Poultry industry in India to cross $ 26.84 billion by 2015 says industry association ASSOCHAM

Indian government to enact Food Security Act to provide guarantee food to all citizens
Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Prof K.V Thomas has said that the Indian Government is committed to enactment of the National Food Security Act to provide a statutory framework for assured food security to all . Addressing the Inaugural Session of a seminar organised by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) here today, the Minister said that the proposed legislation would be a paradigm shift in approach towards food security - from welfare based to rights based approach, involving legal obligation on the Government to deliver food entitlements. It will be a comp

FAO says volatile food prices may continue for sometime
Food price volatility featuring high prices is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, the United Nations' three Rome-based agencies said in the global hunger report published today.
FAO’s best estimate of the number of hungry people for 2010 remains at 925 million. For the 2006-2008 period FAO calculates the number of hungry at 850 million. The methodology FAO uses for calculating the prevalence of hunger is currently under revision, so no estimates have been produced for 2011.

Small, import-

India’s wheat production to touch 86 million tonnes
Agriculture Secretary of Government of India, P K Basu has said that wheat production might touch an all-time high of 86 million tonnes this rabi season as crop prospects look bright on account of a good monsoon. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, he said wheat crop prospects are expected to be encouraging as reports say there will be abundant sunshine and no pest menace in wheat fields during the rabi season.

The target set by government for wheat production for this year is 84 million tonnes. Basu said

Farm loan disbursal to exceed to touch $105 billion (Rs 5.20 lakh cr) in view of good monsson say NABARD
India's National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, NABARD, said that it expects to achieve farm loan disbursal is of $ 105 billion (Rs. 5.20 lakh crore) rupees against the target of 4.75 lakh crore rupees in this fiscal in view of good monsoon.

Nabard Chairman Prakash Bakshi said in New Delhi that based on the data available for the first four months, it is expected that the farm loans will rise and cross the target. He said, the agriculture credit disbursal had increased to over $ 96 billion (Rs. 4.26 lakh crore) rupees in the

Indian govt makes contingency plan to produce 2.78 million tonne (MT) additional Pulses in 2011-12
Indian government has prepared a contingency plan for additional production of pulses in Rabi 2011-12 through area expansion and productivity enhancement. Pulses covered under the scheme are pigeon pea, gram, pea and lentil. It is targeted to achieve an additional production of 2.78 MT during the ensuing Rabi season and offset the loss of Kharif season. The production and productivity of pulses have increased during last three-four years from 14.20 MT in 2006-07 to 14.66 MT during 2009-10. Likewise the productivity of pulses has also increased from 612kg/ha during 2006-07 to 630 kg/ha during

Good monsoon helps increase agriculture acreage in India
As per data released by the Indian government, rice has been sown in 38.1 million hectare as on today. It represents an increase of 3.35 million hectare over last year’s acreage on this date. Higher area coverage has been reported from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Oilseeds have been sown in 17.86 million hectare, 558,000 hectare more than last year. Higher area coverage has been reported in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Coarse cereals have been sown in 20.02 million hectare. Higher area coverage has been report