DA all set to lure more aggie investments.
Byline: MARVYN N. BENANING The Department of Agriculture (DA) is all set to lure in more investments in the agricultural sector, with Secretary Arthur Yap saying that he has met with foreign service officers of the DA to firm up a plan to attract huge capital and...

Nath spells out plans for plantation sector.
Byline: Raghu Krishnan & S Sanandakumar COONOOR: Union commerce minister Kamal Nath on Monday announced major policy initiatives to benefit the 20 million people engaged in India's plantation sector. Inaugurating the 114th annual conference of the United Plantations Association of Southern India (Upasi), Mr Nath...

UP opens agriculture to private sec.
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has decided to go in for private-public participation (PPP) in the farm sector with a target to raise approximately Rs 40,000 crore in the next two to three years. The radical change effected under the new ambitious agriculture policy is meant to ensure remunerative prices of...

More dev't for C. Visayas urged.
DUMAGUETE CITY -- Decrying that the average annual family income in Central Visayas is 31 percent lower than the national average, Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Loren Legarda yesterday urged a more rapid agri-industrial development for the region. Agriculture being the major industry of the region, Loren said...

$ 1.7-B fund is being used to step up dev't, peace effort in conflict-hit areas.
Byline: MIKE U. CRISMUNDO BUTUAN CITY -- The $ 1.7-billion development projects in Mindanao have already reached conflict-affected areas, with most of the efforts focused on sustaining the government's peace agenda, the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) said yesterday. In a statement, the council said...

Wary govt mulls onion import from Pak.
Byline: Deepshikha Sikarwar & Nidhi Nath Srinivas NEW DELHI: High onion prices have a history of spooking governments. With elections looming large, the government is exploring the possibility of importing onions from Pakistan. According to sources, the current shortage of onions and the consequent rise...

Montano backs pre-school program for poor children.
Team Unity senatorial candidate Cesar "Buboy" Montano yesterday proposed the establishment of a free Early Child Education (ECE) program to precede the elementary schooling of children. Montano said the government has no formal program for the youngest sector of society, the 2-6 years old who are at...

Virus ravaging bees, threatens food cycle.
Byline: Lisa D. Welsh WORCESTER - A virus affecting the state's honeybee population is being closely watched to see whether it will have broader implications on prices. "The bee population is being threatened and if that happens, food prices will skyrocket," said Kenneth Warchol of...

Commerce ministry moots lifting ban on rice exports.
NEW DELHI: The commerce department has proposed that the Centre should either completely lift the ban on export of all rice or replace it with a partial ban allowing rice above the threshold limit of $400 per tonne to be exported. It has also said that all...

Mumbai to recall poor quality wheat in PDS.
MUMBAI: Around 1,775 tonnes of wheat will now be dumped as waste. Inferior even to feed cattle, the Maharashtra government now has decided to recall all stocks of this substandard quality wheat from the public distribution system (PDS). The state government's decision may spark off a fresh round of...