World is slowly embracing sustainable, efficient, and localized systems of agriculture. Smart consumers in the US are driving up the demand for organic produce while the farmers in India, who are being pushed towards suicide, are looking back at traditional methods of agriculture. The problem with modern agriculture has been severe in states with water scarcity. Chemical fertilizers poison the land unless enough water is used according to farmers in Madhaya Pradesh. Governmental agencies in India are not trained to give guidance on such matter. This is creating a vicious cycle of high expenses for seeds and fertilizers, low yields, and the soil turning more infertile. Drought is a frequent problem in the Indian sub-continent. The one size fits all farming modernization program is clearly failing a majority of Indian farmers. A sampling of the soil over a three year period in the state of Karnataka shows thatmicro-nutrients rather than regular fertilizers can benefit farmers and can help cut their costs by 50%.

Continue readingSmart! Indian Farmers & American Consumers

Today’s Wall Street Journal article on Philippines says that tens of thousands of protesters turned out there for an anti-corruption rally after the country’s Commission on Audit found that $140 million had been questionably diverted. The story may be worse in India. An estimated 90 lakh, crore Rupees (1800 billion US$) of corruption money has been stashed away in foreign banks in the recent years according to RTI (Right To Information) reports filed by Indian activists. Food aid is an easy breeding ground for corruption. It can still be robbed at gunpoint by governments, criminals, and warlords alike, and sold for a profit. Corrupt officials pocket 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor in Bihar, a state of India, according to a Forbes report from 2007.  The state run Food Corporation of India with its Public Distribution System, consisting of 50,000 fair price shops is notoriously corrupt. According to Inter Press Agency: August 13, 2013 article, 50% of the grain channeled through the PDS is sold in the

Continue readingFood Security in a Kleptocracy?