New Delhi Noted agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan on Thursday urged the government to invest in building infrastructure for post-harvest technology before it implements the food security Bill.

Pointing out a huge mismatch between grain production and storage facilities, Swaminathan said for ensuring adequate supply of grain under the food security law, a modern procurement system needs to be in place.

Says national commission for farmers a must to understand their problems. Wants MSP for crops to be announced well before the sowing season
Says that right to food security should be made a legal right. Samrala: The Chairman of the National Commission on Agriculture, Dr MS Swaminathan, says that farmers should be allowed to sell their produce anywhere in the country without hindrance for better returns.

Ludhiana: With wheat production in Punjab reaching an all-time high, well-known agricultural scientist and Rajya Sabha MP Dr M S Swaminathan on Wednesday urged the state government to provide farmers with an additional Rs 100 per quintal over the Minimum Support Price (MSP) as was the case in Mahrashtra and Rajasthan. “This is what we call procurement price,” said Swaminathan while interacting with farmers.

Wheat procurement in Punjab has touched an all-time high of 124.65 lakh tonne. Out of the total procurement, government agencies have procured almost

Interventions to fight malnutrition must be simultaneous with outcomes being monitored by an overarching body. The finance minister’s Budget 2012 speech contains the much-awaited, much-needed paradigm shift in government’s approach to reduce undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency, the indicators of which are fast qualifying India as the malnutrition capital of the world. It is now clear that high growth rates are not automatically translating into better nutritional indicators, though there is marginal improvement in infant and mortality indicators, as per SRS 2009.

NEW DELHI, 22 APRIL: The government has failed to make agriculture a profitable enterprise and to raise the livelihood of the farmers, according to farmer leader and president of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary. Chairing the national conference on “Food Security & Right to Food”, organised jointly by FoodFirst Information & Action Network-India and Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, here, Dr Chaudhary said: “The government’s policies are totally anti-farmer in nature and has failed to increase the income of the farmers.

New Delhi: Eminent scientist M S Swaminathan has conveyed his inability to chair a panel on checking pesticide residues in the capital. In a communiquésenttothe government, Swaminathan said he was tied down with work and he won’t be able to become partof the panel.The government on Monday informed HC aboutthedevelopment after whichHC askedittofinalize another expertfor the panel.

Agricultural scientist-economist Prof. Swaminathan will move a private member’s bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks access to water, credit and inputs for women farmers.

The Women Farmers' Entitlement Bill, 2011, has been submitted to the Rajya Sabha, according to Prof. Swaminathan.

Calls for engaging local people on a continuous basis

Renowned agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan has suggested that consultative committees be formed in and around the Kudankulam area, comprising civil society representatives and nuclear technology experts, so that the local people could be engaged on a continuous basis on the nuclear power project's safety aspects.

Cotton production in the country has more than doubled due to the use of Bt cotton seeds, said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today, batting in favour of the contentious genetically modified crop that is coming under increasing attack from activists and farmers for “stagnant yields, pest resistance and evolution of new pest and disease attacks”. In response to concerns raised in the Rajya Sabha over low yields due to the hybrid cotton seed, Pawar said cotton production had in fact risen from 164 lakh bales in 2004-05 to 340 lakh bales in 2011-12.