The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Report says 10% objective competes with food production and should be scrapped in effort to reduce food price spikes European targets to replace fossil fuels with biofuels are contributing to spikes in food prices and global hunger, according to the latest analyis by Oxfam. The aid organisation is calling for …
Floods could wipe out most of Niger's main rice harvest this year as rain-swollen rivers rose to 50-year highs across West Africa, spreading devastation, a regional official said. At least 81 people have been killed in Niger since annual rains caused flooding along the banks of the Niger River, raising …
The EU energy and climate commissioners on Monday confirmed they planned to limit crop-based biofuels to 5 percent of total energy consumption and said they were not pushing for biofuels that would compete with food. "It is wrong to believe that we are pushing food-based biofuels. In our upcoming proposal …
When it comes to farms, Punjab is not Haryana’s “laggard” neighbour. It has surpassed its paddy target for this year despite deficient rains in the transplantation months of June and July while Haryana is down by 1 lakh hectares. With assured irrigation in its paddy belt — over 13 lakh …
The State Government has decided to reiterate its demand for payment of crop insurance to farmers of 603 gram panchayats whose crops were damaged in natural calamities last year. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro and Rural Development Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh will take up the matter with …
As the monsoon plays truant, the tragic face of our agrarian distress, suicide by farmers, is likely to manifest again in several parts of the country. A state like Maharashtra, where large acreages of a cash crop like cotton are grown under rain-fed conditions, is particularly vulnerable to such vagaries …
Unless we put an end to baseless fear of GM crops, we will not be able to feed our growing population The parliamentary committee report on genetically modified (GM) organisms is an attempt to give a quiet burial to biotechnology in India. On behalf of the farmers of India, let …
Sirsa: Cotton crop in the north belt of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan is under serious threat from an enemy that has re-emerged after a break of one year. After a brief respite to farmers for an year, Cotton Leaf Curl Virus Disease (CLCuD) has resurfaced on the cotton crops this …
Irrational use of pesticides in lower Punjab and upper Sindh areas is found to be damaging environment as it has contaminated underground water, soil and even fruits and vegetables being grown there, said a study. According to the study published by a German publishing house last year, a large number …
Scientists have pinpointed a gene that enables rice plants to produce around 20% more grain by increasing uptake of phosphorus, an important, but limited, plant nutrient. The discovery unlocks the potential to improve the food security of rice farmers with the lowest value phosphorus-deficient land allowing them to grow more …
The state government has demanded 88,000 metric tonnes of food grains from the Centre as part of the drought mitigation plans, as the government suspects that productivity will be hampered to a large extent this kharif season due to drought. The state government claimed that it was confident that the …
Scientists on Wednesday said they had developed a strain of rice that grows well in soils lacking the nutrient phosphorus, a feat that could boost crop yields for some farmers by as much as a fifth. The announcement ends a quest to pinpoint a mystery gene that helps the roots …
Moderate to heavy rain during the past 24 hours in almost all parts of this region has brought smiles back on the faces of the disappointed farmers of Punjab and Haryana. They were saddened by the absence of a good widespread spell of rain in the region since the beginning …
Close on the heels of the ash pond breach in Hindalco Industries Limited, fly ash from Shyam Metalics and Energy Limited at Pandloi village has reportedly damaged large tract of land in Nishanbhanga village under Rengali police limits of the district. The rain-washed ash slurry has flowed into agricultural land …
As suggested by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the state government has started an exercise to find a viable alternative for paddy in the state. A meeting of senior officials of the Agriculture Department will be held here on August 22 to chalk out a strategy to gradually move away …
Madhya Pradesh boasts of being a leader in soybean production in the country, with the crop accounting for more than half the area under cultivation. It, however, has a poor record of productivity, the average yield being lower than the national average. Millions of marginal and small soybean farmers across …
Downpours and heatwaves caused by climate change could disrupt food supplies from the fields to the supermarkets, raising the risk of more price spikes such as this year's leap triggered by drought in the United States. Food security experts working on a chapter in a U.N. overview of global warming …
NO GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD Standing committee orders probe into Bt Brinjal row; says proper tests not conducted before introduction, ‘collusion of worst kind’ Aparliamentary panel has recommended a thorough probe into the controversy surrounding Bt Brinjal and indicated the approval committee was under tremendous pressure from the “industry and a …
This report examines the challenges of achieving food and nutrition security and provides an update on progress in implementing sustainable agricultural policies and practices in line with the Rome Principles. Main challenges include low productivity and low investment in smallholder agriculture, worsening land degradation and water scarcity in many agricultural …
