Rice

Climate risks to nine key commodities: protecting people and prosperity

CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …

Neighbour`s envy, Pakistan`s rice

Pakistan, claim some experts, is where basmati originated. Today Pakistan is the other big player in the international basmati trade. Two players and a huge playground - that's the story of basmati. And the two players can develop policies and strategies to maintain their niche. Though, in this high stakes …

Solving poverty

How does vitamin A rice help solve poverty and malnutrition in developing countries? People whose staple diet is rice usually suffer from vitamin deficiencies. In Bangladesh, for instance, 75 per cent of the calories come from rice. Similarly, in countries like Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, rice accounts for 70 per …

Grain gain or drain?

india will conduct research on developing Golden Rice, a genetically modified ( gm ) variety of rice. "The Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Madurai Kamraj University and University of Delhi will jointly undertake the task of inserting modified genes of Golden Rice into the Indian varieties,' says Manju Sharma, secretary of …

Cereal killer

Charity for the poor is not always a virtue, more so if food security is at stake

Persistent in folly

G lobal trade in coarse grains in 1995 was to the magnitude of about 132 metric tonnes (mt) and is projected to rise to 175 mt by 2005. About 80-85 per cent of this export originates from industria lised countries, where coarse grains are cultivated for animal feed. In Japan, …

Grain of truth

That they are called coarse grains summarises their present status in Indian society. Go anywhere in the country, and you will see a marked inferiority accorded to

Vitaminimum

The advocates of agricultural biotechnology maybe overselling the usefulness of the genetically modified

Rice steeped in controversy

In India, over 18 per cent of the children suffer from vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Ingo Potrykus, professor emeritus from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, claims to have a solution. Potrykus had read a World Health Organisation (WHO) report that stated that 230 million children are at risk of …

Weighty task

wide variations of nitrous oxide (n2o) emissions over varying areas and time periods make estimation a tough proposition. A study published in Current Science (Vol 79, No 10) says n2o emissions from soils used for different crops and in different seasons in India can have wide variations. n2o is a …

FARMERS PLIGHT

The Lucknow high court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to purchase all the paddy crops grown in the state within the next two and a half months. The state's paddy growers are on the verge of starvation as they have not been able to find buyers for their produce. …

Poor harvest

the Food Corporation of India ( fci ), the official procurement agency of the government of India, has rejected about 80 per cent of paddy from Punjab on the grounds that it was substandard. However, under pressure from the farmer's lobby, the government has relaxed the paddy procurement laws. The …

To ensure food for tomorrow

finally one can see some action. A lot has been said about the falling agricultural productivity in the Indo-Gangetic Plains ( igp). An inititative is on to check the decline in yields of rice and wheat in the area. 12 million hectares of igp includes parts of Bangladesh, India, Nepal …

Lessons from across the fence

China scores high on the front of organic matter recycling and developing hybrid varieties of rice. Zheng Jiaguo, professor at the Crop Research Institute at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sichuan, China, says, "We have increased the rice yield by cultivating hybrid varieties. India should also look to increase …

Grain drain

the Indian government has forced Rice Tec Inc to withdraw four of its 20 patents for basmati rice in the us . The withdrawn claims are grain specific

Moneymakers

friendly plastic: A new plastic made from plant sugar will be soon introduced in the market. The plastic called NatureWorks PLA is being manufactured by Cargill Dow Polymers, a Nebraska-based company. Unlike conventional plastic, NatureWorks can break down in a compost pile if subjected to the right combination of heat …

Cancer struck

Gian kaur, 50, is a breast cancer patient. But in her village her ailment does not make her unique or get her visitors to check on her health. Almost every house in her village Giana in Bhatinda district has an ailing patient to tend to. Cancer or less fatal diseases …

The escape route

A few months, India was besieged by a drought. But the drought did not lead to a famine. A comfortable grain reserve of 26 million tonnes -11 million tonnes more than would be required in a normal year to stave of the famine. But this may be the last time …

Punjab: end of the revolution ?

Undoubtedly, GR made Punjab one of the richest states in India in terms of per capita income. From Rs 2,674 in 1980-81, the per capita income at current prices rose to Rs 19,770 in 1997-98. Compared to Punjab, Tamil Nadu's per capita income was only Rs 12,989, while that of …

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