National food security mission impossible.
Byline: Prabha Jagannathan NEW DELHI: The Centre's grandiose booster plan for agri produce, the Rs.4,883-crore National Food Security Mission (NFSM), seems to be built on targets that hardly keep pace with the projected increase in domestic demand by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. ...

Two more ports for basmati exports.
NEW DELHI: The government has allowed export of basmati rice from Mundra and Pipavav ports in Gujarat, according to a statement from the Directorate General of Foreign trade on Tuesday. Early this month, export of rice, both basmati and non-basmati varieties, was restricted to four ports-Mumbai, Kandla, Kakinada and...

Export curbs may be eased.
NEW DELHI: The United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre will review a ban on wheat exports and curbs on overseas sales of basmati rice, but shipments of other grades of rice will not be allowed at least until November, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Thursday....

Exports dip on poor Pakistan, Iraq demand.
Byline: PK Krishnakumar KOCHI : Indian tea export is yet to pick up momentum in the absence of strong buying from Iraq and Pakistan. The tea exports from India had declined by 62 million kg in 2007 with poor buying from these countries. The only silver lining...

Maize prices zoom on US, China export restrictions.
Byline: R R Goswami AHMEDABAD: With the rise in demand in the export market because of the US and China cutting their outflow, the maize prices in the domestic market have started increasing exorbitantly in the last 15 days. Price of maize, which prevailed between...

Centre bans edible oil export for 1 year.
Byline: Ratna Ganguli KOLKATA: The Centre may not have taken appropriate measures to raise oilseed production for checking spiralling edible oil imports. But it has taken steps to check outflow of edible oils from the country. It has banned export of all edible oils with effect from...

Wine tourism brings Mallya and Pawar together.
PUNE: Baramati, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's carefully nursed constituency, is a hot spot in more ways than one. After hosting major international engineering automobile units, state-of-the-art educational institutes and bio-tech parks, it will soon host wine tourists. And the promise in this regards has come from none...

Edible oil gains as demand rise.
NEW DELHI: The heated food versus fuel debate may soon see end of Round One. Right now, soya oil and palm oil are both firmly food. Whether a crop is used for filling stomachs or fuel tanks depends on who is able to pay more. From the look of...

Jai Kisan v2.0:New FTP chapter to be farm-friendly.
Byline: Amiti Sen (##include msid=2459375,type=9 ##) NEW DELHI: The government's focus on agriculture and farmers is all set to go beyond the Budget proposals announced last month. The annual supplement to the foreign trade policy (FTP) to be announced early next month is likely to...

Xethanol Reports Progress in Cellulosic Ethanol Production.
ENERGY RESOURCE-15 January 2008-Xethanol Reports Progress in Cellulosic Ethanol Production(C)2008 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com Xethanol Corporation, a renewable energy company, today said that its latest laboratory research results show "significant increases" in the rate of cellulosic ethanol production specific to a U.S. Department of Agriculture technology project. ...