Food shortages loom over south India after floods destroy crop lands, food stocks

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will flag off a Run and Walkathon on October 16 to celebrate World Food Day. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is commemorating World Food Day with the theme, 'India prepares for Commonwealth Games 2010'.

October 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the first Conference of State Ministers of Food Processing Industries here tomorrow.

October 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the first Conference of State Ministers of Food Processing Industries here today.

October 2nd, 2009 Report: Toll in south India floods rises to 102NEW DELHI — At least 35 more people died Friday after flash floods washed away thousands of homes in southern India, pushing the death toll from this week's heavy rains to 102, officials and media said. In worst-hit Karnataka state, floods have destroyed at least 26,000 houses, submerged roads and snapped communication links in many areas.

September 21st, 2009 ROME — Poor crop prospects, conflict and forced migration are likely to push more people into hunger in the Horn of Africa this year, a U.N. agency said Monday.

September 8th, 2009 UN distributes food to West Africa flood victimsOUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The World Food Program has launched emergency operations in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania, distributing food rations to the victims of flooding across West Africa, the U.N. relief agency said Tuesday.

September 2nd, 2009 Study: 1.6 billion face water, food threat in AsiaKATMANDU, Nepal — Effects of climate change including the melting of Himalayan glaciers threaten water and food security for more than 1.6 billion people living in South Asia, according to a study released Wednesday. India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal will be most vulnerable to falling crop yields caused by glacier retreat, floods, droughts and erratic rainfall, said the study financed by the Asian Development Bank.

August 28th, 2009 Millions in Nepal facing hunger as climate changesKATMANDU, Nepal — Millions of people in Nepal face severe food shortages because global climate change has disrupted weather patterns and slashed crop yields in the Himalayan nation, an international aid agency warned Friday. Changing weather patterns have dramatically affected crop production in Nepal, leaving farmers unable to properly feed themselves and pushing them into debt, Oxfam International said in a report released in Katmandu.

August 18th, 2009 GUATEMALA CITY - Thousands of people across Guatemala could face starvation due to a drop in food grain production this year, a report said. Since May, the number of people under the high-risk category has increased 114 percent, a report released Monday by the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security said.

July 21st, 2009 HYDERABAD - The University of Florida (UF) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) have decided to establish a distance education centre in Patancheru near here. A letter of agreement was recently signed by ICRISAT Director General William D.

July 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - Hillary Clinton loves Indian food. On her fourth visit to India, the US Secretary of State made this admission in an interview telecast Saturday on Times Now TV.

May 26th, 2009 NAMKHANA - Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday accused the West Bengal government of having failed to combat Cyclone Aila and said it could not draw up a master plan for floods and erosion despite being in power for 32 years. "The state government has miserably failed to give succour to the cyclone-affected people.

May 9th, 2009 CHENNAI - Admitting that foodgrain prices had remained high even as the inflation rate came down, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Saturday that the common man will have relief soon. 'It is true that the consumer prices of food grains haven't come down when inflation rates came down.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's first mega food park is to come up at Haridwar in Uttarakhand, yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yog Peeth said Friday. The Patanjali Food and Herbal Park will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Food processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai Feb 25, a press statement said.

February 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India will need to ramp up its foodgrain production by almost 40 percent to meet the demand of burgeoning population by 2025, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here Wednesday. Speaking at a global conference on conservation in agriculture, Pawar said the demand for food would increase voraciously with rising population.