demand for agricultural products will continue to grow and shift toward high-value commodities. Partly driven by the expansion of biofuels and demand for feed, strong global cereal consumption is likely to continue.
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Addressing the global food crisis
This paper examines some important causes and challenges of the global food crisis, from a developmental perspective. Possible responses to this crisis are discussed pertaining to trade, investment and agricultural policies and measures at the national, regional and international levels. UNCTAD's potential contribution in addressing the crisis is highlighted in this context.
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Food crisis due to better diets in India, China: Rice
"Apparent improvement" in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the "four causes" that has led to the current global food crisis, feels US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. The US' top diplomat specifically pointed to exchange rate and the simple "inability" of getting food to the people as being responsible for the worrisome food scarcity.