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Farmers protest across India against Modi’s farm market reforms
New Delhi/Mumbai | Reuters — Farmers’ protests against new laws liberalizing agricultural markets spread across India on Tuesday, as farm organizations called for a nationwide strike after inconclusive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. In eastern and western states, farmers blocked roads and squatted on railway tracks, delaying hordes of people getting to work, […] Read more

High food prices hurting India’s poor
Inflation pain expected to persist for months yet
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s retail inflation may stay elevated for at least three more months after hitting a six-year high in October, as excess rain has damaged standing crops and seedlings, while edible oils that the country imports have become expensive. The high prices are a particular cause of concern for India’s hundreds […] Read more

How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains
Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada
Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more

Pulse import plunge in India to ripple across Canada, Australia
Mumbai | Reuters — Pulse imports to India, the world’s biggest buyer, may fall to their lowest in nearly two decades after the government raised import taxes and restricted overseas purchases to bolster prices, impacting the plans of its global suppliers. The reduction in imports illustrates the government’s steps to raise the prices of pulses, […] Read more

India doubles wheat import tax, imposes 50 per cent tax on peas
New Delhi | Reuters – India has doubled its import tax on wheat to 20 per cent, according to a government order made on Wednesday, as the world’s second biggest producer tries to rein in imports to support local prices. In the last two years India has been importing wheat after local production fell due […] Read more

Pulse crop sales to India dry up over pest-control plan
Winnipeg/Mumbai | Reuters –– Canadian exporters are slowing sales of peas and lentils to India, threatening $1.1 billion in annual trade of the food staples, over risk that New Delhi may reject shipments under its tougher approach to pest control. India requires shippers to fumigate crops with methyl bromide, an insect-killing gas, in the country […] Read more
Scorching heat delays India’s rapeseed sowing
Mumbai / Reuters – Above-normal temperatures have delayed rapeseed sowing in India’s top producing region by more than a fortnight and restricted acreage expansion, even though prices are trading near record highs, industry officials said. The delays are helping support rapeseed prices and could force the world’s biggest edible oil importer to increase overseas purchases of […] Read more

India’s drought a bonanza for Canadian pulse growers
Winnipeg/Mumbai | Reuters — Prices for Canadian pulses typically ease toward the end of the year but a recent dry spell in distant India, the world’s top producer and consumer, is driving them up. Back-to-back drought years for the first time in three decades has eroded India’s output of pulses and boosted imports. Global prices […] Read more
India onion prices fuel food inflation
Onion prices in India hit a two-and-a-half-year high on Wednesday riding a supply squeeze due to last year’s drought in key growing areas, and traders expect prices to spiral up further in a month as demand remains strong due to Ramadan. Onion is a common ingredient in many Indian dishes. Soaring prices of the vegetable […] Read more
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