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    IN FOCUS
    Food :  Crisis of Availability or Affordability ?
    "The waiver does bring great relief to large numbers of farmers.
    But it is no solution to even the immediate crisis let
    alone long-term agrarian problems."



    "It is certainly a troubling instance of price instability in international commodity markets, leading to social unrest among urban food-buyers. But we must be careful not to equate high crop prices with hunger around the world. Most of the world's hungry people do not use international food markets, and most of those who use these markets are not hungry.

    The food crisis in India is not the result of a policy failure. It's a fallout of the international situation, where global food stocks have gone down, with grain being diverted from food to animal feed; energy-intensive methods in industrialised nations have made agriculture costly, and climate change has made conditions uncertain. These are factors our Indian government has no control over.

    "We must develop agriculture that is less dependent on fossil fuels, favours the use of locally available resources and explores the use of natural processes such as crop rotation and use of organic fertilisers."
     
    Rising food prices threaten poverty reduction: WB,
    Infochange India News,
    14 Apr 2008


    Hungry & Angry,
    The Hindustan Times, 
    16 Apr 2008


    The food crisis begins to bite,
    -by Jerome Taylor and Andrew Buncombe,
    The Independent,
    25 April 2008


    'The days of cheap food are over': M S Swaminathan,
    -by Rashme Sehgal,
    Infochange India, 01 April 2008


    Grain drain,
    -by Raj Chengappa with Ramesh Vinayak,
    India Today Magazine,
    11 June 2007


    It's not the price that causes hunger,
    -by Robert Paarlberg,
    Tuesday, http://www.iht.com,
    22 April  2008

     
    The FAO hosted the first major World Conference on Food in Rome in 1974, which proclaimed that " every man, women and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental faculties."

    The goals of the conference included the eradication of hunger, the need for food security and the reduction of malnutrition "within a decade". But the goals were never reached .S

    In November 1996, the FAO hosted another five-day World Food Summit, which adopted a Rome Declaration on World Food Security and a Plan of Action to eradicate or minimise global hunger.

    The current crisis, not surprisingly, has triggered a third Food Summit, also in
    Rome from Jun. 3-5, where another elaborate plan is due to be unveiled by heads of state and governments.

    Nearly 34 years after the first FAO conference - and dozens of U.N. resolutions and voluminous reports later --the developing world is facing another global food shortage, along with skyrocketing prices.


    Indian Food Crisis?,
    -by Mukesh Ray,
    Countercurrents,
    28 Apr 2008

    Government panic stokes inflation, 
    -by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar,
    The Times of India, Mumbai,
    06 April 2008


    Gene therapy,
    -by Henry Miller,
    The Guardian,
    16 April  2008


    It's a challenge for the State,
    -by MS Swaminathan,
    DNA, Mumbai,
    30 March 2008


    Change in farming can feed world-report,
    -by John Vidal ,
    The Guardian,
    16 April 2008


    You pay more for grain, but farmer gets less,
    -by Amit Bhattacharya,
    The Times of India, Mumbai,
    07 April 2008


    HOW MUCH  DOES A SMALL FARMER MAKE?

    Here's a 2005 cost analysis of a kharif crop grown by a marginal farmer from Basrahiya village in Lucknow district. The study was done for the planning department of the UP government.

    Land cultivated  3 bighas
    (0.75 hectare)
    Investment Rs.12,200

    Total returns expected
    Rs.20,800

    Labour Input: 5-6 months of work by the farmer, his adult son and daughter-in-law

    Net profit Rs.8600 or Rs.1720 per month

    Amount each of the three world have earned had they worked as wage labourers for 30 days Rs.1,800 (at Rs.60 a day)
     

    'Asia will become food importer',
    The Asian Age, Mumbai,
    03 April 2008


    America eats 5 times more than India,
    -by Subodh Varma,
    The Times of India, Mumbai,
    04 May 2008


    IN FOCUS - March 2008 issue

    The Mega Loan Waiver. . .
    "The waiver does bring great relief to large numbers of farmers.
    But it is no solution to even the immediate crisis let
    alone long-term agrarian problems."

    Read More >>>