Agriculture Department facing staff crunch

The Karnataka Agriculture Department is facing a 40 per cent staff crunch.  Of the total 9,614 seats sanctioned (under group A, B C, D) only 5,935 seats have been filled.  This shortage is hampering the implementation of various schemes and has increased the workload of the existing officers.  Even as the state is facing drought situation every third year and despite presenting separate agri-budget, the state has failed to tackle this scenario to help farmers and boost the agriculture sector.  “Human resource is a part of the infrastructure.  The officials are responsible for checking spurious seeds and ensuring...

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ADB asks Asia to ease rice trade amid food fears

 Asia should cut rice trade barriers and stabilise prices, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday, as concerns grow of a supply crunch similar to one that led to the 2008 global food crisis. Asians, the world's top rice consumers and producers, bore the brunt as prices of the cereal spiked in 2007-2008 due in part to export limits by producers and panic buying by big importers, the Manila-based bank said. Their governments need to reduce export restrictions, which an ADB study found were to blame for a 149 percent price surge four years ago, said Lourdes Adriano, an agriculture and food...

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Documents show questions raised about failed plant

ATLANTA —  Government officials who approved financing for a failed south Georgia ethanol fuel plant that cost taxpayers at least $75 million did so despite repeated warnings and strong opposition by some of the federal overseers who reviewed the projected. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/OIbiRu) reported Sunday that documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request show the doubts that were surrounding the Range Fuels plant at Soperton, Ga., before it obtained government backing. Located about 80 miles west of Savannah, the Range Fuels operation was proposed to transform wood chips into ethanol fuel, but...

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Anand Agricultural University to help Panchamrut Dairy produce traditional 'khoa' in machines

VADODARA: In a first of its kind MoU between an agriculture university and a co-operative dairy union, Anand Agricultural University (AAU) has joined hands with Panchmahals-based Panchamrut Dairy to provide a standardized mechanism for production of 'khoa' which is used as the base for a variety of Indian sweets. As per the arrangement, the state agriculture university will provide a standard prescription to mechanically produce different varieties of 'khoa' (also known as khoya). For this, the university will conduct research and development trials at the process section of its Business Planning and Development (BPD) unit of Integrated...

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Agriculture federation fears loss of property

Antigonish site includes barns, fenced areas and canteen ANTIGONISH — Dustin Swinkels shook his head in frustration Friday as he explained that his organization has run out of op­tions. “It never should of come to this," the president of the Anti­gonish-Guysborough Federation of Agriculture said, referring to a tax dispute between the Town of Antigonish and Antigonish County over a piece of property the federation rents. “We’ve been trying for the past nine years to get this resolved. This is a property that benefits both the residents of the town and county, and should never have been listed as taxable." On Tuesday, the federation will...

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Collinson: Feeding the growth in agriculture

Patrick Collinson America’s searing summer, which has seen temperatures hit 43C (110F) day after day, has left the once-rich cornfields of the Midwest brown and shrivelled. It is estimated that, in total, 45 per cent of the corn and 35 per cent of the soya bean crop has been destroyed. But some investors have been able to feast on the famine. So far this year the ETF for soya beans is up 44 per cent, wheat is ahead 34 per cent and corn is up 25 per cent. But despite the rise in global food prices, the agricultural funds have had surprisingly weak performance. Allianz RCM Global Agricultural Trends is up just 3.6 per cent over the past...

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