India signs palm oil trade pact with Indonesia India signed an agreement with Indonesia under which New Delhi will supply palm crushing and milling technology in exchange for palm oil and other products. The value of palm crushing and oil mills to be supplied by India would be set off against purchase of palm oil and palm products or any other product to be identified for imports by MMTC. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Crippling virus affects groundnut and sunflower Tobacco Streak Virus is a devastating pathogen, seriously affecting groundnut and sunflower. In groundnut it causes the peanut stem necrosis disease (PSND). The symptoms were observed in Anantpur district of AP during the monsoon season of 2000. The virus causes complete necrosis of the plants unlike the bud necrosis, and it affects almost all varieties of groundnut. Since the disease is seed-borne, farmers should avoid using seeds from infected crops. ICRISAT has developed a package of integrated disease management practices that effectively contained the spread of this cripping scourge. The removal of the pernicious parthenium weed in the vicinity of groundnut crop will greatly help in minimizing the virus infection. Inter-cropping with pearlmillet, sorghum or maize at a rate of one row of cereal crop for every six rows of groundnut will prove to be rewarding in keeping the pathogen at bay. Farmers should not resort to the use of any insecticide to eliminate the vectors, as it may lead to resurgence of the pest and epidemic spread of the infection. Simple and effective biological control of the pests will be the best option. Scientists are making all out efforts to study the virus in detail with help from advanced laboratories in the US, and come out with practical and inexpensive technologies for the benefit of small farmers in the developing countries. (Courtsey: The Hindu) ICAR-ICRISAT research yields results The ICAR-ICRISAT joint research projects will take into account the changing agricultural scenario in the country in the wake of the market-driven economy and focus on evolving short duration varieties of traditional crops, diversification of crops and value addition besides cutting down the cultivation costs. The joint research over the past 15 years led to significant improvements in dry-land agriculture. The research hitherto was focussed on important components of dry-land agriculture as biodiversity evaluation and conservation, biotechnological intervention inn stress tolerance, adaptation and crop improvement, cropping systems research, natural resource management and mutual sharing of information resources. ICRISAT was in the processing of producing transgenic crops for groundnut, pigeon pea, chickpea and sorghum. In the next three years, ICRISAT would be able to introduce them on a commercial scale. The research collaboration between scientists from National Agriculture Research system and ICRISAT helped introduce 120 varieties of different crops. The highlight of the policy advisory committee meeting is the launch of e-library pioneered by ICRISAT. The library would facilitate direct access to bibliographies, abstracts and digital documents consolidated and developed by ICRISAT for the semi-arid tropic regions. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Karnataka’s move: IT for agriculture The Minister of State for Information Technology said that the Government is planning to extend Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) to agriculture with focus on rural economic activities. He said this was for establishing knowledge centres for farmers in the 745 hoblis in the state. These centres would provide information on agriculture-related matters, including price situation, cropping pattern, availability of loans, costs, returns and risks, soil condition, and surface and groundnut. Details of primary health centres and subcentres, and district level hospitals, data reports on projects and rural development schemes, and the functions of the Panchayat Raj, Agricultural and Horticulture departments would also be made available. Ha said the objective was to empower rural people, including children, with the help of ICT. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Centre plans contract farming The centre is all set to introduce the concept of contract farming for cotton form the current financial year. To begin with, it would be tried out on an experiment basis in two states-Andhra Pradesh and Gujrat. Union Textiles Minister said the system would be on the same lines as that adopted in the sugar sector. Ginning units would act as the nodal points, providing quality seeds and other raw materials to the farmers in their catchment areas. The aim of the exercise was to provide remunerative prices for farmers and at the same time ensure that the textile industry got quality cotton. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Government hikes MSP for grains, oilseeds Government increased the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by Rs 10 per quintal to Rs 620 from Rs 610 for the marketing season ‘02-03. Government also raised the MSP for various other agricultural commodities, including grams, rapeseed/mustard and sunflower. MSP for grams has been increased to Rs 1,200 per quintal from the existing level of Rs 1,100 for the same period. For rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and masoor (pulse) the MSP has been fixed at Rs 1,300 a quintal, up from Rs 1,200. The government also increased the issue price of wheat for exports to Rs 4310 per tonne from Rs 4250 per tonne and that of raw rice to Rs 5760 from Rs 5650 per tonne. In case of par-boiled rice for export, the issue price from the central pool has been hiked to Rs 6115 per tonne from Rs 6000 per tonne. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) India to retain membership of world sugar body India will continue to be a member of the International Sugar Agreement (ISA) for its extended period of two years, up to December ’03, in order to enhance its participation in international trade and commerce. The agreement of ’92 is aimed at ensuring enhanced cooperation in world sugar matters and related issues, besides providing for a forum for inter-governmental consultations for exploring ways to improve the global sugar economy. It seeks to facilitate trade by collecting and providing information on the world sugar market and other sweeteners and encourage increased demand for sugar. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Serious viral disease of groundnut During the conference on ‘Serious disease of groundnut’, Director general, ICRISAT, says, the scourge peanut stem necrosis disease (PSND) led to an economic loss of over Rs 300 crores in Anantapur district in 2000. The disease was spreading to important cash crops such as sunflower, watermelon and okra(bhendi). Various strategies for managing Tobacco Streak Virus(TSV), which caused the disease, has been discussed. The virus was spreading through pernicious parthenium weed. A virologist from USA said that novel mechanisms of introducing pest and disease resistance in the crop could be used to avoid the incidence of the scourge. Highlighting the economic importance of the disease and the simple management practices to manage it well, virologist, ICRISAT, said that the virus could be tackled by following an integrated approach to avoid weeds and the insect vector that transmits the virus. He suggested that the farmers should go in for inter-cropping and mixed cropping and avoid the use of insecticides, and crop rotation with sunflower after groundnut. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Focus on agriculture in Exim policy The new Export-Import policy 2002-07 has a special focus on agri-exports with the Commerce and Industry Minister, Murasoli Maran, saying this will help in providing remunerative prices for the country’s farm output. He prefaced the plan for stepping up agri-exports by quoting economists, who say that every 1 % switch in the terms of trade in favour of agriculture will result in diverting about Rs 8,500 Crores annually in favour of agriculture from the non-agriculture sector. “This additional rural purchasing power will create a phenomenal effective demand”. The measures in the Exim policy to free agri-exports from all hindrances include removing export restrictions like registration and packaging requirements on butter, wheat and wheat products, coarse grains, groundnut oil and cashew exports to Russia under rupee debt repayment scheme. In addition, Mr. Maran said the newly created 20 Agri-Export Zones would be assisted in consultation with State Governments for development of necessary infrastructure, flow of credit and other facilities for promoting agri-exports. Transport assistance is proposed to be made available for export of fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, floriculture, poultry, dairy products and products of wheat and rice. This is expected to lead to diversification of agriculture activity. (Courtsey: The Hindu) It’s a bumper grape crop, but farmers are not happy Besides having to cope with natural and manmade calamities, grapes farmers, particularly from the Nashik region have been cheated by upcountry traders to the extent of about Rs 5-10 crore. A bumper crop of 10 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra this year, which is 25% higher than the average annual production of 7 lakh tonnes, has affected their quality, which in turn has affected exports. The violence in Gujrat has placed off-limits a market, which usually absorbs 30-35% of the produce from Maharashtra. Hence, they diverted their produce to northern markets. Traders from that region have made partial payment to farmers, promising the balance later. After taking delivery, these traders have not paid farmers, especially in the Nashik region. Some were paid by cheques, which have bounced. The grape growers from Sangli have concentrated on raisin production this year. Despite higher production of 10 lakh tonnes this season, exports have been lower, at around 2,200-2,300 tonnes, to the Middle East and Europe. It had hoped to export between 2,600-2,700 tonnes this season. Exports were lower due to the poorer quality of grapes, which happens when yield is higher. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Import duty on natural rubber to stay The government said it would continue to impose the 25% import duty on natural rubber to protect the interests of rubber farmers of Kerala. Justifying the imposition of the import duty by drawing a parallel the United States, Mr Maran said, India also has the right to safeguard the interest of its farmers. Stating that 90% of the export consignments had been freed from the requirement of physical verification, he said all quantitative restrictions on exports had also been removed to facilitate exports. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) MPEDA warned against using banned antibiotics in seafood Amidst the growing global concern about the presence of antibiotics in the seafood exported from many Asian countries, the MPEDA has issued an alert to all the players in the seafood sector to not use banned antibiotics on aquafarms. Despite taking an early lead on this issue the country might be identified as “high risk regions” even if a few players ignore the warning. The presence of chloromphenicol group of antibiotics in the seafood exported from a few Asian countries had provoked many importing countries to take action against them. The EU has banned import of seafood from China on this ground. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Orrisa coconut crop ruined by pest attack Hundreds of coconut farmers in Orissa face ruin with a new mite destroying a major portion of their crop, especially in the coastal districts of the state. The eriophyed mite, a microscopic organism, has attacked nearly 200,000 coconut plants over the past three months. This organism makes holes in tender coconuts and destroys them, cracking open the fruits. A farmer says that this summer we noticed the colour of the nut change from green to yellow after flowering. It then stopped growing and withered away. It had lost nearly 70% of plants due to the disease. If not checked immediately, the disease might completely break the backbone of coconut farmers in the state. These farmers had lost most of their coconut trees in the ’99 super cyclone. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Himachal government fixes hops prices to boost production Declining production of hops, used in the beer industry, in HP is expected to get a major boost with the state government announcing a new purchase policy for the crop. Hops, a climber that gives only one crop in a year, is cultivated for the cones borne by the female plant. The ripe cones are used to give a bitter flavour to beer. Hops is cultivated in the high-altitude terrain’s of Lahual valley in the state and some of the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir, but a major part of its requirement is met through imports. Under the new policy, the procurement price for dried hops has been announced in advance for the next three years to enable the tribal farmers to take up hops cultivation in a big way. The purchase price has been fixed at Rs 130 per kg for the ’02 season, Rs 142 per kg for ’03 and Rs 150 for ’04. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) AP smoking Act will hit tobacco growers: ITA The Indian Tobacco Association (ITA) has described as draconian the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Smoking and Health Promotion Act’ which was passed on March 27. ITA has said it welcomed the Supreme Court decision to protect the interests of non-smokers but that the AP legislation had added provisions detrimental to the interests of the industry in general and state’s one lakh tobacco growers and the five lakh farm workers in particular. The AP Act’s ban on the advertising of smoking substances in any place, ITA had observed that this would see a consumer-shift from high-priced and high-quality products to low-priced and low-quality products, thereby affecting purchases of high-quality tobacco from growers. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Karnataka chief minister to discuss creation of coffee fund with Nabard The Karnataka chief minister has agreed to discuss with the Nabard the creation of an income-stabilisation fund for coffee growers, says a press-release issued by the Karnataka Growers Federation (KGF). The setting up of a commodity fund for coffee was in the context of the demand for a price-support mechanism made by a KGF delegation during a meeting with the Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna. He said to have assured the growers that he would also consider their other demands for the abolition of agriculture income tax(AIT) on coffee, the removal of sales-tax for coffee co-operatives like Comark and amendments of section 18(3A) of the AIT and section 15. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Modified vessels set to aid tuna fishing in a big way Tuna long-lining is all set to get a major boost in the country. The Marine Products Export Development Authority(MPEDA) has identified tuna fishing as a focus area. Long-lining involves the use of a long fishing line made of mono-filaments and with several hooks so that each catch can be quite substantial. The thin filament allows operators to use small vessels, thereby cutting down on operational costs. A pilot project being carried out by the Lakshadweep Development Corporation has achieved good results. The corporation had pressed into service one vessel for tuna long-lining in the Indian Ocean. It had tied up with Sanko Bussan Company of Japan for carrying out operations. A few foreign crew members were also assisting the corporation on the vessel. To promote the exploitation of tuna resources, MPEDA would provide a subsidy of 50% of the cost of modification of the vessel. It would also meet 75% of the crew costs and the vessels would be identified by the Association of Indian Fishery Industries. The new, modified vessels would facilitate an additional earning of nearly Rs 1.5 crore over and above the present income, making conversion a viable proposition. Technical viability had already been proved and testing was going on to establish the commercial viability. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Commercial release of Bt cotton approved India opened its doors to genetically modified(GM) crops by granting approval for the commercial release of three varieties of transgenic(Bt) cotton seeds manufactured by the Maharashtra based seed company, Mahyco, in collaboration with the US based multi-national seed company, Monsanto. The approval has been granted on certain conditions for three years- from April 1, 2002 till March 2005. One of the conditions is that the pest-resistant GM cotton seed be labeled as such and the requirements under the Seeds Act be fulfilled. There are no conditions, however, on the labeling of the Bt cotton seed products for domestic use. Only products such as oilcakes meant for export will have to be certified as genetically modified. The three varieties that have been approved are Mech 12, Mech 162, and Mech 184 sown in central and south India. Decision was deferred on Mech 915, the fourth variety, which was under trial in northern parts of the country. The GEAC accepted the economics of Bt cotton, which said the yield would be higher and would fetch Rs 10,000 more per hectare for the farmer over the traditional variety of cotton. The approval was given with the rider that the seed company must ensure refuges between Bt cotton fields as a barrier to pollen flows to non-transgenic crops. For this, it has been made mandatory that 20% of the farmer’s field would be under non-Bt cotton. Five rows of non-Bt cotton would have to be sown along the periphery of every field-within a width of 2.5 to 3.5 meters irrespective of the size of the holding. This implies that small land holdings would not be feasible for Bt cotton. The GEAC decided that monitoring and enforcement would be best done by the State Governments. However, it has been left to the seed company to conduct studies on resistance to bollworm, susceptibility test, and tests for cross-pollination. (Courtsey: The Hindu) After Monsanto, it’s mission India for Aventis Monsanto’s Bt cotton has been approved. Now, global life sciences and agri-tech giant Aventis will be next multinational to seek government’s approval for a genetically modified-seed. The 18-bn euro Aventis, through its Indian arm, ProAgro, is preparing to apply for permission to introduce GM mustard in India. ProAgro already has a license to conduct field trial of its GM mustard seed in India. The ProAgro GM mustard seed will contain soil bacterial genes to dramatically boost yields of this oilseed in India, in collaboration with the Belgian company, PGS. Aventis and PGS already have a joint venture in India, ProAgro PGS India, which is adapting this GM technology for Indian mustard varieties and their commercial sale. Proagro decided to introduce GM mustard in India because the yields of this important oilseed have already reached a plateau and the new seed can raise yields by as much as 30%. Aventis has already become the world’s first producer of GM herbicide-resistant rapeseed. Moreover, with PGS of Belgium already a partner in India, there will be no expensive pay outs for royalty by ProAgro on patented technology once GM mustard becomes commercially available in India. The only other company in India experimenting with GM field crops is the crop sciences and biotech behemoth, Syngenta. However, Syngenta’s work with GM corn here is learnt to be still a while away from commercial applicability. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Krishi Bhavan opposes import of GM soya oil The recent approval of genetically modified soyabean by China after several months of indecision is likely to add a sharp edge to the GM soya oil controversy in India. As things stand, there is no domestic policy on GM foods. The government current position is that it will consider issues on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. A decision on GM soyabean or GM soyabean oil, against this, would mean that the ground rules were being written by precedent for the import of other similar GM foods, experts at the ICAR point out. Firm replies on the GM soyabean issue are still pending, but the agriculture ministry has now sewed up the lining at its end by putting in place restrictions on the import of GM soyabean oil. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Tea industry in changing mode, plans overall revamp The Indian tea industry is changing structurally. Even though the industry is yet to cope up with the new export threshold of 180-185m kg annually, the tea mandarins have realized that there are more teas than is required to feed the sluggishly growing domestic market. The structural change is not only in terms of the market experience, but is also perceptible in the production logistics. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Wheat growers may get higher price for crop Wheat growers would get a higher price for their new crop if an agriculture ministry proposal get the nod from Union Cabinet. The Cabinet decided to bring down the price of grain sold through the public distribution system(PDS) by Rs 100 a quintal for the above poverty line(APL). This facility will be in force for three months and this would reduce the stockline that is currently 58m tonnes. Agricultural minister said , they have recommended a price hike for procurement of wheat in this season and hope the Cabinet will finalise it next week. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Integrated approach for mushroom cultivation sought Lack of an integrated approach towards mushroom cultivation coupled with the absence of cost-effective production techniques have proved to be impediments in the popularity of this safe, healthy, nutritious and wholesome food in the country. Of the 128 types of fruits and vegetables sold daily in the capital, the share of mushrooms is negligible. Deputy manager, Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetable told at a workshop on mushrooms, as everyone who is associated with the cultivation of mushroom-farmers, researchers and marketing is working in isolation, the true motive of its cultivation, which is “nutrition to consumer and income to farmer” is not being achieved, and adding an integrated approach from all concerned is needed He said although the country had the state-of-the-art technology of individual quick freezing which increased the shelf-life of white mushroom by preventing it from turning brown the high cost of refrigeration and transportation have made the export option to even Middle East countries, let alone US and Europe, unviable. Ha also added, technologies should be cost-effective and production should be market-oriented. Speaking on the occasion, Praveen Garg, lecturer, department of botany, Delhi University said, the cultivation of mushroom was a microbiological process which needed the right environment and nutrition to grow at its right reproductive phase. No standardised technique was available in the country to evaluate the quality of mushrooms produced. He said being a highly perishable food item, mushroom required freezing temperatures or at least not above four degree centigrade throughout its journey from the farm to the shop. The lack of infrastructure of this magnitude further constraints its marketing in the country. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Indian tea exports fall to 10.8m kg Indian’s tea exports fell over 13% in ’01 compared to the previous year and has continued the downtrend in January ’02 with a 23% fall over the same month last year, the state-run Tea Board said. Tea exports from India, the world’s largest tea producer, have suffered due to fierce competition from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and lower demand from traditional buyers such as Russia and Britain. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) India needs to liquidate rice stocks Asian rice prices are likely to remain under pressure from India’s efforts to reduce its bulging stocks, traders said. Indian exporters are offering to sell India’s 25% broken grade at around $130 per tonne FOB, cheaper than Thailand’s 4165 for the same grade. India, a major rice exporter, had a stockpile of 25.6m tonnes of rice in January, against a buffer requirement of 8.4m tonnes. India, helped by good rain, is likely to produce 89 to 90m tonnes of rice in the ’02 crop year, compared with 86.3m tonnes in the previous crop. An Indian trader said, India needs to liquidate its stocks as soon as possible to clear its warehouses, otherwise they would face difficulties when more fresh supply arrives in to the market. The Philippines, one of Asia’s largest rice importers, is likely to hold a tender in coming weeks to but 390,000 tonnes of rice, possibly 25% broken grade for May-July shipment. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Agri-exports: Not so peppy Seafood, spices and cashew exports have declined in the first ten months. Serious effort and planning are needed to put things back on track. Exports of major agri-commodities from the south are likely to suffer a setback this year, if the performance for the first ten months is any indication. Exports of products like seafood, spices and cashew is likely to settle at much lower levels than what was achieved last year. Seafood export suffered a major setback and declined 8.4% at Rs 4955.6 crore in the first tem months of the current year from Rs 5411.56 crore achieved during the same period of last year. Decline in prices of cashewnuts was the main reason for the fall in cashew export. Import of raw cashewnuts also registered a steep fall in the first ten months to Rs 609.4 crore from Rs 906.5 crore last year. In quality terms the fall was from 230104 tonnes to 224911 tonnes. One reason for exports of seafood and cashewnuts was the US terror attack in September ’01. As far as spice exports from the country is concerned the export of pepper, which accounted for 13% of the total was pushed down to the third place. The sharpest decline was felt in the case of pepper which fell from Rs 304.4 crore last year to Rs 172.2 crore. Export of spices like cardamom, turmeric, coriander, cumin, celery, fennel, fenugreek, garlic and mint oil have shown a decline in both quantity and value terms. Export of cardamom(large) and other spices have shown an increase only in terms of quality. Sources explained that serious effort is needed to push up export earnings in the new fiscal. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Napalese trade tells India to lift curbs on wheat exports Nepalese industry asked the Indian government to lift restrictions on wheat exports while seeking removal of local taxes imposed by states. The Nepalese industry also raised the issue of imposition of taxes by certain state governments in India as also anti-dumping duty on acrylic fibre. Imposition of taxes on Nepalese goods after the renewal of Indo-Nepalese trade treaty was very unfortunate and had assured the visiting business community that they would soon look into the matter. The delegation asked government to withdraw duties from copper wire, tea and dry ginger among other products. It also asked the government to recognize phyto-sanitary certificates issued by the Nepalese government. The Indian government has imposed quarantine laws on Nepalese agriculture and forestry product imports, no quarantine depots had been established in Nepal. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Seafood trade looks to Exim policy for a turnaround With the Budget largely ignoring its needs, the sluggish seafood exports industry is now hoping the coming Exim policy would throw it a lifeline. Kerala is a major player in the seafood business and has 55 of the European Union approved processing centres in India. The sector has registered a disastrous performance in the current financial year, which ends March 31. The total value of exports also registered a drastic fall from over $5bn in the April-December period of the ‘00-01 to $4.4bn in the corresponding period of the current financial year. The sector hopes the new Exim policy, to be announced March 31, would reduce sales tax, ease curbs on import of fishing vessels and make import of seafood for value addition easier. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Indian rice gets good response in world market Traders sold 150,000 tonnes of rice to Iran, Iraq, Poland and Malaysia in the past three weeks. A Delhi-based firm sold 30,000 tonnes of 5% broken white rice to Iran at $170 per tonne free on board for April shipment. Other local firms sold a further 60,000 tonnes of the same quality rice to Iran at $165-$170 per tonne. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) After EU, Bangladesh curbs entry of Indian cotton yarn It is now Bangladesh, the largest buyer of Indian cotton yarn that is curbing imports, after the EU imposed curbs on Indian cotton bedlinen. The Bangladesh government has recently imposed a ban on import of cotton yarn through the land route on the ground that sales of cotton yarn produced by local spinning mills have been affecting due to smuggling of cotton yarn across the Indian duty of 10% on import of all types of cotton yarn to perfect the domestic industry. Indian textile products have been targeted in recent months for harsh measures by some of its major trading partners undermining the basic tenets of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The restrictive unfair practices adopted by the EU and Bangladesh are seriously affecting exports of textile products from India. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Fruit colour reveals ripening status Some green tomatoes have a rosy future. A sensor that picks up subtle differences in the light the fruits reflect could sort future salads from greens. Many tomatoes are picked green and bathed in repining gas ethylene. Fruit picked too early will never ripen. A scanner that analyses the wavelengths green tomatoes bounce back can predict those that ultimately will ripen, Frederico Hahn of the Centre for investigation of Food, Sinaloa, Mexico, has shown. “Maybe you can find some clues that ripening will happen,” agrees Ian Young who is working on similar detectors at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Like Hahn, fruit sorting company Colour Vision Systems, in Bacchus Marsh, Australia, uses infrared spectroscopy to measure the sugar content of melons and stone fruit. The technology could be adapted for tomatoes, concedes one of their scientists Gary Brown. Some fruit packers already use automatic colour sorters to grade the ripeness of their fruit. Conventional cameras measure red, green and blue wavelengths emitted, and classify the produce before boxing. The United States Department of Agriculture has six official colour classification: green, breaker, turning, pink, light red and red. But to these cameras, one green tomato looks like another. So size, shape and internal appearance are used to judge when a green crop is on the turn. Hahn’s sensor instead measures all wavelengths over a large part of the visible and invisible spectrum. Fruit that never ripen emit more intensely at some infrared wavelengths on day one, he found. The green pigment chlorophyll has a characteristic emission of infrared light that changes during repining, as chlorophyll degrades and red and yellow pigments called carotenoids accumulate. Hahn used these key wavelengths to develop a ripeness predictor. (Courtsey: The Hindu) UP, MP, Rajasthan go ahead with wheat buying Punjab and Harlan appear to have toppled off the wheat map for country’s private sector as companies decide to focus wholly on UP, MP and Rajasthan for procurement this year. Keen to cash in on this profitable trend, MP will double the sales tax on grains and pulses from April 1. A sales tax of four % will be levied on all branded staples like rice sold within MP, and all bulk grains and pulses if they are transported to others states for processing. All the large grain procurement, handling and processing companies, including ITC, Cargill and Congra’s Agro Tech Foods, have decided to concentrate on UP, MP and Rajasthan as these states offer good quality wheat without artificially high prices benchmarked to the MSP. Other players like Hindustan Liver too are expected to follow a similar strategy. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Sugar Fund bill introduced in LS A bill to provide for defraying expenditure to the sugar factories on internal transport and freight charges on export of sugar was introduces in the Lok Sabha by food minister. The Sugar Development Fund bill seeks to amend the Sugar Development Fund Act of ’82. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Government weighs import curbs on GM soya oil Government plans to check imports of genetically modified(GM) soya oil following complaints from local industry of large-scale inflow of the commodity. Soya oil importers may be asked to provide a certificate form the country of origin that the oil is or genetically modified. The vegetable oil industry, which is suffering due to rising imports of GM soya oil, is demanding a check on its imports or a higher customs levy on it to make it unviable. The share of soya oil in the country’s total edible oil importers doubled to 31% in ‘00-01(Nov-Oct) from the previous year, mainly due to lower import levies. Union agriculture Minister said he would hold a meeting with the heads of all states to discuss various issues including that of crop diversification and liberalization of the agriculture sector. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Government exploring grant/credit route to boost grain exports The centre is exploring fresh strategies to strengthen the foodgrain export market, in addition to moving towards more export freedom under the conventional methods. The former, by which the government is set to tap the grant/credit export route to developing countries, is specifically aimed at flattening the long-term export market even while reducing the current overflowing stocks with the FCI. For conventional export avenues, the government has set a target of 50 lakh tonnes of wheat each for ‘00-01 and ‘01-02 from the central pool for export. Of the 51.9 lakh tonnes of wheat made available by the FCI for export since November ’00, 50.3 lakh tonnes were lifted as on March 1, ’02. The tally earned India the seventh rank in the world on wheat exports, with a FE earning of Rs4000 crore. The export price of wheat is revised by the government regularly. It stood at Rs 4250 per tonne from December 1, ’01 to March 31, ’02 up Rs 50 per tonne from the previous period. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Panel finalizes draft Seeds Act A draft Seeds Act of 2001 is being finalized on the basis of the recommendations of Seed Policy Review group. It would replace the existing Seeds Act of 1966 and Seed(Control) Order of 11983. The proposed legislation features establishment of National Seeds Board(NSB) and compulsory registration by the board of any seed for the purpose of sowing or planting. The registration for such new varieties to be granted on the basis of multi-locational trials over a minimum period of three seasons. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) ‘Agri-clinics’ to set by MANAGE National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management(MANAGE) setting up ‘Agri-Clinics’ and ‘Agri-Business’. The scheme has been initiated as part of the Union Agricultural Ministry’s efforts to spread agricultural extension services by tapping “the expertise available in the large pool of agricultural graduates” who would be expected to offer professional extension services to farmers at a price. The project is being run by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with NABARD, which provides soft loans to those who set up these “clinics”. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Agriculture minister asks FM to withdraw urea price hike Ajit Singh, Agriculture minister demanded that the Budget announcement of five % increase in the price of urea be withdrawn. He has also demanded that the customs duty on butter oil import, which was slashed from the earlier 35% to 30% in the Budget, be reconsidered. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Membership seized as firm fails to meet Ipsta quality standard Harmony Spices, has been declared a defaulter by the India Pepper & Spice Trade Association(Ipsta). In a major development, the association has also seized the membership of the company. According to Ipsta, delivery effected by the company was rejected based on quality considerations. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) JK get agriculture export zone status for apple and walnut The Jammu and kashmir government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with the centre for declaring the state as an agriculture export zone for apples and walnuts. Mr. Abdullah said other agriculture products like saffron, maize and basmati would also be brought under the AEZ rule. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Tea Board plans aggressive campaign to recapture Russian market Indian tea imports to Russia plummeted to 75m kg in the year ’01 from 90m kg a year ago, registering a 13% decline, triggering concern among Indian tea exporters to Russia. The Tea Board has planned a number of steps to arrest the downward trend in Indian tea exports to Russia. We are not going to reconcile with the loss of our share in the Russia tea market. We will soon embark on an aggressive campaign to revive the reputation lost by our teas and again back our former position here, said director of Moscow office of the Tea Board. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Goa’s coconut farmers look for alternatives To provide coconut farmers with an alternate source of income in the wake of falling coconut prices, the agriculture department of the Goa agriculture department of the Goa government has drawn up plans to promote the cultivation of patchouli(Pogostemon Cablin Benth) and Bixa orellana. Patchouli is an important ingredient in the manufacture of aftershave, perfumes and pan-masalas. Bixa orellana(acinote in Spanish), a shrub which grows to a height of five to 10 metres, produces reddish-orange heart shaped pods with about 40 to 50 seed in each pod. It find use as a food additive. The department will be sourcing patchouli planting material from the Hosur-based Growmore Biotech, which has propogated the material through tissue culture techniques. In the initial phase, the department has identified 14 farmers to whom planting material has already been distributed. The department has signed up with the Bangalore-based Vigirom Chem for processing and distillation of patchouli oil. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) New processing units in AP for edible oil to reduce duty To take advantage of huge difference in import duty on crude and processed edible oils, and also to enjoy exemption of sales tax on new oil processing plants, there is a rush for establishing new processing units in Andhra Pradesh. The new companies are planning to import crude palm oil(CPO) from countries like Malaysia by paying an import duty of 65 % and convert the same into processed palm oil before marketed in the country. It is estimated that by paying a lesser import duty on crude palm oil, the units can save around Rs 2500 per tonne. And it hardly costs them Rs 500 to process one tonne of crude oil to convert it into processed oil. That means, the units can save up to Rs 2000 per tonne by adopting this style of operation. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) RBI eases repayment norms for agricultural loans The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has relaxed norms related to interest servicing on agricultural loans. The central bank has said that borrowers belonging to this category will not be required to make interest payment on monthly basis. Instead, for these borrowers’ banks can continue with the existing practice of charging or compounding of interest on advances linked to crop seasons. Further, the RBI has said that the application of interest on monthly rest- that is, making interest payment on monthly basis- will be restricted to cash credit and overdraft accounts only. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Freeze sought on support price of wheat The Food and Public Distribution Ministry has sought a freeze on the minimum support price(MSP) of rabi wheat 2002-2003 to be procured for the central pool in view of the huge foodgrain stocks lying with the Government. The Ministry wants the MSP to be frozen at last year’s level of Rs 610 a quintal. However, the Union Agriculture Ministry proposes to marginally raise the support price by about Rs 15 a quintal. This will be a 2.4 % increase over what the Commission of Agriculture Costs and prices has recommended which is to freeze at last year’s level. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Government to aid of cotton ryots AP, Chief minister, today asked the Marketing Department to advance funds to the cotton Corporation of India(CCI) to facilitate early payment to farmers. This amount would be reimbursed by the CCI. (Courtsey: The Hindu) India undercuts neighbours in rice market Asian rice prices are likely to slide in the coming week as Thailand and Vietnam, the world’s top rice exporters, find their bargaining power undermined by supply from India. India is selling rice at very cheap prices, relatively cheaper than rice from Thailand and Vietnam, said one trader. Indian 25% broken grade was quoted steady at $130 per tonne free-on-board(FOB), while Vietnam’s 25% broken grade was offered unchanged at $157 per tonne FOB. India, a major rice exporter, had a stockpile of 25.6m tonnes of rice as of January 1, against a buffer requirement of 8.4m tonnes. In the period from January 1 to March 12, Thailand exported 1.4m tonnes of rice against 1.1m tonnes in the same period last year, figures from the Thai commerce ministry showed. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Government set up panel for grain exports Government announced the setting up of an empowered six-member standing committee on the subject exports of grains and resolving issues relating to it. The standing committee on export of foodgrains, headed by the food secretary, would take fast decisions and interact with the exporters and their representatives bodies. The committee will met on the 10th of every month to discuss matters related to grain exports and additional meetings will be held as and when required. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) SBI to finance grapes project in state The State Bank of India(SBI), Mumbai circle, launched Project Uptech Grapes, covering three districts of western Maharashtra. The three districts of Nashik, Sangli and Solapur account for 1,800 hectare of land under grape cultivation out of the state’s total 35,000 ha. Nashik district alone accounting for 50% of the state’s total. Under Project Uptech Grapes, 25 representative farmers form each district will be selected for the SBI’s impact study. These farmers will get the benefit of technological and other support from SBI which has also roped in the National Research Centre for Grapes(NRC), located at Manjari. Chief general manager SBI, Mumbai told that the financial package of Project Uptech involves giving farmers interest-free loans for up to Rs 1 lakh for a 36 month period and term loans of longer tenure(between 4-10 years) at the bank’s prime lending rate(PLR), currently at 12%. Usually, it lends at 2-2.5% above PLR. He added that the focus is to improve quality of the produce, change agri practices, introduce other varieties of grapes and diversify the export markets. The Project will have a four-year life, which will involve a 30% increase in yield, a 25% increase in shelf life and ensure that 1,000 acres of grapes are grown under organic farming and five new downstream projects come up. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Edible oil imports fall 33% as local supplies flood market Country’s edible oil imports registered a dip of 33% in the first four months of the oil year starting November ’01 from the same period a year earlier due to increased local supplies. Edible oil imports fell to 1.1m tonnes from 11.6m tonnes. Traders said the slowdown in country’s edible oil imports is expected to continue with forecast of a good summer oilseed crop. Traders estimate the country’s summer oilseed output at around 7.5 to eight million tonnes compared with 6.2m tonnes a year ago helped by better rains. (Courtsey: The Economic Times) Basmati firm enters Guinness India’s largest basmati rice exporter, KRBL, has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. The company received the honour as the manufacturers of Al-Wissam Basmati Rice, which was used in the preparation of the world’s largest rice dish, ‘Kabsa’, served to 12,000 guests on February 24, at Manama in Bahrain. (Courtsey: The Hindu) Spice oil exports up 34% Spice oils and oleoresins are emerging as the single largest contributor to the total spice export earnings from the country in the current year pushing down black pepper to the third place. In the first 10 months of the current financial year, the spice oils and oleoresins including mint oil contributed 34% of the total exports. The second largest foreign exchange earner was chilli contributing nearly 17 % of the total earnings while pepper accounted for 13% of the export turnover. Earlier pepper used to contribute nearly 40 % of the total spice export turnover. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Wheat doesn’t find a roof The government has decided that all the wheat procured from this year’s new crop in April will only be stored in the open as there are virtually no godowns available. The FCI expects to procure at least 20m tonnes wheat in the forth-coming season. The problem of where to store new grain has been vexing the government as it is already stocking 60m tonnes across the country. The government had decided to use open storage pr CAP(cover and plinth) system for the new wheat crop coming in April because they would like to save the covered godowns for the new rice crop. This is because wheat is able to withstand open storage without loss in quality, while rice cannot. The cost of open plinth storage is an average 45 paise per square foot per month. To take care of the current stocking problem, the FCI is hiring in open plinths, and to stock the 20m tonnes inn excess of their capacity, they would need 4,000acres of open storage. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Tea Board launches campaign in Israel Tea Board of India has launched a promotion campaign of Indian tea in the Jewish state and plans to hold major events during the current year. India exports more coffee than tea to Israel whose major part of seven million dollar tea imports, is from Sri Lanka. The tea board is also working with leading Israeli restaurants to organize events for tasting of Indian tea as well as the food and snacks that accompany. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Tamil Nadu cell to study WTO effects of Agri exports Tamil Nadu government will set up a WTO cell to study the ramifications of trade liberalization under the aegis of the WTO, especially on the agriculture and textile sectors and small scale industries. The proposed cell, comprising experts from trade, agriculture and academic Institutions, will on a continuos basis, evolve strategies for getting the maximum advantages from WTO in terms of exports and increase in the volume of trade and commerce. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Haryana co-op sugar mills produce more Co-operative sugar mills in Haryana crushed 244.7 lakh quintals of sugarcane and produced 22.8 lakh quintals of sugar till March 7 during the current season as against 223.8 lakh quintals sugarcane crushed and 20.9 lakh quintals sugar produced during the corresponding period of previous year. (courtsey: The Economic Times) 'Silicon city' hosted 6th international conference of AAA The sixth international conference of the Asian Apicultural Association was held in Bangalore, the first time in India. The idea was to increase the size of the apiary sector, and help it make the transition from a small-scale sector activity to a large-scale one. Karnataka’s additional chief secretary and development commissioner, N Viswanathan in his inaugural address said, that the state government plans to introduce a minimum support price(MSP) for honey produced. As a part of our efforts to expand this sector we would be looking at including bee-keeping in our food processing policy. The idea is to bring in more farmers and to help apiary make a transition from a small-scale sector activity to a large- scale one. Kerala for instance alongwith Tamil Nadu accounted for about 20% of the nation’s rubber honey(Honey produced in rubber plantations) production. However, the outbreak of the dreaded ‘Thaisac brood’(TSB) virus saw production slip. Kerala had an annual production of about 1,500 tonnes in ‘91-92 could only produce a tenth of this amount by ‘92-93. By ‘01-02 production had risen to 1,250 tonnes. While production of honey in Kerala declined due to the outbreak of a major disease, there is concern that introduction of new species also takes its toll on local species. A study undertaken by the G B Pant University for instance, had found that the number of Apis Dorsata colonies declined due to the introduction of Apis Mellifera species. However, apiarists like J S Kapoor, MD of Kashmir Apiaries feel that regions like south India have immense potential for honey production. To ensure that yield levels are high, he says that apiarists must look at commercial apiculture, which is highly dependent on migration of bees. According to Prof. L R Verma, typically honey is known in India for its medicinal properties. Efforts must be made to promote honey as an important food product. He suggest that the existence of some kind of institutional support mechanism on the lines of the Gujarat Co-operatives Milk Marketing Federation(GCMMF) would help in this regard. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Poultries told to take a cue from Karnataka milk co-operatives Mr. Sengupta, secretary of Karnataka’s animal husbandry and fisheries department said that there was an urgent need to increase the poultry co-operatives in the state. Currently, the state poultry federation has only 57 co-operatives as members. This was also endorsed by Nabard. With India being a signatory to the WTO, there is a need to become competitive even in the poultry sector. The “high meat” Giriraja poultry variety has proved to be popular in the tribal pockets of the state. The rural sector is not in a position to invest large sums of money. An effort must be made to reduce the input cost and ensure that the return is high which is possible bby mass-breeding the Giriraja variety. Giriraja is an ideal variety of breeding not merely in the state but also India and other parts of south Asia. It is estimated that a full-grown 280-day Giriraja weighs about 3-3.5 kg compared to 1.3-1.5 kg for the usual variety. The Giriraja variety was developed at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Centre to launch cotton tech mission in 3 northern states The Integrated Cotton Development Programme(ICDP) would be implemented in three districts of Haryana and Punjab each and two districts of Rajasthan from the next financial year. The Union secretary(agricultural and cooperation) said that the programme is aimed at protecting the cotton crop, increasing its productivity and improving its quality. The programme would be implemented in Haryana’s districts of Sirsa, Hisar and Fatehabad; Punjab’s Bhatinda, Mansa and Abohar; and Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar. Twenty villages in each district would be covered under the programme. He said farmers needed to be educated on the action required to be taken in case of unseasonal rainfall. They should also be given information on the judicious use of pesticides. The proper plan could be framed under Technology Mission on Cotton(TMC) so that the crop might not suffer loss like in previous year. The need of the hour was to lay stress on improvement of quality and quantity of cotton as the farmers were making a lot of investment in the cultivation of cotton. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Asian rice prices set to fall as India enters market Asian rice prices are expected to fall in the next week as India, faced with bulging grains stocks, sell rice to Africa and Indonesia below Asian offer levels. India’s 25% broken grade was offered at around $130-135 per tonne free-on-board (FOB) cheaper than Vietnam’s $155 for the same grade. India had a stockpile of 25.6m tonnes of rice as of January 1,’02, against the buffer requirement of 8.4m tonnes. India, helped by good rains, is likely to produce 89-90m tonnes of rice in the crop year to June, compared with 86.3 million a year earlier. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Government plans higher PDS allocation price cut to clear grain stocks For giving a big push to the lifting of grains under the public distribution system(PDS), the government has decided to increase the allocation per family and reduce the prices for both below and above the poverty line families. The minister said the offtake from government stocks during current financial year is likely to touch 300 lakh tonnes, but with a record rabi procurement anticipated this year the government is bracing up for keeping the stocks under check. At present government has a grain stock of over Rs 60,000 crore with a carrying cost of Rs 6,000 crore which cannot be sustained in the long run. The minister said that the central pool has 563.4 lakh tonnes foodgrains stock as on February 1, ’02, comprising 261.3 lakh tonnes of rice and 302 lakh tonnes of wheat. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Long winter seen boosting rabi wheat yield by 10 % The prolonged winter being experienced in northern region will be extremely beneficial particularly to the wheat crop and may raise production by 5-10 %. The cold conditions are likely to considerably reduce the possibility of attacks by insects and pests, besides substantially enhancing the prospects of a bumper harvest of rabi crops. Besides standing wheat crop, mustard, oilseeds and pulses will also be benefited greatly by the timely rains. Similarly, intense cold conditions and widespread snowfall on the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh would considerably improve the performance in horticulture sector stepping up production of fruits like apple. (courtsey: The Economic Times) India holds 33% of the world’s wheat stocks, and 25% in rice It costs the Indian taxpayer Rs 8,930 to buy and stock one tonne of wheat and Rs 11,800 to do the same with one tonne of rice. And government will soon be holding one-third of the world’s total wheat stocks and one-fourth of the total rice stocks, all paid for by the taxpayer. The government’s wheat stocks are expected to rise to 47 million tonnes(mt) In April-May after the addition of 20mt of new crop from the farmers, according to the US department of agriculture. The government rice stocks will also reach an all-time high of 30mt by October this year, after procurement of 20mt new crop from the farmers. The global stocks of wheat are pegged at 152mt,while rice stocks are estimated to be 125.9mt at the beginning of the new marketing year, ‘02-03. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Rubber to play crucial role in building bridges There’s new hope for rubber growers. If all goes well, natural rubber will soon find utility in scores of micro dams that are built to generate hydel power across rivers in Kerala and elsewhere in the country. The Steel Industrials Kerala (Silk) has tied up with Austrian company Hydro Construct for building “Rubber dams”, which are considerably cheaper than conventional concrete dams besides being environment-friendly. Rubber dams can also be shifted around when water level in a river drops, provided the site parameters are similar. MD of Silk, said rubber dams could also be used for catchment of water without disturbing the ecological conditions, for power generation through small hydel projects. Hydro Construct claims to have over 25 years’ expertise in the construction of rubber dams and have built these dams in about 60 countries. Rubber dams have proven to be ideal for total water resource management including ground water recharging and flood control, besides hydel power generation. For Kerala, the rubber dams will be of special significance since they can be built on brooks and rivers and also utilizes natural rubber which has been experiencing dull demand in recent times. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Cotton imports to touch 20 lakh bales Textile industry is expected to import around 20 lakh bales of cotton this season despite higher indigenous production estimated at 154.5 lakh bales by the Cotton Advisory Board. During ‘00-01 season ended September ’01 imports were estimated at 22.1 lakh bales and domestic production at 140 lakh bales. This is as against the production of 153.5 lakh bales and imports of 17 lakh bales estimated by the All India Cotton Trade Associations’ conference. The board has estimated a consumption of 150 lakh bales by the mills this season against trade estimate of 145 lakh bales. It has estimated the consumption by small spinners at 12 lakh bales as against trade estimate of nine lakh bales and the non-mill requirement at 12 lakh bales against 11 lakh bales assumed by the trade. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Lower global demand hits wheat exports Wheat exports has been hit by slow sales following large global supplies and slackening demand. Recent sales to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh were of small lots. Traders said there had been no sharp changes in global wheat prices in ‘01-02(July-June) because of large stocks with major exporters such as the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada and the European Union. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Rubber sector disappointed from budget Natural rubber planters were a disappointed lot as their main demand for a hike in customs duty on sheet rubber to 40% was not addressed by the Union Budget. FM proposed to increase the customs duty on natural rubber to 70% that is applied to latex only. The customs duty on natural rubber is at present 25 %. The increase in duty on latex would in no way help the farmers because out of the total volume of natural rubber imports, only a very small portion is imported in the form of latex. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Lower global demand hits wheat exports Wheat exports has been hit by slow sales following large global supplies and slackening demand. Recent sales to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh were of small lots. Traders said there had been no sharp changes in global wheat prices in ‘01-02(July-June) because of large stocks with major exporters such as the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada and the European Union. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Cotton traders take stock of threat from Bt A need for placing cotton economy in general and textile industry in particular on a sound and competitive basis was emphasized at the All India Cotton Trade Associations’ conference organized by the East India Cotton Association. The Speaker dealt on varied subjects ranging from role of Bt cotton to fast track for cotton improvement and further to leading Indian cotton to global competence. Textile secretary S B Mohapatra called upon the industry to produce quality goods at competitive prices and take the advantage of India’s edge in yarn and fibres for expansion of the markets. He stressed the need for availability of cotton to the industry at international prices and also doing away with MSP. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Government to check vanaspati imports from Nepal India and Nepal have finally agreed that only 1,00,000 tonnes vanaspati be imported at zero duty. Anything more will have to pay the peak customs tariff of 30%. The decision, under the new Indo-Nepal Treaty coming into effect from March 6, is expected to put an end to the flood of cheap Nepali vanaspati, which has bottomed out the Indian market and given local brands a sound drubbing over the last two years. Under the existing Indo-Nepal treaty, there is no limit on the quantity of duty-free vanaspati being imported into India, leading to more than two lakh tonnes coming in every year. There is an average price difference of Rs 80/tin between Indian and Nepali. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) Coffee Board seeks a helping hand from banks and FIs Coffee Board chairperson has been in touch with the banks and RBI, in the context of the ongoing agitation by coffee growers for a package of measures to help them tide over the crisis of world prices crashing to historic lows, with a view to seek extension of further relief’s in repayment holiday of loans and interest outstanding so that fresh crop loans can be advanced to the growers without putting them to financial hardship. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) Government allows food subsidy bill Despite a Rs 21,200 crore food subsidy bill and bumper crop in the offing, the government has refused to react to the bulging foodstock. No serious reduction can be expected this fiscal in the food subsidy bill, even though an emphasis on agriculture and food economy reforms from part of the broad strategy of this Budget. The finance minister has himself accepted that the government’s earlier proposal of decentralised procurement doesn’t find any favour with state governments. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) Sugarcane to produce ethanol The government’s decision to make blended fuels attractive to oil companies has raised the sugar industry’s hopes of an imminent increase in ethanol demand in the country. More than 20 sugar mills nation-wide already have installed capacities to produce ethanol. The government has also moved further towards total decontrol of sugar by allowing mills to sell 90% of their production in the open market. Consequently, mills would have to give only 10% of their output to the centre for PDS. The government expects a futures exchange to become operational by November this year. Sugar mills already get soft loans from the Sugar Development Fund to set up ethanol capacities. However, the move towards complete decontrol has not cheered industry sentiment as it was widely expected and, therefore already discounted by the market. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) UP, Punjab policies give food cos a bad taste The two biggest employers in the rural belt- the grains and the sugar industry- appear not excited at the idea of a new political regime in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh The farmer needs a prompt payment and not price increase. The most farmer-friendly policy in UP would be actually to get rid of all controls which forbid a close relationship between farmer and factory and let them both work together profitably. Though there is no expectation of immediate turnaround with a new government, there is however, still a lingering hope that now that polls are over, states would be more amenable to any liberalisation moves announced by the centre in the Budget. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) Food Corporation of India do not have space to store 7mt of wheat The lack of adequate storage capacity is a problem, it is aggravated when there is a bumper crop. Early winter rain has meant a bumper rabi(winter) crop of wheat this year but it also means that according to reliable sources 6.7m tonne(total wheat stock is 30.2m tonne) of wheat is being stored in the open. The spoilage rate on open storage is estimated to be in the range of 15-20%. If this is valued at the ‘economic cost’ of procurement of roughly Rs. 850 per quintal, Rs 570 crore of food-stock is being stored in the open, of which Rs 100 crores is likely to get destroyed. The problem of storing grain is much more acute in the case of wheat than rice. The problem of storing food-grains by agencies like the Food Corporation of India(FCI) is getting increasingly acute as production and procurement far outstrip storage capacity. ( Courtesy: The Economic Times ) Income support scheme may fail to cheer poor farmers With official procurement ratcheting upto 26% of domestic production in the case of wheat, and food subsidy crossing Rs 20,000 crore, the government finds the present agricultural strategy based on procurement at official support prices unsustainable. An alternative favoured by food minister Shanta Kumar is income support to farmers, in place of procurement. But there are many good reasons why income support would prove unworkable. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Food minister hints at sops for oilseed, pulse producers With a view to encourage diversification from rice and wheat production in the agriculture sector while simultaneously tackling the shortage of oilseed production in the country, Food minister hinted at special incentives in the Union budget for oilseed and pulse producers. (courtsey: The Economic Times) New sterile grain system for proper storage Frontlune Agrofoods has introduced a patented process for sterile and insect-free foodgrain. It creates USP for the packaged product in line with the new trend. The loss due to faulty storage practice as well as on rejection of wheat and other foodgrains by the importing countries on quality grounds can be minimized through a new sterile grain system. The equipment is so designed that anyone can immediately package the material or store in bulk in same condition for any amount of time. Its storage and processing capacity is up to 10 tonnes per day comprising mainly 10 chambers of one tonnes capacity each. The operating cost is 60 paise per kg. Whether the insects have been eliminated from each batch or not can be actually verified. (courtsey: The Economic Times) GMO safety certification planned for imported food The government is planning to introduce a GMO safety certification scheme for all food products being imported into the country to ensure correct labeling and protection of consumer health. Armed with this law, the government will thus be able to easily stem the inflow of any food product worrying its War Room, without reneging on India’s WTO customs tariff commitments. The government is also seeking to amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to include GM certification in domestic food quality standards, but this could take another six-eight months. Labs will be set up across the country to enable port health officials, under the ministry of health, to conduct checks for GM content in imported food. China has already introduced strict GMO certification of food imports. (courtsey: The Economic Times) India International Coffee Festival ’02 a roaring success All delegated at the recently concluded India International Coffee Festival ’02 at Bangalore appreciated the quality of Indian coffee. However, the question now is whether sales of our coffee will pick up in the global market. Interesting, at IICF- ’02, foreign delegate stated that the coffee they had sampled was good and wondered why the marketing was not up to the mark. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Looking for substitutes Oil cakes that are available lack nutritional value. To fulfill this requirement, compound feed is an ideal alternative source of nutrition at affordable cost. India has become the world’s largest producer of milk exhibited by the dairy and allied sectors in the country, edible oil refiners and solvent extractors are disappointed by the fact that the off-take of oilcakes for production of feed(notably compound feed) has not been growing rapidly. At present, many farmers in India directly feed their dairy animals with oilcakes which contains around 7-10 % oil content or whole cottonseed, which means not only loss of precious amount of edible oil being wasted but it also represents a hazard for the animals themselves. It is estimated that of the 10 million tonnes of oilcakes about seven million tonnes are used for direct feeding. Sanjay Bajoria, chairman of the All-India Cottonseed Crushers’ Association said that India could leverage on the fact that it was one of the largest producers of cotton. With advancement in animal nutrition, compound feed is the way forward. The association believes that compound feed would help meet the nutritional requirements at an affordable cost. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Crisis in plantation sector According to members of the Association of Planters of Kerala, the planters in the state want a more realistic and affordable wage bill. The wages should be renegotiated with the labour unions, or else they would result in closure of plantation companies. The plantations in the south have been facing a sharp drop in the prices of most of the crops like coffee, tea, rubber, pepper etc. Despite a phenomenal increase in the yield in these plantation crops, the operations have become almost unviable because of the rise in cost of production. Almost 60 % of the cost of production in plantation sector is the wage component. The planters appealed to the government that there is a need to enlarge the definition of ‘Plantations’ to include crops like cashew, vanilla, medicinal plants, agro-forestry etc. so as to facilitate cultivation of alternate crops in the lands held by plantations. Apart from ensuring affordable wages, they insisted on adoption of productivity norms so as to be competitive with producers elsewhere. (courtsey: The Economic Times) 6th Asian Apicultural association International conference to be held in Bangalore India’s first ever international apiculture conference (The sixth Asian Apicultural Association (6th AAA) International conference), organised by the city-based NGO Century Foundation which aims to promote study, research and training in ecology and life sciences is going to held in Bangalore, an vital floriculture producing centre. The meeting assumes significance in that the “Silicon city” is hosting in India. As a part of the conference they will also be organising “World Apiexpo-2002” - a commercial exhibition and trade fair. The AAA conference is a platform which brings together experts, breeders, scientists and researchers. Delegates from Asia and countries like Portugal, Nigeria and the USA attend the conference. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Government to reform crop data collection, dissemination Government will look into the ways and means for upgrasation of quality of data generated and reducing the time involved for the data to reach the final-use points. It will consider bringing more crops under the comprehensive scheme for calculating the cost of cultivation and putting the non-sensitive agriculture data in the public domain. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Karnataka govt weighs tax-waiver for coffee growers. Karnataka government has promised to consider a demand by coffee growers for a waiver on state taxes on the commodity if cultivator’s price-realisations do not improve. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Grain output pegged below target Country’s Foodgrain output this year is estimated to stay put at the ‘99-00 levels of 209.8m tonnes on account of the ensuing rabi production falling short of the target by over seven million tonnes and the prevailing drought in AP & MP. As a result the overall foodgrain output will fall short of the targeted 218 mt by at least nine million tonnes and in the third estimate in April may even be scaled down to 205 million tonnes. According to the second advance estimate released the rabi crop estimate is at only 100.7m tonnes against a targeted 107.9m tonnes. The estimate in fact is around the ‘98-99 levels and even lower than the actual output of 104.3m tonnes in ‘99-00. But figure for the kharif season has been hiked to 108.5m tonnes compared to the September estimate of 105.6m tonnes. This includes the hike in Kharif rice estimated at 78.7m tonnes from 76.4m tonnes pegged in September ’01. Wheat output this year is pegged at 73.1m tonnes, higher than the previous year’s 68.8m tonnes but way below the targeted 78m tonnes. This was because this year’s acreage at 257.6 lakh hectares was much lower than the normal area of 272 lakh hectares. Due to deficient rains during the monsoon season acreage for wheat crop is much less than normal in MP & Rajasthan. For oilseeds, the second estimate for kharif has been upped to 13.1 m tonnes against 12.5m tonnes estimated in September. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Tea exports drop 13% in ’01 on year-on-year Country’s tea exports fell over 13 % on a year-on-year basis in ’01 , The Tea Board said . Tea exports fell to 179.8m kg in ’01 compared with 206.8m kg in the year-ago period. Tea exports from India, the world’s largest tea producer, have suffered due to fierce competition from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and lower demand from traditional buyers such as Russia and Britain. Tea production at 853.7m kg in’01 was up marginally from 846.5m kg in’00. (courtsey: The Economic Times) For desi growers speciality coffee news is both good & bad The good news for India’s speciality coffee growers, is that India
has some fine coffees, has the advantage of communicating in English, of expertise in
information technology and of being closer to Europe than to the USA. The bad news, is
that for some strange reason, India has not used its marketing skills to successfully
penetrate the European coffee market’s fastest growing segment of speciality coffees. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Best coffee growers Three magnificent trophies were presented to India’s best growers of Arabica, Robusta and Speciality coffee, respectively, on Feb 17 as the final of the India International Coffee Conference in Bangalore. (coursey: The Economic Times) On a coconut trail Recently, the technology mission on coconut has been launched to make coconut farming competitive and ensure reasonable returns. It underlines the need for concerted effort to improve productivity, and diversification of coconut and coconut-based products. India is the largest grower in world producing 12.3 billion nuts in an area of 1.8 million hectares with a productivity of 6,892 nuts per hectare. The crop contributes nearly Rs. 7,000 crore annually to the GDP and earns foreign exchange of Rs. 340 crore. It grows in 17 states and three Union territories of the country and ensures livelihood for 10 million people. The technology mission on coconut announced by the Prime Minister last year during his sojourn in kerala, have been finalised and approved by the Central government recently. The objectives of the mission delineated in the guidelines include: a) to establish convergence and synergy among ongoing governmental programmes in order to bring about horizontal and vertical integration, b) ensure appropriate and timely attention to production, post harvest and consumption chain, c)maximize economic benefits from the existing investment and infrastructure, d) promote diversification and value addition, e) disseminate technologies using participatory approach. The focus areas include R&D; capacity building; infrastructure development; integrated pest and disease management; quality, quantity and productivity improvement, facilitating credit availability; ecologically sustainable schemes, post-harvest processing, product diversification and value-addition and agri-bussiness. The steering committee is headed by special secretary(agriculture & co-operation), ministry of agriculture, having horticulture secretary as the member secretary. The chairman of the Coconut Development Board will act as the mission director and the programme will be implemented by Coconut Development Board through identified agencies. Financial assistance will be available for development and adoption of technologies for management of insect pests and disease limited to Rs. 35 lakh will be given for NGOs and farmers. (courtsey: The Economic Times) Coffee exporters regrets delay in transport subsidy The 50 paise a kg transport subsidy being offered on coffee export shipments for the last three months of this financial year, end up not really fulfilling the purpose with which it was started – namely alleviating the plight of the country’s coffee cultivators, of whom over 98 % are small growers and bear the burnt of the steep fall in world prices over the last 12 months. (courtsey:The Economic Times) Winter rains likely to give a 20% boost to rabi yields The recent rains in northern states are expected to boost rabi yield in the northern region by up to 20%. The snowfall on the higher reaches of HP would improve the performance in horticulture sector, stepping up production of fruits like apple. The rains will be very good for crops like wheat, mustard, gram, sugarcane and oilseeds. Rains coupled with cold conditions would also considerably reduce the possibility of attacks by insects, says scientists and experts. ( Courtsey: The Economic Times) Agri-income from genetically modified seeds may be taxed The Government is considering amending the definition of ‘agricultural income’ in the Income-Tax Act by adding a provision to exclude the income of companies, including multinationals, earned by developing and growing hybrid(particularly genetically modified) seeds, for commercial sale. The aim is to ensure that the income of such companies does not escape taxation by being classified as agricultural income. Currently, the revenue department and several such companies are locked in litigation over this issue. Revenue officials insist that such income cannot be exempted from tax as being "agricultural income". But the companies continue to claim this exemption. With the entry of a large number of multinationals into the agricultural seeds business in the country, this issue has become extremely important. ( Courtsey: The Economic Times) Panel to fix minimum export price for brown basmati. The newly-launched price advisory committee for basmati is likely to operate as thinly-disguised cartel under government aegis as Apeda(Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) asks major six exporters to EU to help determine minimum export price. Hindustan Lever, United Rice-land, Bush Foods, Amira Foods, Picric and LT Overseas are now part of a permanent committee set up by Apeda to fix the minimum price, which will be advised to all companies exporting brown basmati. According to Apeda’s circular, any company not complying with the price advisory panel will be refused registration, at the sole discretion of the chairman, price advisory committee. Apeda claims that the objective of the price-fixing mechanism is to ensure an appropriate standard. (The Economic Times) New twist to basmati row as one British Co. buys trademark for rice DAWAAT, flagship basmati brand of LT Overseas, will be unable to enter the European market after a British company registers the trademark for rice. The acquisition underlines once again the feeble ability of Indian food companies to build and protect their intellectual property internationally Lt Overseas has been announcing aggressive plans for Daawat in the last few months. But the trademark was registered by AI trading in UK three months ago after Europeon courts decided LT Overseas had put up an ineffective ship opposition. Though the loss of flagship brands is usually worrying, LT overseas says it is unfazed because in Europe it is anyway only selling brown Basmati in bulk to private labels. ( Courtsey: The Economic Times) Grapes no longer sour for AP farmers In a bid to cash in on the growing demand for their grapes from all over the world, particularly Europe and South East Asia, farmers in Andhra Pradesh in a unique exercise have decided to launch a collective brand ‘Hyderabad Grapes’. The brand is to be formally announced this week to mark the beginning of the export season. The growers feel that having their own brand name will certainly help them in consolidating and expanding their base in the highly competitive overseas market. Incidentally, it is for the first time that such a brand name is being jointly promoted for an export commodity in the state. Thanks to increased number of orders, over 11,000 tonnes of grapes are set to be exported during this season, mostly of Thomson and Sharath Seedless varieties, as against 400 tonnes of grapes exported last season. The growers began growing grapes that conform to the stringent standards in relation to size, colour and taste, and exporting the same. As a result, the exports that were negligible in ’87(less than 50 tonnes) touched 400 tonnes mark last year, and are all set to go up to more than 1,000 tonnes during this season. ( Courtsey: The Economic Times) Bangladesh, Vietnam buy 41,000 tonnes Indian wheat. India sold 41,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh and Vietnam in separate deals last week, an official of state-run trading firm has said. "The first shipment to Bangladesh witth 15,000 tonnes of wheat left on Sunday," the official said. India resumed wheat exports last October after a gap of about three years. Since then it has contracted for exports of about 4.2m tonnes of wheat, of which about 3.7m tonnes have been shipped. It set an export target of five million tonnes of wheat for ‘01-02 (April- March). Last week the government decided to lift quantity curbs and allow free exports of wheat. (courtsey: The Economic Times) |