Several experts have estimated that keeping in view of the projected increase in population in 2020 to around 1,300 to 1,622 million, the demand for foodgrains in the country will be about 260 to 294 million tonne. This would mean that the foodgrains production should increase by at least 3.5 to 4 million tonne every year for ensuring marginal food security. But Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), has estimated foodgrains requirement in the year 2020 at 375 million tonne for ensuring marginal nutritional security alongwith marginal food security.

Maize shortfall put at 1.5m tonnes

Poor production of maize in the kharif season has hit sectors which use it as raw material. Maize prices which had been ruling below government support prices in the last two years have escalated due to a shortage of the commodity. Industry players say that it was the government's reluctance to procure maize during bumper crop which was responsible for thepresent crisis.

Ministry to tap new areas for cashew

The map of the country's cashew production areas is in for more than cosmetic changes in the next five years, with demand for raw cashew on the rise in the processing and `feni' industry. In a desperate bid to bridge the four-lakh tonne processing-production gap in the cashew sector, the Union agriculture ministry has drawn up a development programme to shift cashew cultivation to the northern parts of the country.

Rubber Board plans futures trading

The Rubber Board is planning to commence futures trade in natural rubber soon. The move is conceived as a long-term strategy aimed at ironing out the wild swings in production and prices and integrate the Indian natural rubber market with global rubbers. The board has also projected a growth of over 800 per cent in exports of natural rubber for this fiscal. Page IV Changes in seed policy urgedThe Association of Seed Industry (ASI), an arm of the National Association of Planting SeedIndustry in India, will approach the Centre for an amendment in the seed development policy of 1988, according to ASI president, Deepak Mullick. He told The Financial Express that the research-based private seed industry will meet the ministry of agriculture with its grievances during the national symposium on seed sector reforms in New Delhi in mid-July.

Meet must stop GURT wounds

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) meets in Montreal this week (June 21-25) and will discuss terminator and traitor technology. Dubbed "GURTs" by the UN, the terminator technology has been studied by an independent panel.

Antwerp Diamond Bank warns industry

Antwerp Diamond Bank has in its annual report sounded a warning that though 1999 has begun well for the diamond market ``its prospects remain mixed and caution is still warranted.''

Canada's gem output to touch 12%

Canada's diamond producing and processingindustry has claimed to be preparing to produce as much as 12 per cent of world's diamonds in Canada by around 2002. As we enter the new millennium, the diamond world is changing where Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT) will be an important part of the new diamond world.

NY gold ends down

Gold weakened in New York and moved back toward the fresh 20-year lows set last week as one of the industry's best-attended annual conferences concluded in London with all but the most steadfast gold bugs glum about the metal. Page V Perils of warehouse receipt system The UNCTAD, the Forward Markets Commission and several major commodity exchanges in the country deserve to be congratulated for organising jointly a workshop on Commodity Financing and Building a Warehouse Receipt System for India on July 11-12, 1999 at Mumbai.

Britain to suspend Iraqi sanctions

After nearly a decade of stringent UN sanctions against Iraq, Britain proposed for the first time to suspend the embargoes if Iraq answeredoutstanding questions on its dangerous weapons. A case for fine chemicals

Fine chemicals are an essential input in products required for meeting the day-to-day basic needs of mankind. They also play an equally important role in other `life science' systems such as animals and plants. They are used in a variety of ways as intermediates, additives and final products.

Private sector players in global body

Private sector players in the cotton industry of some 15 nations, including India, have been roped in for the first time by the Washington-based International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). East India Cotton Association (EICA) president Suresh Kotak has been appointed by the government to represent the Indian cotton industry at the ICAC's Private Sector Advisory Panel (PSAP).

Cotton growers to suffer losses

Cotton growers in the country may suffer substantial losses this season as prices for their produce remain depressed mainly because of a larger crop and possibility of ahuge end-season carryforward stock. Surprisingly, however, this fall in raw material prices does not bring enough cheer to the mill industry, mainly because of low demand for fabrics.