Morarka Foundation will Develop Organic Agriculture in Saudi Arabia

In the continued pursuit towards providing the most revolutionary service, India's biggest name Organic agriculture Morarka Foundation has signed up a deal with GTZ Saudi Arabia (The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit ) to develop organic Agriculture in Saudi Arab. GTZ, is represented by Dr. Marco Hartmann, Team Leader, Executive Project Manager, Organic Farming Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), jointly with Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Morarka Foundation has also motivated GTZ to participate in the BIO-FACH in Mumbai. Which is a Country specific international trade fair in USA,Brazil,Japan,China and India.It is being organized by Nurenberg Messe Company of Germany. This is second Biofach in India. GTZ has take 4 stalls along with Morarka Foundation who have taken 6 stalls in the exhibition. Saudi Arab will also launch their Organic logo and they are also co organizers of organic food along with the morarka foundation. The delegation consisting of 20 Progressive Farmers & 10 Senior Officials of Agriculture Ministry under the Leadership of Dr. Saad Abdullah Khalil, Head, Organic Agriculture Department, Ministry of Agriculture, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be visiting the various Certified Organic Farms at Bhuj, where Morarka Foundation is working since the earthquake of 2002. After Participating in the Bio Fach this delegation will be visiting farm lands of Rajasthan. According to Mr Mukesh Gupta (Executive Director, Morarka Foundation) "Morarka Foundation a leading & premier organization internationally in the area of Organic Agriculture is pleased to inform that the Agriculture Ministry of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has identified Morarka Foundation as resource organization for technology transfer. Morarka Foundation is already providing technology to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand & Australia. It is a matter of great pride not only for Rajasthan but for the country whole that our technology of Organic Farming is also accepted overseas. " "The overall objective of this Tie up is to develop a state-of-the-art organic sector in production, marketing and certification to satisfy consumer demands for healthy organic food. It also aims to offer farmers and producers opportunities within domestic and export markets to keep up with worldwide food production quality trends." Said Dr. Marco Hartmann, GTZ

India can easily export 1 mt sugar if output reaches 24.5 mt

India, the world's second biggest sugar producer but largest consumer, can export up to one million tonnes of sweetener provided the country's output touches the targeted 24.5 million tonnes this year. “Even at 24.5 million tonnes of production, we can easily export 0.5-1 million tonnes under the open general licence (OGL)," a senior government official said told reporters today. If the country's sugar output by the month-end reaches five million tonnes, it will help the government to take the call on regularising exports, the official said. Due to unseasonal rain in key cane growing regions, cane crushing activity has delayed, the official added. The government has banned unrestricted exports of sugar under OGL since February 2009 in the wake of a fall in sugar output in 2008-09 crop year. Recently, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the government will review the sugar production situation in the 2010-11 crop year (October-September) by the end of this month before deciding to permit exports. "I will take the review of the production report (sugar) in the third week of December and then will take a decision (on exports)," Pawar had said. The Food Ministry has pegged country's sugar production in the 2010-11 sugar year (October-September) at 24.5 million tonnes against the domestic demand of 22.5-23 million tonnes. After a gap of two seasons, the country's sugar production is estimated to be higher than domestic demand this year. In 2008-09 and 2009-10, India's sugar production stood at 14.7 million tonnes and 19 million tonnes, respectively. The government recently allowed the export of about 1 million tonnes of sugar through the Advance License Scheme (ALS), under which mills are required to meet an equivalent export obligation by March, 2011. Sugar mills imported over 2 million tonnes of sugar between 2004 and 2008 through the ALS to make up for the shortage in domestic production.

Jute mills losing Rs 1000 per tonne on faulty calculation

The jute mills in West Bengal are losing Rs 900-1000 per tonne on jute bags owing to a faulty calculation made by the Jute Commissioner's office. The mill owners have claimed that between July 2009 and August 2010, the industry has lost around Rs 42 crore. The mill owners have alleged that they are being forced to buy low grade jute at high price and sell the manufactured jute bags to the government at low prices because of a faulty calculation being made by the Jute Commissioner's (JC's) office. The JC office fixes the price of B Twill jute bags meant for Govt. purchase based on the average of three months' price quoted by the Jute Balers Association (JBA), a private raw jute agency and significant body in Kolkata. While the raw jute prices quoted by JBA are shown as low, in actual practice, the jute mills are buying the fiber at higher prices from the market. A number of jute mills in West Bengal have joined hands to take up the issue with the JC office. “The jute mill owners are suffering because of this faulty calculation of the JC's office”, said a mill owner on condition of anonymity. The mill owners are purchasing the lower grade raw jute with a 21 -25 per cent moisture content at a higher price of around Rs 36000 tonne from the market. But, they are forced to sell the manufactured jute bags to the government at a lower price as the JC office is making its calculation on the price of jute bags based on the average three months' price of raw jute taken at Rs 35000 per tonne and that too with a lower moisture content of 18 per cent. “The government is now purchasing jute bags at a price of Rs 55350 per tonne while it should be purchasing that at around Rs 56350 per tonne”, said an official of the Indian Jute Mills' Association (IJMA). The industry has been demanding a fair and justified price for a long time based on the latest recommendation of the Tariff Commission (TC) Report of June 2009 and this would to a very small extent offset a portion of that loss. The Union government has scrapped the TC Report because of identified discrepancies and anomalies and is making a fresh study. The industry claims that in the past eight years, it has lost Rs 1200 crore as it has been denied a fair and justified price on jute bags from 2001. The last TC Report was of 2001 and expired in 2003. The mill owners are mulling to move court soon against the Centre's decision to scrap the TC report. It may be noted that 35-40 per cent of the total jute bags produced in the country is purchased by the government through different state procurement agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) for food grain and sugar packaging in every agriculture season as per the Jute Packaging Materials Act (JPMA) of 1987.

India Cotton Output May Miss Estimate, Reduce Exports

Cotton output in India, the world’s second-biggest grower and exporter, may miss an earlier estimate because of unseasonal rainfall in the main producing regions, a textile mills group said. Output in the year started Oct. 1 may be 29.5 million to 30 million bales of 170 kilograms each, compared with 32.5 million bales estimated by the Cotton Advisory Board, D.K. Nair, secretary general of the Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry, said in a phone interview from New Delhi. A lower crop may prompt India to retain restrictions on exports, bolstering global prices that have rallied 72 percent this year. Cotton reached $1.5195 on Nov. 10, the highest price since trading began 140 years ago, as adverse weather damaged crops in China, Pakistan and the U.S. “There’s a near-consensus that the crop will be below 30 million bales this year after the unseasonal rains and floods in some areas,” Nair said. “A lower crop should prompt a review of the surplus availability and the export strategy.” India’s textiles ministry Oct. 11 halted registration of new export contracts after it got applications to ship 5.5 million bales, the maximum permissible this year. Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the top trader of cotton, and Cargill Inc. are among companies that won permits. There may not be more than 3 million bales available for export as rains last month in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the biggest growers, damaged crops, Nair said. Shipments may total 2.5 million bales, less than 5.24 million bales permitted by the Textiles Ministry for export by Dec. 15, Nair said. The South Asian nation, a major supplier of cotton to China, will cap shipments of yarn at 720,000 metric tons in the year started Oct. 1 to bolster domestic supplies, the government said last week. “There has to be some predictability about government policy related to cotton,” Nair said. “Any review of export policy should be based on actual crop size.” Futures for March delivery fell 1.7 percent to $1.3002 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York today. The commodity is set for its biggest annual gain since 1973, according to Bloomberg data. Demand in China is forecast to outpace supply by 17 million bales in the year ending July 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast on Nov. 9. Stockpiles in the U.S. are predicted to fall to 2.2 million bales this season, down 25 percent from 2.95 million last year. A bale in the U.S. weighs about 480 pounds, or 218 kilograms. “Global availability isn’t likely to improve anytime soon and that may be seen as supportive for prices,” Nair said. “But prices have reached a peak where consumer resistance will come into play,” he said. Cotton arrivals in India this year have lagged behind last year’s levels after rain slowed harvests in the main growing region. Arrivals were 7.02 million bales by Dec. 5, compared with 7.21 million a year ago, Cotton Corp. of India said. India’s post-monsoon rainfall in October and November was 17 percent higher than the level deemed normal for that time of the year, according to the weather department.

Karuturi Global Ltd to buy 54 per cent in Florista India Pvt Ltd

In a bid to expand its business and offering in India, Karuturi Global Limited is to buy a 54 per cent stake in Florista India Private Limited. Florista India Private Limited is a chain of floral designing boutique stores across India. However, the deal was undertaken for an undisclosed amount. Karuturi reiterated that it plans to merge the Florista with its own flower retailing business ‘Flower Xpress’. As it is, Florista has 15 stores, including franchisee outlets and an online shop providing worldwide delivery in collaboration with other retailers. Flowers Xpress has 4 outlets in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The firm intends to grow the merged retail network in India to over 100 stores in two years. Its revenues after this acquisition are expected improve. Karuturi’s Flower Xpress has a turnover of around Rs 10 crore. Karuturi Global derives 95 per cent of its Rs 532 crore revenues from rose exports and the rest from producing other agri-commodities such as cereals and gerkins and retail operations. The firm plans to increase its revenue from agriculture. It had had leased around 311,700 hectares of land in Ethiopia and will start agricultural cultivation in a phased manner. It plans to grow crops like cereals, sugar and palm for future exports. Karuturi Global expects Rs 80 crore revenue from its agricultural business during this fiscal. Karuturi recently raised $16mn from IL&FS Tara India Fund III and plans to raise around $100mn more for expansion. Florista operates two formats, a standalone store and a quick service kiosk. It has around 8 store and 7 kiosks, of which it owns the Lower Parel store and two kiosks, rest being franchised. Florista does provide customs services for occasions such as birthdays, weddings and parties. To corporate, it provides flower arrangement contracts at lobbies, receptions and conference rooms apart from occasion based services. Karuturi Global is a world leader in production of cut roses with operations spread across Ethiopia, Kenya and India. With an area of over 239 hectares under Greenhouse cultivation, the firm annually produces around 555 million stems of quality cut roses, essentially for exports to high-value markets. It has identified agribusiness as its next prime growth domain. Karuturi has taken up cultivation in Ethiopia on a mega scale to become a key player in the global agro-products market. Its other business interests include food processing, floriculture retailing, and information technology.

Farm sector grows 3.8% in H1, 2010-11

India's agriculture and allied sector grew by 3.8 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal, against one per cent in the year-ago period on the back of better Kharif crop output. According to the GDP data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today, the country's farm sector grew by 2.5 per cent and 4.4 per cent each in the first two quarters of the current fiscal, against 1.9 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively, in the same period last year. "Apart from production of Kharif crops, the growth in 'agriculture, forestry and fishing' estimates of GDP in the second quarter are based on the anticipated production of fruits, vegetables and other crops, livestock products, forestry and fisheries, which show growth in the range of 3-4 per cent," the official release said. In 2009-10 fiscal, the agriculture sector recorded its lowest growth in five years, at 0.1 per cent, due to widespread drought across the country. The sector had grown by 1.6 per cent in the previous fiscal. The government has set a target of 4 per cent farm growth per annum in the 11th Five Year Plan period (2007-12). According to the first advance estimate released by the Agriculture Ministry, overall foodgrains output in the 2010-11 Kharif season is pegged higher at 114.63 million tonnes, as compared to 103.84 million tonnes in the year-ago period. Rice output is estimated at 80.41 million tonnes in the current Kharif season, against 75.91 million tonnes in year-ago period. Similarly, pulses output is estimated to improve to 0.76 million tonnes from 0.46 million tonnes, while oilseeds production is seen also forecast at 17.27 million tonnes against 15.66 million tonnes.

AP introduces bill to regulate MFIs

For the first time in the country, Andhra Pradesh has come up with a bill to regulate Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) which are under scanner for allegedly imposing exorbitant interest rates and coercive loan recovery methods. The bill, which will replace an ordinance promulgated in October, was tabled in the state Assembly today by Legislative Affairs Minister D Sreedhar Babu. Significantly, no amendments have been suggested to the ordinance which is being strongly opposed by MFIs. The MFIs say the new norms envisaged in the ordinance for registration, loan disbursal and collections would make it very difficult for them to operate. The legislation, if passed without any amendments, would spell doom for the microfinance industry, warned Mi rofinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory body of 44 top micro lenders. AP is the largest market for MFIs accounting for one-third of the total lending in the country with over 65 lakh borrowers. The AP Micro Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Bill is expected to come up for debate in the House on Tuesday. Going by the political mood in the state, it is likely to be passed without any changes. The legislation comes in the backdrop of a spate of suicides by rural borrowers, a majority of them women, due to unbearably high interest rates and the alleged coercive practices of MFI agents. The bill seeks to curb their “unlawful activities” and enforce discipline in lending. As per the legislation, the total interest payments should not exceed the principal loan amount. It also envisages stringent punishment, including imprisonment up to three years, for using coercing methods. The registration of MFIs has been made compulsory while collections should be done once a month instead of the present practice of weekly collections. The MFIs pointed out that the ordinance, issued on October 15, had hit their operations very hard. “As a result of the restrictions, the collections have fallen to 20 per cent from 95 per cent earlier. We could not disburse loans worth Rs 1,200 crore to an estimated 12 lakh rural women. The ordinance has had a devastating impact on access to finance for poor and low income households,” the MFIN President Vijay Mahajan said. The MFIN wants the government to wait for the report of YH Malegam committee, constituted by RBI to look into the Microfinance lending process, before passing the legislation. “There are some rogue MFIs who are bringing discredit to the entire sector. They should be punished. But, you cannot paint all the companies with the same brush,” said Vikram Akula, the founder of India’s largest MFI, SKS Microfinance

Himachal farmers kill monkeys to save crop

Ignoring criticism by animal lovers, farmers in Himachal Pradesh have killed over 50 monkeys in the past two days to save their crops, a member of a peasants' group said Sunday. The Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (KBSS), a farmers' outfit that took the initiative to motivate farmers take up guns against wild animals, said that 'Operation Monkey' would continue despite criticism from animal protection groups. 'Since the start of drive (Dec 10) against the menace of wild animals, especially the monkeys, we have reports that the farmers across the state have shot dead more than 50 monkeys,' KBSS state convenor Kuldeep Singh Tanwar told. He said the monkeys were mainly killed in Shimla, Sirmaur and Hamirpur districts. Contrary to Tanwar's claims, state Chief Wildlife Warden A.K. Gulati said: 'We have reports that only one or two monkeys have been shot dead in the past few days.' 'It's a routine killing as the government authorised the farmers to selectively kill monkeys, wild boars and blue bulls in case they are destroying their crops,' he said. He said any farmer in the state could get the permission from the wildlife department to kill animals threatening the crop. He said the farmers under the banner of KBSS have procured about 300 permits to kill animals. 'Permission has only been given to shoot animals in fields. Our range officers are monitoring the killings. There would be selective killing. The aim is to shoo away the animals from fields,' Gulati added. KBSS state secretary J.N. Sharma said the drive against the wild animal menace would continue till Dec 23. On criticism by the animal protection groups for the unscientific killing of the animals, he retorted: 'Ask these animal protection groups where were they when these animals were destroying our crops.' Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal informed the state assembly last week that the monkey menace had reached alarming proportions and that the government had authorised the chief wildlife warden to allow the hunting of simians along with wild boars and blue bulls. According to the wildlife wing's estimates, over 900,000 farmers mainly in Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Una, Mandi and Kangra districts were affected by wild animals. Monkeys, numbering over 300,000, mainly target cereal and fruit crops, causing extensive damage. R.S. Negi, chairman of animal protection group Nature Watch India, said: 'There is neither any record of the animals being killed by the permit holders nor their carcasses being deposited with the forest officials.' 'The females and their offspring are all being randomly chased and killed deep inside the forests. In some cases the injured animals are left to die a torturous death. Such inhuman acts should be stopped,' said Negi. Agriculture is the main occupation of the people in the state, providing direct employment to 69 percent of its workforce.

Agriculture roadmap for Bihar formulated: Nitish Kumar

Stressing the need for boosting agriculture output to attain the long-cherished dream of a developed Bihar by 2015, chief minister Nitish Kumar today said his government had formulated an agricultural roadmap for the purpose. "We have laid stress on boosting the agriculture output to attain the long-cherished dream of a developed Bihar by 2015... we have formulated an agriculture roadmap for the purpose," Kumar said while inaugurating an agriculture fair at the Veterinary College campus here. He informed that the roadmap for developing the agriculture sector was evolved by scientists and experts and had already been approved by the Kisan Panchayat. "The specific thrust is to boost the production of food grains as the state has to reap the benefits of the green revolution," he said. Kumar said "the agriculture roadmap will not not only ensure quality seeds to farmers, but also tremendously boost the much-required production through indigenous and scientific methods." "Our objective is to see that there is a food item from Bihar very platter of Indian," he said. Expressing concern over recurring drought affecting the people in Bihar during the past two years, he said the state government had engaged scientists and experts to find out ways to tackle the problem.Turning to corruption, Kumar said his government was firm in its resolve to weed out corruption. "We have to ensure that the state takes a lead on the issue of corruption in the country," he said, adding an initiative to this effect had already been set in motion.

Ethiopia invites farmers from region

Claiming that there is a lot of scope for trade and investment in Ethiopia, Mehreteab Mulugeta, Minister Councilor (II), Economic and Business, Ethiopia, said participation in the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) 2010 had been fruitful as they had been able to work out the possibilities and opportunities of enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries — “especially the northern India and particularly Punjab and Haryana”. Speaking to the media here, Mulugeta said Punjab and Haryana being agrarian states Ethiopia was looking forward to benefit from their expertise in agricultural techniques and the latest technology being used here. Ethiopia, he said, had lots of opportunities in agriculture. “It has a lot of surplus land available for agriculture and the Ethiopian government provides with many facilities to the Indian farmers going there. The government has established a land bank under the agriculture ministry. A total of 1.7 million hectares have been reserved under this policy for foreign direct investment,” he said. This land, Mulugeta said, was given on a lease for 25 to 45 years. Anybody investing in Ethiopia is facilitated with a seven-year tax holiday. Moreover, he said, investors exporting 75 per cent of their produce were eligible for a loan to the tune of 70 per cent of the total project from local banks. “Any investor can repatriate 100 per cent equity to any country out of Ethiopia,” said Mulugeta. Ethiopia produces wheat, rice, oil seed and vegetables in addition to tea and coffee. Other areas where Ethiopia has a lot of opportunities for investment are real estate, infrastructure, hotel management, hospitality, hospital management and mining (gold, coal potassium, iron ore, limestone). Mulugeta said they were participating in PITEX for the first time to promote investment opportunities in India. He showed keen interest in Indian machinery, technology, auto components, agricultural implements, IT services, apart from infrastructure, manufacturing and the education sector.

UP agri sector in for major credit flow during FY12

The agriculture and allied sectors in Uttar Pradesh are in for a major boost during the period 2011-12 with the total credit potential in the farm and non-farm segments pegged at Rs 65,440 crore for the next financial year. This would be a jump of more than 20 per cent over state credit target estimated for the current financial year at Rs 54,000 crore. Uttar Pradesh has been persistently grappling with low credit flow to agriculture, which has restricted unlocking of true potential of the sector. Releasing the Potential Linked Credit Plan (PLP) for the state pertaining to the year 2011-12, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) executive director P L Behra said the commercial banks had been advised to encourage rural sector credit flow. Of the PLP of Rs 65,440 crore,Rs 33,134 crore pertained to crop loan, forming over 50 per cent of the total credit estimate. PLP comprises crop loan, agriculture term loan, non-farm sector and other priority sector loans. Agriculture sector loans alone comprised Rs 44,995 crore of PLP, which is 69 per cent of the consolidated credit projection. Over the last couple of years, Uttar Pradesh has beaten the national average in agriculture growth rate. During 2005-06, the agri sector growth rate of India and Uttar Pradesh stood at 5.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively, as caompared to the corresponding statistics of 0.2 per cent and 4 per cent during 2009-10. However, the state agri credit flow has been dismal compared to the national average. During the last financial year, the credit flow recorded a growth of 7.9 per cent in the state compared to 21.5 per cent across India. In this context, the state had urged Nabard to increase the rural sector credit, since Uttar Pradesh targets to double its farm income in the next three years. In fact, Nabard had hiked crop loan projections byRs 4,000 crore on the state government’s request for additional credit outlay. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandate, annual PLP is prepared by Nabard for the respective states through a consultative process to estimate credit potential in various sectors of the economy. Later, the commercial banks prepared the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) for the state based on PLP, which fixes the individual bank targets under the Lead Bank Scheme.

Interaction between farm scientists, industry inadequate: Hooda

The interaction between scientists of farming universities in India and industry is inadequate and their collaboration can help in faster economic growth, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said. He suggested the need for establishing a close linkage between farm scientists and industrial and business houses for speedy technological innovations in agriculture sector. Speaking at a conference 'Role of state government in agriculture promotion' organised by the Crop Care Federation of India in Delhi Saturday, Hooda said: 'The industry can play an important role in funding the agriculture research institutions. The interaction between farm universities and industry is inadequate. Collaboration between farm scientists and the industry will be mutually beneficial through rapid integration of new knowledge, experience and technologies.' Hooda said that a massive national effort was needed for building modern godowns to arrest post harvest losses of food grains. 'Immediate action is needed to build required infrastructure for storage through public and private sector interventions. Industry should come forward to supplement the efforts of government in this regard,' he added. The chief minister said: 'There is no doubt that the role of state governments in enhancing agricultural production is very critical, but that alone may not take us very far.' Expressing his serious concern over present state of agriculture production in the country, Hooda said that growth of food grain production of the country has either declined or stagnated during the current decade. 'To feed our ever-increasing population, the food grain production has to be doubled by 2040 with consistent 2.5 percent annual growth. Hence, there is a need for the second Green Revolution. It can be achieved only through dynamic approach, focused strategy and application of new tools of science and technology,' he added.

Agro industry to see infra facelift in Gujarat

Agriculture and allied industry in Gujarat is set to witness a make over in infrastructure as well as its competitive strength with industry captains and government putting special emphasize on developing strong supply chain for agro-industry. "Gujarat is front runner in production of several cash crops including castor, cumin and cotton. We need to focus on developing infrastructure for agriculture supplies and storage so as to benefit farmers as well as industries," said Dileep Sanghani, minister of state for agriculture, government of Gujarat. Sanghani further informed that the state was preparing an agro-industry policy focusing infrastructure and improvement in supply mechanism. “A policy will soon be announced on encouraging infrastructure development for agro-industry in state," Sanghani told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar, ‘Agribusiness – Opportunities and Challenges’ at Ahmedabad. As per the statistics provided by the government officials, the state has 65 per cent of cultivable area and the state produces cash crops like castor, potato and cumin with highest productivity. Further, the state contributes over 30 per cent to the country’s total cotton production. Commenting on the contract farming and potato production in the state, KS Narayanan, managing director, McCain Foods India, informed that the state is one of the isolated places in the country where special quality of potato is grown. "We require larger potato for our standard quality of French fries. We have more than 2500 farmers associated with us under contract farming. We are looking at sourcing other commodities also from the state," said Narayanan. McCain also exports its finished products to 18 countries including Singapore, Taiwan, China and several countries in South East Asia and Middle East. Speaking about the state of agro-industries in India, S Dave, director, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) informed that the industry is still developing. The government is planning to set up cold chain corridor across western, southern and eastern regions of the country. As a part of this initiative, we will promote export via sea port or air port and develop cold storages there. We are working with backward integration by developing hinterland to ensure supply chain in place," Dave said. For western region Gujarat & Rajasthan are selected, while southern region will have Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as destination states and eastern region includes West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. "The government will encourage private participants, while at some places we may jointly work with private players," told Dave who was in town to attend the seminar. Dave further informed that India exports roughly around $ 16 billion worth of agriculture produces. "Last year we saw almost stagnant growth due to global economic weakness, but this year we see around 10 per cent growth in exports of agro-produces," he said.

CII to organize agri-horticultural fests in JK

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) announced to organize apple, saffron, walnut, rajmah and basmati rice festivals in Jammu and Kashmir. Chairman CII northern region, R M Khanna made the announcement during the valedictory function of the CII’s four-day farm expo ''Agro Tech 2010''.
J&K Agriculture Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir who was the chief guest at today’s function urged the CII to help upgrade and modernize agriculture so that “J&K could be part of the glory of India.” Hassan said even though J & K was the number one apple producer in India, the visit to CII’s AgroTech had been an “eye-opener for him regarding the advanced technologies being used in different parts of the world.” “The farmers of J&K need exposure to all these developments and I hope the CII would help in facilitating this,” he said.

Afghanistan Agriculture Minister invites Indian Farmers and Corporates to invest in Afghanistan

Mr Mohammad Asif Rahimi, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock, Afghanistan invited Indian farmers and industry to invest in Afghanistan so that they could increase their business while helping his country to rejuvenate as it slowly rose from the ashes. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the CII Agro Tech 2010 International Conference on “Future of Indian Agriculture-Sustaining Indian Agriculture Growth,” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and held at the CII Northern Region Headquarters, Chandigarh. He said that Indian entrepreneurs had a great opportunity as they would be welcomed in his country with an open heart. He said that most of the people in Afghanistan could speak Hindi and hence the industry would not have any difficulty in communicating with them. Mr Rahimi said that many Indians were already working in Afghanistan and they could also help in proper management and the application of technology for the advancement of Agriculture. India, he said, was ahead in every field and about 4000 Afghani students at present were studying here. “We are eagerly awaiting their return so that we can take the benefit of their education,” he said. He emphasized that India has a special place in the hearts of the Afghans. “We love Indian movies, jewellery, music, dance and many more things. At the same time, India is also the largest buyer of many products like dry fruits etc. from Afghanistan”. He said before the year 2000, his country was having a 3 percent growth in Agriculture but it fell drastically after that. However, in 2008, it recorded a 4 percent increase but a bigger boost was necessary to feed the people. This was possible only with the introduction of latest technology in Agriculture and India could be of immense help in it. Mr Paramvir Singh, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Cooperation and Fisheries Department, Government of Haryana, said that Agriculture was passing through a crucial phase, though 60 percent population depended on it. Hence, efforts were needed, besides hard work, in the concerned areas in order to sustain the growth in Agriculture. The private sector could help Haryana in this and industrialists should come forward, he added. He said that there were gaps in the production of Agriculture not only in the states but also in various districts. “There we need to give more attention to storage, warehousing, hybrid seeds, fertilizers, infrastructure, water management and transportation.” He demanded that a Technology Mission in Farm Development be set up and farmers should be provided loan at 4 percent interest. He also referred to the post harvest losses and said that these were alarming. For this, the main reason was lack of storage facilities and infrastructure. Mr Salil Singhal, Chairman, Agro Tech 2010, said that small farm holdings were a big challenge as they affected the buying capacity of farmers. Only technology could help the farmers increase their output. He said that the corporate sector was looking af working with the farmers to provide them with latest technology development. Welcoming the Food Security Act, he stressed the need for the second Green revolution. Mr Gokul Patnaik, Chairman, Agro Tech 2010 Conferences, gave details of the various conferences to be held in four days. Talking about the agriculture scenario, he said that Gujarat was the only state in India which had recorded 9.6 percent growth in Agriculture, while the national average was only 2.3 percent. Soil health and hybrid seeds should be looked into and minimum support price was needed for crop diversification. Mr S Venkatraman, Senior Director & Head of Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR), India emphasized the need for focusing on various aspects of Agricultural conditions, like seed replacement, fertilizers and improvement of soil testing facilities in order to rejuvenate it. Mr R M Khanna, Chairman, CII Northern Region assured the Afghanistan Minister that Indian industry would like to invest in Afghanistan in a big way. He said that we would like that bilateral relations between the two countries should grow as far as possible. Agriculture sector was the largest sector all over the world and hence needed the attention of both the Government and the Private sector.

Implementation of APMC act a priority for Government says Pawar

The implementation of the APMC Act is a priority area for the Government and I shall be shortly convening a meeting of the State Agriculture Ministers for this, stated Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, while inaugurating CII Agro Tech 2010 today. Visibly impressed by India’s premier biennial agro technology and business fair, Mr Pawar stated that this was his second visit to Agro Tech and congratulated CII for organizing such an Exposition which would surely help in rejuvenating Indian agriculture. Mr Pawar pointed out that India continued to be the largest agricultural market in the world and a leading producer of food grains. He said that 16 crore families were engaged in agriculture in India and 102 million hectares were under cultivation. The production of food grains was 234 million tonnes in 2009. Though the year was one of the best years in agriculture, still we could not be the complacent and there was a need for strengthening the cold chain infrastructure, diversification in agriculture, careful analysis of regional needs, assured power, good support price etc., he said. Mr Pawar stated that Rs. 86,000 crores was given as loans to farmers last year and this figure rose to 3,66,000 crores this year. He hoped that it would be possible to give loans upto Rs. 3 lakhs to farmers at 5 percent interest. He said for the implementation of the “Food Security Act”, we needed 65 million tones of foodgrains. In order to meet this, we had to make purchases from the open market. This might raise prices of other articles. Mr Pawar said that private public partnership could play an important role for the development of not only agriculture but also horticulture, dairy and fisheries. We had concentrated on enhancing production and productivity both by bringing in high yielding varieties, hybrids and efficient farm equipments. Our efforts towards increasing soil nutrients had seen to the new fertilizer subsidy regime. The new seeds bill was also under consideration. The provisions of the Bill would prove an effective check on the spurious and substandard seeds being sold in the market. Simultaneously, the strategy had also been to provide the necessary infrastructure such as soil testing laboratories; storage and processing facilities; sophisticated pest surveillance and monitoring systems; and IT-enabled knowledge dissemination systems for the farmers. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said that the Government had constituted farmers commission to safeguard, the interests of the farming community of the state. Apart from giving number of incentives to the farmers, they were also encouraged to adopt resource conserving technologies and diversify their crops and undertake cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants. He said that two good things had taken place – there is 4.4 percent growth rate because of farm sector and the food inflation had come down to 8.6 percent which was lowest in 18 months. Haryana was contributing the maximum to the central pool. Stressing the need for the second green revolution, Mr Hooda said for this more attention was needed for stopping degradation of soil, power availability, seed replacement. There was need for setting up agro processing units and identification of areas for organic farming. The most important is water management. The farm Universities and the private sector’s interaction at present was inadequate and this should be increased. The Afghanistan Agriculture Minister, Mr Mohammad Asif Rahimi, reiterated assured that all facilities would be provided to the Indian prospective investors in his country. He said that many countries like Canada , UK, had invested there but there was still big scope for Indian investors. He said the Government had identified ten areas for investment. The Agriculture Minister of Punjab, Mr Sucha Singh Langa, said Punjab was contributing 60 to 65 percent wheat and 40 percent paddy to the Central pool. He said the Punjab farmers had never let down the Centre in meeting the targets. He said that the Agro-based units should be set in every village in the state so that the products being prepared there could be exported. The fragmentation of land holdings was the matter of concern. He said effort should be made to save the small farmers. Chairperson of UK India Business Council, Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt said the relation between the two countries were very good. She said that the Council and CII had been exchanging useful ideas. Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Chairman, CII National Council of Agriculture, said that agriculture could be rejuvenated in India by involving the private sector. Investments could be in private and public sector mode. He said CII would be organizing a national conference on “Ushering Second Green Revolution” through PPP in New Delhi in March. He urged urgent need to revamp minimum support price and made it more market oriented. He emphasized the need for setting up Agri Renewal Mission. Horticulture should be taken out of APMC and farmers should be given freedom to sell directly in addition to markets. These should be average heighted deduction of 200 percent for R&D and external services. Land lease should be given long tenure(no ownership/tenancy rights) and uncap subsidies on drip irrigation and green houses. Mr Salil Singhal, Chairman, Agro Tech 2010 and Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, spoke on different aspects of Agro Tech 2010 and its theme. Mr Banerjee, announced the CII National centre of food and agriculture, which will help in linking and capacity building.

India, France to cooperate in food processing sector

India and France agreed to cooperate in the field of food processing to take advantage of each others expertise in the sector. A letter of intent for bilateral cooperation in the food processing sector was signed between India and France in the presence of Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai and French Minister for Agriculture Bruno Le Maire, an official release said. Sahai said levels of food processing are far higher in France compared to India and the latter can benefit from it. Specialities of the French industries in cultivating the specific variety of standard size of vegetables for the purpose of canning and bottling are well known internationally, Sahai said, adding exchange of the information and technology in this field will be of immense help to the industries in India. Sahai said France is ranked fifth in the list of India's trading partner among EU countries. India is the 13th largest investor in France. There are about 90 Indian companies in France and have invested in IT, pharmaceuticals, plastic industry, auto parts, etc. Sahai said the government has set an investment target of around Rs one lakh crore by 2015 in the sunrise sector. The sector is expected to grow by 20 per cent and value-addition to increase by 35 per cent by 2015. India accounts for 10 per cent of world's fruits production and 13 per cent of vegetables output.

Shri Sharad Pawar Calls for Higher Private Investment in Agriculture

The Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Sharad Pawar has called for higher investment by the private sector in agriculture sector. He was speaking at the National Conference on Rural Prosperity through Better Agriculture, which was inaugurated by the President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Shri Pawar said, new technology which helps in developing affordable farming equipments suited to Indian conditions and farm sizes is the need of the hour and the private sector will have to take a leading role in this. Shri Pawar said “as Indian agriculture gains momentum, there is growing demand for quality inputs, support services through effective extension and knowledge dissemination and adequate agricultural infrastructure. Farmer awareness and capacity building have to be taken up in a big way”. Here is the full text of Agriculture Minister’s speech: “It gives me great pleasure to participate in this National Conference on ‘Rural Prosperity Through Better Agriculture’ organized by Crop Care Federation of India. When this idea was mooted by Shri Rajju Shroff, it took me no time to decide that we, in Ministry of Agriculture, should support it for reasons I will enumerate a little later. But the most forceful impetus to this programme came from Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji herself who graciously agreed to inaugurate this conference. Your Excellency, by doing so you have demonstrated your great concern for agriculture on which depends the livelihood of 60% of our countrymen and on which the entire nation depends for food security. The success of green revolution has ensured our food security today. However, agriculture faces new challenges the world over. The world’s population is set on a course to increase beyond nine billion by 2050 even as we are experiencing shifts in weather patterns due to climate change. Growing income levels on one hand, and limited scope in bringing more land under cultivation on the other, underline the challenges of production keeping pace with demand. The task, therefore, is clear – to scale new peaks of agricultural productivity. But this alone would not be sufficient. Today, the farmer has both the need and the opportunity to diversify farming and generate income through activities such as horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. The twin imperatives of productivity increase and diversification are not only important to continuance of our food security, but also to enhancement of rural incomes. In recent years, we have witnessed a renewed focus on agriculture. Major programmes such as the National Horticulture Mission, the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and the National Food Security Mission have been launched. As a result, the plan outlay for the agriculture & allied sector has increased substantially from Rs. 7,431 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 19,070 crore in 2010-11, an increase of about 156%. These initiatives seek to enhance both production and productivity by encouraging high yielding varieties/hybrid seeds and quality planting material, efficient farm equipments, micro and minor irrigation and improving agricultural infrastructure. Separately, a new fertilizer subsidy policy has been introduced to encourage site specific nutrient management. Efforts have been made for increasing availability of credit to the farmer and offering better risk mitigation instruments. The flow of agriculture credit since 2003-04 has consistently exceeded the target. From the level of Rs 86,981 crore credit flow in 2003-04, the agriculture credit disbursed in 2009-10 has touched Rs. 3,66,919 crore. New legislative measures such as the Seeds Bill and the Pesticides Management Bill have been formulated for consideration of the Parliament to usher in a more effective regulatory system for these critical inputs. Some states like Maharashtra and Orissa have started sophisticated pest surveillance and monitoring systems which must be launched by other states as well. Similarly, IT-enabled soil test based advisories are being given to the farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The efforts to channelize higher investments – both public and private – have shown encouraging results. There has been a significant increase in the gross capital formation in agriculture as a proportion of agricultural GDP which has gone up from 14.1 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.3 in 2008-09. Besides increasing investment in agriculture we also need to give a correct and encouraging price signal to the farmers as they are an extremely effective tool for increasing agricultural production and productivity. Government has increased the MSP of major crops such as paddy, wheat and pulses by as much as 79%, 75% and 125% respectively between 2004-05 and 2010-11. All this has spurred a new dynamism in the agriculture sector today. The country achieved record food production of 234 million tonnes in 2008-09; a substantial jump from the production of about 198 million tonnes of food grains in 2004-05. The increases in MSP of paddy and wheat have resulted in record production and procurement of wheat and rice during the last two years. Last year, despite the severest drought in the past four decades, the production of food grains stood at about 218 million tonnes. This year, overall rainfall has been good and record production in kharif pulses, sugarcane and cotton is expected. The substantial hike in MSP of kharif pulses is showing results this kharif season with increase in estimated production of kharif pulses from about 4.3 million tonnes in 2009 to 6 million tonnes in 2010. However, due to deficit rainfall in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of West Bengal there is likelihood of some loss in paddy production. On the positive side, due to the good South West monsoon, reservoir levels are very comfortable and soil moisture levels are high, promising a robust rabi production this year. Hopefully, agricultural growth has picked up again. As Indian agriculture gains momentum, there is growing demand for quality inputs, support services through effective extension and knowledge dissemination and adequate agricultural infrastructure. Farmer awareness and capacity building have to be taken up in a big way. The private sector has a critical role to play in meeting the demand of higher investment, inputs and services in agriculture. New technologies which help develop affordable farming equipments suited to Indian condition and farm sizes is the need of the hour and the private sector will have to take a leading role in this. I am sure that the deliberations in this conference over the next two days will address these issues and help in charting out the road map for the private and the public sector in maintaining agricultural growth and increasing rural incomes and prosperity. Before I end, I must sound a word of caution. While much has been achieved, the road ahead is riddled with many problems and bottlenecks. The most daunting of these is the Climate Change and its impact on Indian Agriculture. Rising temperatures causing heat stress in the crop, erratic and ever changing rainfall patterns are a cause of grave concern for us as they have already started affecting our agriculture negatively. We are all witness to the severe drought of last year and the untimely rains this year which have brought down our production and productivity. To counter these ill effects National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture along with the ongoing ICAR network on Climate Change that involves 25 centers across the country has been launched. We are also coordinating with all the renowned research institutions worldwide on this front and are hopeful of a breakthrough in developing heat resistant seed varieties to successfully meet the challenge ahead. While I am hopeful and desirous of a prosperous future for our farming community, I am fully aware of the huge responsibility on my shoulders to steer the agriculture sector to serve as the vehicle for ushering in rural prosperity in our vast hinterland. I am confident that our government will deliver on this count and ensure a “sufalam - sujalam bharat”. Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji I would like to once again thank on behalf of the organizers and on my own personal behalf for blessing this conference with your benign presence. Your presence here today will motivate not only the private sector present here and my colleagues from the government to rededicate themselves to ushering in an era of rural prosperity and development”.

Gadkari for cooperation with Israel on water management

BJP President Nitin Gadkari today underlined the importance of enhanced cooperation between Israel and India in the fields of water management and high technologies. Talking to PTI on the eve of his goodwill visit to Israel, Gadkari said the scarcity of irrigation facilities is a serious challenge to food production in India, where 700 million people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood .He said India and Israel signed a MoU in the field of agriculture in 2008, paving the way for setting up of six excellence centres covering production of vegetables and fruit using ultra-modern technologies in Haryana and Maharashtra and new projects for the use of saline water and drip irrigation in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The growing agricultural cooperation between India and Israel, the BJP President said, underlines the mutual capacity to develop, absorb and implement state-of-the-art innovation which will increase production levels at appreciably lower cost to the farmer and the consumer. Cooperation with Indian firms also facilitates Israel''s entry into the Indian market and enhances Israel''s access to other south Asian markets, he pointed out. He said that the two countries were at an advanced stage of concluding a formal free trade agreement for a two-way arrangement that would give Indian industries access to the Israeli high technology sector and Israel access to Indian domestic market. "This is a step ahead of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) that a Joint Study Group (JSG) set up by the two countries had recommended to improve trade ties. It is estimated that bilateral trade would exceed USD 12 billion in 5 years with this trade agreement," Gadkari said. The current areas that need to be given focus are software, communication, homeland security, science and medicine, bio and agro-technologies, water and tourism and Israel''s water technology, the BJP president said.

India Yet To Decide On Lifting Rice Export Ban Says Agriculture Minister

India has yet to decide on lifting an export ban on select varieties of common-grade rice, although a few states have asked the federal government to allow some shipments following a bumper crop this year, Food Minister Sharad Pawar said. India imposed a ban on the export of wheat and rice in 2007 to curb prices, but there is no fear of a shortage this crop year through June as good monsoon rains prompted farmers to increase cultivation. We have received requests for export of some varieties of non-basmati [common grades] rice from certain states like Andhra Pradesh, but we haven't decided anything yet, Pawar said. I have been informed that there have been some damages [to the rice crop]. Our team has gone to those areas. We are waiting for the report, he added. Earlier, food ministry officials had said the government could review the ban after the harvest of summer-sown crops in October-November. Private traders have also been lobbying the government to allow exports of premium non-basmati rice at a floor price of $900/ton.The government currently allows exports of only premier, aromatic basmati rice at a floor price of $900/ton. Exports from India, the world's second-largest rice producer, may help to cool global prices that have been rising due to tight supplies and a drought in the wheat-growing Black Sea region that has raised demand for other grains. The Rice Price Index of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of the grain, rose 11.12 points to 260.37 in November from the previous month and is up 30% since May. Although India's federal grain stocks are more than double of its requirement for welfare programs, the government will likely weigh any decision on exports cautiously as it will need enough stocks for a proposed law that guarantees cheap food grains to the poor. Government officials are also concerned about late rains in key rice growing areas that may have damaged the crop just when it was ready for harvest. The government had in September forecast summer rice output to rise 5.9% to 80.41 million tons in 2010-11 on higher plantings.

Protest rally by farmers to oppose MoU

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a rally of farmers marching from Sabarmati in Gujarat to New Delhi, reached Jaipur on Thursday. Participants appealed to chief minister Ashok Gehlot to cancel the MoU that the state signed with Monsanto India Ltd, saying the agreement was anti-farmer. The Kheti Virasat Mission's Kavitha Kurunganti, who is among those leading the rally, claimed the government was surrendering famers' interests over seeds to profit-oriented multinational companies. The state government should work to ensure irrigation water, electricity and land for the peasants, she said. Enumerating hazards of letting the profit-making MNCs control agriculture techniques, Kurunganti said, "From witnessing increased productivity initially, Punjab today has turned into the cancer capital' of India." Addressing a press conference, Kavitha said people of Punjab were fighting with problems like premature greying of hair, infertility and abortions caused by unhealthy' farm-food grown through ill-thought out agricultural techniques and policies. Vice-president of the state planning board, V S Vyas said while 85% farmers in the country did not have landholdings of even five-acre size, the actual number of such farmers in Rajasthan was much higher. The 75-day rally has being organised by farmers, youth, NGOs and civil rights groups to create awareness among general public on issues related to farmers and farming.

Zambia gives 100,000 hectares of land to Indian firm

The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has given an Indian company 100,000 hectares of land. ZDA and Neha International signed an MOU on Tuesday which will see the Indian company occupy 100, 000 heactares of land in Zambia. It is not yet clear which part of Zambia will be sliced to the Indians. It is not clear how much the land has been sold at. The Indian company is said to be planning to use the land for agriculture. Satisfied with the acquisition, the Indian company boasted that it would continue to acquire and develop arable lands in other countries of Eastern and Southern Africa as part of its business development strategy.

Indian farmers teach drip irrigation to Harvard

At a time when India is looking towards the US to unleash its second green revolution, two small-time farmers from the country travelled to America to explain to academicians at the prestigious Harvard University about the successful drip irrigation techniques. Rajendra Patil, 40, and Hemchandra Dagaji Patil, 50, explained to a rapt audience at the university how they have successfully used drip irrigation to expand their farm holdings. They were selected by Mumbai-based Jain Irrigation System to present their story at the Harvard Business School.

Hemchandra Dagaji told the audience that the land earlier was cultivated by flood irrigation and irregular use of fertilisers due to which the yield levels were marginal and the profits were less and the quality of the farm product was not good. "Whole land was cultivated by micro-irrigation, fertigation which helps me to raise the yield levels as well as financial position. The quality of the farm product drastically improved which leads to better prices in the market," he said. In his presentation, Rajendra Patil, said his farm land was 1.5 acres and the whole land was rain fed and hence the yield levels were very low. Now, he owns seven acres of land and has about 60 acres of land on lease. Hemchandra Dagaji, had received the "Kantabai Jain Pandhara Kanda Navtantra Puraskar" during the year 2003 for taking highest productivity of white onion.

Bejo Sheetal inks MoU with Michigan State Varsity

Bejo Sheetal Bioscience Foundation (BSBSF), Jalna, Mumbai Education Trust (MET), Mumbai and Michigan State University(MSU), USA have signed MoU on Monday at MET, Mumbai for cooperation in Education, Research and Outreach in areas of mutual interest. The agreement was signed by Shri. Sureshji Agrawal, Chairman BSBSF, Jalna, Mr. Sunil Karve, Vice Chairman & Founder, MET, Mumbai and Dr. Jeff Armstrong (MSU), USA. The dignitaries witnessed for this event were from various Industries and institutes like Mr. Sameer Bhujbal, Board member, MET, Forbes India, IDBI, Bank, Safal Seeds & Biotech Ltd. Green Crops International Pvt. Ltd. etc in presence of core group of students of management at MET, Mumbai. Dr. Jeff Armstrong, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences, MSU, USA stated in his address, this association is important for educating the students for entrepreneurship in Agri biotech and its allied areas like packaging, extension, post harvest technology, biofuel industry etc. This will be the direct or indirect service for quality human resource development of global standard. He also mentioned that this association can be extended to various fields of Agriculture and social aspects. Prof. Karim Maredia, MSU, USA, coordinator of this association expressed the initial tripartite course is an start and such more courses can be formulated in this association which will be helpful for the students of science and Agriculture. In near future, combined degree course, post graduation and Research and extension programs can be undertaken by involving the students of candidates from South African and Central Asian countries. Shri Sureshji Agrawal briefed about the initial activities of this association and explained the details of Post Graduate Certificate course and how candidates will be benefited and get exposed to USA Agriculture systems and Industries in USA. The tripartite course will start at Bejo Sheetal Bioscience Foundation, Initial three months student will be taught about Agribiotech technologies, further MET will teach management studies in Agri biotech, Then students will be sent to Michigan State University in America for getting knowledge of Agri biotech industry along with internship program in some industry. Further Mr. Sunil Karve addressed as important step in the history of MET for extending the association with Seed Industry in India and American University. This association certainly will help to candidate to get practical experience. The program was anchored by Mr. Vijay Page, Director MET, Mumbai and supported by Bejo sheetal Bioscience foundation members Mr. Sameer Agrawal, Mr. Kamal Zunzunwala, Mr. Akshat Zunzunwala, Dr. Mazumdar, Mr. Nandkumar Kunchge and other colleagues.

Rice output may be lower than initial estimates

Last year, the Centre underestimated the country's kharif rice production by overestimating the impact of drought. Thus, in its first advance estimate, the output was assessed at 69.45 million tonnes (mt) that got revised subsequently to 75.91 mt. Much of this was on account of Punjab and Haryana. Both these States ended up harvesting bumper crops despite the drought. While the near-universal irrigation cover available with their farmers was definitely a factor here, the dry weather actually turned out a blessing of sorts: It ensured minimal incidence of attacks by the white-backed plant-hopper and other major pests and diseases. This time, it could be quite the opposite. In its first advance estimate, released in September, the Agriculture Ministry has projected kharif rice production for 2010 to rebound to 80.41 mt on the back of an overall surplus South-West monsoon. But going by mandi arrival trends so far, it looks as though the damage caused by floods in some paddy-growing areas and very little rains in some others has not been fully factored in by the Ministry – leading to a possible overestimation of output. In Punjab, only 122.21 lakh tonnes (lt) of paddy have arrived till now in the various mandis, compared to the 133.14 lt during this time last year. Haryana (24.51 lt versus 27.09 lt) and Uttar Pradesh (4.22 lt versus 6.59 lt), too, have recorded lower arrivals. As a result, total rice procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies in the ongoing 2010-11 marketing year (October-September) has been only 98.01 lt, as against cumulative buys of 106.32 lt during this period of 2009-10. Procurement is trailing in both Punjab (80.75 lt versus 87.42 lt) and Haryana (15.41 lt versus 17.14 lt). Officials ascribe the dip in the two north-western States to lower yields, which, in turn, were an outcome of floods in early-July that damaged large areas where planting of normal high-yielding parmal paddy had already taken place. Since this area could not be re-transplanted with non-basmati (the window for which was already over), farmers had to go in for basmati. And within basmati, they opted for even lower-yielding traditional varieties as opposed to the improved Pusa-1121 or Pusa Basmati-1 that had fetched low prices last year. In addition to this, farmers in Punjab had sown very little area this time under PAU-201, a variety giving 7.5 tonnes of paddy a hectare against 7 tonnes for normal non-basmati varieties. There were quality issues with PAU-201, with FCI refusing to buy on these grounds. As a result, its share in total non-basmati paddy area fell from a fifth to virtually nil and the overall yields, too, dropped, as expressed by a State official. In other States, a clear picture of production trends in other States is yet to emerge. However, the fact that West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and East Uttar Pradesh have recorded deficient monsoon rains does not give much hope for a bumper crop from this region, which is a major paddy belt. The one State that, till recently, was expected to generate a good crop this year because of copious monsoon rains is Andhra Pradesh (AP). But two successive low-pressure build-ups within a week's span have changed it all. The latest floods are estimated to have inundated and destroyed some 3.21 lakh hectares of paddy area. AP estimated out paddy production this year at 84 lt. But now, we may have to contend with 10-15 lt less. While all these could result in a downward revision of the country's estimated rice production this year, it is unlikely, however, to really influence overall availability or prices. The main reason for this is the more-than-comfortable public foodgrain stocks. As on November 1, rice stocks in the Central pool, at 231.73 lt, exceeded the corresponding levels of 216.21 lt and 141.39 lt for the preceding two years.

India’s wheat output may exceed 82 mn tonnes target this year

The country’s wheat production is likely to exceed the target of 82 million tonnes in the 2010-11 rabi season that started from mid-October. It will beat the production target of 82 million tonnes this year, as good rains have boosted soil moisture which improves yield. Timely sowing, good supply of seeds and fertilisers would help increase the productivity of the crop. India, the world’s second largest producer of wheat, had harvested all—time high of 80.71 million tonnes in 2009-10 season. As on November 8, wheat has been planted in over one million hectare, which is almost at par with last year’s level. The wheat acreage is likely to increase as farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have gone for early planting, he said, adding that full-fledged sowing of wheat crop is expected to start in the coming weeks. The country’s total wheat acreage is 28 million hectares. The crop prospects are bright as Agri Ministry expects good winter this year and also hope there won’t be any terminal heat like we had in 2009. Wheat is a rabi crop (winter crop), grown once a year in the country with planting beginning from mid-October and harvest in March-April.

India, US widen scope of farm tie-up with 3 pacts

US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unfurled new signposts in bilateral ties – such as a new security pact, tie-ups in energy, health and agriculture -- at a joint news conference on Mr. Obama’s maiden visit to India. Wherein, the leaders announced new initiatives in agriculture collaboration designed to address two of India's biggest farm worries – food security and crop weather forecast. The President's delegation already consists of USAID administrator Raj Shah and agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, with both agencies playing a significant role. The showpiece of the collaboration is an Indo-US tie-up to design a more accurate model to predict India's increasingly erratic monsoon. An increasingly truant southwest monsoon remains a big worry for the government, as two-thirds of Indians depend on farm income and 60% of India's farmed areas remain outside its irrigation network. The Singh-Obama initiative will largely build on areas already being worked on. The aim to raise food yields by harnessing joint technologies. Specific deals were signed in the areas of market access, food security and weather forecasting. The widened scope of farm tie-ups have already being hammered outf following an MoU signed between the two countries in March. The spadework for the monsoon mission began in July when Planning Commission member, K Kasturirangan, and secretary in the department of earth sciences, Shailesh Nayak, visited the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. The US model should be available to India to work on by December. India has homed in on the US model, called the "Couple Forecasting System", for two reasons. One, it combines both oceanography and atmospherical sciences, unlike the Indian model that relies mainly on the former. Two, scientists feel the US model can be better adapted to Indian conditions. Once access is granted, scientists from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and Indian Space Research Organisation will team up with NOAA to fine-tune it to suit India's needs. First, it should predict sudden breaks in monsoon cycle fairly accurately and, secondly, enable more short-term and localised predictions, such as district level predictions.

Oilseeds growers set to reap double bonanza

At the start of the kharif season, farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had talked of cutting their coverage of oilseeds. Higher imports and inventories, too, threatened to affect oilseeds sowing. Then, there was no inkling of the emerging global supply scenario with Russia suffering one of its worst droughts, and La Nina, which brings in bountiful rain, affecting palm oil production in Malaysia. Also, no one had given a thought about the southern States, the worst-affected last year due to drought. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka experienced good rainfall from June, encouraging farmers to go in for early sowing. Thanks to the high prices for oilseeds such as groundnut and sesame, farmers in these States went in for these crops or castor on a largescale. Elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh, farmers still gathered courage to sow soyabean despite high inventories. The end result, oilseeds acreage increased to 175.49 lakh hectares (lh) this kharif against 174.43 lh last year. In turn, the output of nine kharif oilseeds is projected to be 172.7 lakh tonnes (lt) against 156.6 lt last year. Though the acreage has increased only marginally, the weather pattern this year has ensured better yield. Arrivals are yet to pick up in most oilseeds as the harvest has been delayed but the 200 lakh tonnes oilseeds inventories seen at the start of the kharif sowing has been reduced to 5-6 lakh tonnes. Thanks to rising demand for oilmeals, inventories are vanishing fast. Demand for soyameal in particular has increased in South-East Asia and the Far-East following drought in Russia. In October alone, oilmeals exports increased 61 per cent. Soyabean production is likely to be 101 lakh tonnes this year. There have been problems in certain parts of Madhya Pradesh such as Indore, Bhopal and Dhar and Sikaur due to last minute rains. But production in other parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are set to make up. According to the Agriculture Ministry, groundnut production is likely to be higher at 56.4 lt (36.6 lt) and that of soyabean at 98.1 lt (100.5 lt). No major variation is likely in soyabean production. There may be 2-3 per cent change due to the late rain. But it would be over 100 lt. Though domestic edible oil prices have dropped from the highs seen in September, they are still higher than rates that prevailed during the same period a year ago. For example, groundnut oil (loose) is currently ruling at Rs 725 for 10 kg against Rs 635 a year ago. Similarly, soyabean refined oil is ruling at Rs 570/10 kg against Rs 430 a year ago. With global prices for vegetable oils ruling near two-year high, chances of oilseeds farmers getting better prices are bright. In fact, it will be a double bonanza, higher output and higher price for Indian oilseed growers. With domestic prices reflecting global rates, farmers could be assured of good returns, he said. Currently, soyabean is ruling at Rs 2,250 at the mandis, the same as last year. However, in Karnataka groundnut output is expected to fall about 50,000 tonnes short the 6.5 lakh tonnes target. Sunflower output has been pegged at 80,000 tonnes against a target of 2.25 lakh tonnes. Sunflower production is likely to be half of last year since farmers shifted to other crops.

RBI data show decline in credit flow to agriculture

There has been a significant pick up in credit flow to industry, services and personal loan segments during the current financial year. However, credit flow to agriculture has declined further, data released by the Reserve Bank of India as part of Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments Second Quarter Review 2010-11 shows. While credit flow to industry was highest at Rs 1,07,386 crore, credit flow to agriculture contracted by Rs 13,481 crore during the first six months of this fiscal, according to data on sector wise deployment of credit. Though the credit flow to industry has improved, it is not yet broad-based, RBI said. The credit growth is mainly driven by flow of credit to infrastructure, iron and steel, chemicals and chemical products, other metal and metal products and engineering industries. Infrastructure cornered the largest share of credit with Rs 87,499 crore flowing into the sector in the period between April-September 24, as against Rs 48,659 crore in the same period last year. Credit contracted to sectors such as petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuel and the construction industry. In the personal loans segment, there was a pick-up in housing loans with banks lending Rs 16,195 crore in the first six months of this year, substantially higher than Rs 7,891 crore in the corresponding year-ago period. Loans for consumer durables also saw a pick-up in the period under consideration. Education loans saw some slowdown with banks lending Rs 4,060 crore during the year, as against Rs 4,557 crore in the year-ago period. In the services segment, credit to commercial real estate saw a huge jump with banks lending Rs 9,604 crore to the sector. In the same period last year, banks had lent only Rs 1,766 crore to the sector. Credit to transport operators, professional services and non banking finance companies also witnessed an increase. However, credit for trade saw some slowdown this year. Under priority sector lending, banks lent Rs 19,343 crore to micro and small enterprises in the first six months of the year, a small dip from Rs 20,808 crore in the year ago period. According to bank-wise data on credit flow, the momentum in credit growth was seen across all public, foreign and private banks, with private banks showing the highest growth rate at the beginning of the third quarter of 2010-11. While public sector banks lent Rs 4,24,171 crore in the year as on October 8, private banks lent Rs 1,24,213 crore and foreign banks Rs 17,979 crore. Public sector banks accounted for 74 per cent of the incremental credit off take on a year-on year basis as of beginning October 2010, RBI said.

Obama effect: ICAR plans agri campaign

Encouraged by US President Barack Obama's appreciation of its innovations in the field of agriculture, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research plans to launch a campaign to popularise agriculture science in the country. "President Obama spent about five minutes at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research stall during his tour of the Agriculture and Food Security Expo at Mumbai. We feel indebted to the US President for praising innovation in the agriculture sector," ICAR director general S Ayyappan told PTI on the sidelines of a function at the institution on Tuesday. Taking a tour of the Agriculture and Food Security Expo at St Xavier's College in Mumbai on Sunday, Obama had displayed a keen interest in the products on display and asked entrepreneurs to take their 'remarkable' work around the world. The president tried his hands at stripping a corn cob after being inspired by a woman farmer who showcased a small agro tool (maize sheller). "It reduces woman labour by 30 per cent. It is remarkable," he had said. Ayyappan said the ICAR is thinking of gifting a silver corn sheller to Obama through the Indian Embassy in the US as a goodwill gesture. Earlier, speaking at the Annual Day function of the National Agricultural Science Museum, the ICAR DG said taking advantage of Obama's praise of Indian agricultural innovation, the ICAR will soon launch a comprehensive campaign to popularise the subject, especially among the youth. He announced that the ICAR would open branches of the NASM at four places -- Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and somewhere in North-East -- within the next two years to showcase the progress in agriculture over the ages. Former ICAR DG and the ex-Vice Chancellor of Benaras Hindu University, Panjab Singh, suggested starting a national level quiz competition on agriculture along the lines of popular TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by mega star Amitabh Bachchan, which he hoped would create interest in the subject. The first of its kind in the country, the NASM was inaugurated by former President APJ Abdul Kalam at the ICAR campus here in November, 2004. The museum exhibits the development of agriculture in India since prehistoric time. Formerly known as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, the ICAR was established in its current form on July 16, 1929. With 97 ICAR institutes and 45 agricultural universities across the country, it is one of the largest national agricultural research organisations in the world.