The food ministry has suggested tweaks in the free food grain plan, including reduction in allocations, after the finance ministry indicated it is not keen on extending the plan beyond November, senior government officials said. Madhya Pradesh has set up a high-powered committee to encourage farmers to bring more area under coarse cereals in the 2020-21 (Jul-Jun) rabi season, an official with the state farm department said. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Price Index was at 100.9 points in October, up 3% on month. The index rose for the fifth straight month. It was nearly 6% higher on year. The average export price of India's 25% broken non-basmati rice fell over 2% from the previous month to $355 per tn during October, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report. The price was also 2% down on year. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation of India resumed open market chana sales in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh after almost a fortnight. The government has so far procured 23.1 mln tn paddy, up nearly 20.1% on year, in the ongoing kharif marketing season started Oct 1, an official release said. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization has scaled down its coarse grain output estimate for 2020-21 to 1,478.3 mln tn from 1,488.4 mln tn as it anticipates lower maize output in the European Union, Ukraine and the US.
Source:-moneycontrol.com