The revision of poverty estimates will have a wide and deep impact on our understanding of agriculture and its place in the rural livelihoods circle. The Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty (Planning Commission, November 2009) is now out and it has already shaken up the 'official' figures.

The FAO food price index for December 2009 shows that global food prices are on the ascent again. FAO's Food Price Index monitors and plots the price movements of a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar. The December rise is the fourth straight monthly rises. In its December Food Outlook report FAO said that "market conditions are different from those that triggered the food price crisis that started two years ago" but I think that's an anti-alarmist tack taken by FAO.