Agriculture
World food prize for Dr Andersen
MUMBAI: Dr Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Director-General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), has been selected to receive the $250,000 world food prize for 2001 for his contribution to the improvement of agricultural research, food pol
icy, and the standing of the poor and starving citizens of the world.
Community food banks mooted
CHENNAI: Agriculture scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan has mooted ``community food banks'' (CFB) as an integral part of building a sustainable community nutrition security system for the country.
Sowing at standstill in Maharashtra -- Farmers await `satisfactory' monsoon retreat
THE initial euphoria over satisfactory monsoon cover in Maharashtra has given way to fears of drought conditions as some parts of the State have been reeling under a prolonged dry spell.
Icrisat land for oilseeds farming
HYDERABAD: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (Icrisat) has offered eight hectares of excess vertisol (black soil) land on its campus at Patancheru near here to the Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR), for oilseed mu
ltiplication.
Commodities
Cotton demand in 2004 put at 206 lakh bales
COTTON required by the domestic textile industry by 2004-05, when the textile industry would witness quota-free global market, has been projected at 206 lakh bales.
After invoice manipulation to evade edible oil customs duty -- Importers explore `crude palmolein' route
EDIBLE oil importers are clearly one up on the policy makers sitting in New Delhi. Their ingenuity seems to know no bounds. Even if the Government raises customs duties and fixes tariff values to prevent suspected invoice manipulation, some cost-saving o
r profitable leeway is invariably found to continue with the business.
Plantations
Sangameshwar Coffee Estate to offload stake in subsidiary
SANGAMESHWAR Coffee Estates Ltd, a publicly held company, is looking to offload majority stake in one of its four subsidiaries, according to company officials.
States
Kerala to set up fisheries task force
KOCHI: The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, said the State Government would take all necessary steps to restore Kerala's lost glory in the fisheries sector.
Sugar
Cane arrears at Rs 1,031 cr
SUGARCANE arrears payable to farmers by factories has mounted to Rs 1,031.06 crore during the 2000-01 crushing season (October-September) as on June 30, 2001.
Tea
Bengal nod for using tribal land for tea planting
THE West Bengal Government has allowed tea companies to use tribal land for plantation activities. However, the plantations will have to hand over to the tribals an equal area in the vicinity of the proposed garden.
