1.   

India to oppose removal of food export control

India will strongly oppose the developed countries’ demand to remove export restrictions on food at the eighth WTO ministerial conference being held in Geneva this week. Further, India is also not willing to give up on the issue of standstill that is strongly being advocated by Australia. “Opening up of exports and not imposing any restrictions in future, as is being .....

2.   

Centre to back food industry on value-added product development, meet told

The Union government has taken a decision to encourage food processing industries in production of value-added products. The drive will cover bakery items too. This was informed at the fifth National Seminar on Bakery Products – Healthy, Economic and Convenient being held here at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) on December 9 and 10, 2011. In this regard, .....

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Clusters formed to boost vegetable production

The Rs 12-crore project will assist farmers in growing hybrid crops and provide them with vegetable storage solutions. To boost vegetable production, the government has launched a new scheme —Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (VIUC) —in Gurgaon and 11 other districts. The aim of these clusters is to increase vegetable production and .....

4.   

FAO pegs Asian paddy output at record 646.2 MT in 2011

Paddy production in Asia is expected to increase by 3 per cent to a record 646.2 million tonnes in 2011 on the back of recovery in India and Pakistan, United Nation''s body FAO said in its latest report. Asia had produced an estimated 627.7 million tonnes of paddy in the year-ago period, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data said. "Harvest of paddy, major staple crop in the .....