Microfinance to get a regulator in Nabard

A worried government has put on fast track the proposed bill to regulate micro-lenders, as it seeks to ensure that over-regulation by states does not kill the sector that is envisaged to play a big role in furthering financial inclusion. The finance ministry could move a bill in the winter session of Parliament that will make Nabard responsible for regulation of all non-profit microfinance institutions structured as trusts, cooperatives, or mutual benefit societies.

At present, micro-lenders follow the relevant sector law, depending on the way they are structured. The new law will treat microfinance as a separate business and will also consider bringing nonbanking finance companies in the microfinance sector under the ambit of the legislation. The decision to fast-track the bill follows the October 15 ordinance, or emergency law, issued by Andhra Pradesh that imposed severe restrictions and debt restructuring obligation on lenders following a spate of suicides that were blamed on coercion by microlenders to recover their dues.

As many as 15 states already have laws on money lenders in place under which they attempt to regulate the high interest rates and usurious practices followed by micro-lenders. The state governments say although the RBI protects the interests of the depositors, there is no framework to safeguard the interests of the borrower who are at times charged interest rates as high as 30%. The finance ministry wants to prepare a comprehensive law after discussing the issue with the regulators.

The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) bill was first introduced in Parliament in 2007 and referred to the standing committee on finance. However, the bill subsequently lapsed due to dissolution of the Lok Sabha and has been in the works since then as the government decided to again hold consultations with the stakeholders.

The new draft of the bill defines the role of the regulator more explicitly. It has a provision for registration of microfinance organisations collecting thrift from individual members of self-help groups or through a group mechanism. The bill provides for creation of a reserve fund that would be 15% of a microfinance institution’s net profit or surplus. The bill will also empower Nabard to appoint microfinance ombudsmen for settlement of disputes.

Minor MSP hike for Wheat and Pulses

Govt, on the recommendations of CACP proposed a raise in the MSP of Rs 20 per quintal to wheat at Rs 1,120 and pulses, including safflower and lentils (masur), by up to Rs 380 per quintal. MSP is the price that government pays to farmers while procuring their produce. The centre procures wheat and rice directly from farmers for the public distribution system. CCEA appro­ved MSPs of fair average quality (FAQ) of rabi crops of 2010-11 to be marketed in 2011-12 season. MSP for barley has been increased by Rs 30 to Rs 780, and gram by Rs 340 to Rs 2,100. Procurement price for masur has been raised by Rs 380 to Rs 2,250. Prices of mustard seed and safflower have been increased by Rs 20 and Rs 120 respectively.

India, the world's largest producer of pulses, imports nearly 4 million tonnes to meet its domestic demand of 18-19 million tonnes. Area under pulses cultivation has been declining over the last few years and the demand-supply gap has kept prices at an elevated level. The agriculture ministry is aiming to increase pulses production to 16.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 from about 14.59 million tonnes the previous year. Higher support prices for kharif pulses had resulted in a sharp jump in acreage, and production is estimated to rise to 6 million tonnes in the kharif season of 2010-11as against 4.3 million tonnes a year ago. According to officials, in case of cereals Food Corporation of India and other designated state agencies would continue to provide price support to farmers as in the past. Co-operative major Nafed will continue to be the nodal agency for procurement of oilseeds and pulses.

With this increase in the support prices, particularly for the wheat, the so called foodgrain of the country, aka Punjab is not at all happy and cries foul over the low hike for the fiscal. The Punjab CM has termed it as, cruel joke with the farming community and expressed farmers have expected better hike this season, owing to the sharp increase in the prices of farm inputs, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers ets. The farm experts of the state feels cheated by the Govt action, as over the time, the state has gone handicapped and now solely depends upon the centre’s procurement and pricing policy, followed for rice and wheat, as the most of the harvest is taken away by the state farm corporations. Everytime, the support prices, gets revised either they lobby for more hike every year or, go to the extent of threatening over the short supply of grains. But the real problem, still remained unanswered before the Indian agriculture, till when we’ll keep on waiving such obnoxious deal, which has almost turn sore for the national food security.

UN report says pressure on land affects millions of farmer

A new report by the UN independent expert on Right to Food, has said that about 30 million hectares of farmland is yearly lost to environmental degradation, conversion to industrial use or urbanization. It said that the trend has affected hundreds of millions of farmers, fishermen and indigenous people, globally. Today, Up to 30 million hectares (75 million acres) of land, an area of the size of Italy, is lost each year to environmental degradation, industrialization and urbanization, Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said 500 million small farmers suffer from hunger partly because "their right to land is under attack." As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, the plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year. Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation, the envoy told the UN General Assembly. He gave the example of India where the average landholding fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000 and is still shrinking. In eastern and southern Africa, the amount of cultivated land per capita declined by half over the past generation. An area of cultivated land the size of Italy is lost each year to environmental degradation, industrialization and urbanization, the UN expert said. Between five and 10 million hectares of farm land are lost each year because of severe degradation and another 19.5 million hectares to industrial use and urbanization. The report disclosed that the combination of environmental degradation, urbanization and large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors form 'an explosive cocktail', while the pressure on land suitable for agriculture was increasing at an unprecedented rate. ''Each year, investors express an interest in the acquisition of over 40 million hectares of farmland, often for the production of agrofuels, a major driver behind the recent wave of large-scale acquisitions of land,' the report noted. It also said that, 'measures adopted for climate change mitigation or environmental conservation have also increased the pressure on agricultural land'. It added that, 'the planting of forests in order to benefit from the 'clean development mechanism' has sometimes led to evictions, against which the local populations concerned are insufficiently protected'. According to De Schutter: 'All these developments have a huge impact on smallholders, indigenous peoples, herders and fisherfolk who depend on access to land and water for their livelihoods. 'States should therefore confer legal security of tenure upon those persons, households and communities. 'However, evidence shows that individual land titling and the creation of a market for land rights may not be the most appropriate means to achieve this protection,' he noted. He also said: 'The titling process may confirm the unequal distribution of land, resulting in practice in a counter-agrarian reform. 'Furthermore, land sales tend to favour not those who can make the most efficient use of land, but those who have access to capital and whose ability to purchase land is greatest,'' the UN expert said. 'Rather than focusing on strengthening the rights of landowners, States should encourage communal ownership systems, strengthen customary land tenure systems and reinforce tenancy laws to improve the protection of land-users,' De Schutter added

Pawar showered praises for Seed Corporation

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar praised the National Seeds Corporation (NSC), saying the agricultural production in the country shot up with the high quality seeds it provided to farmers at reasonable rates. ‘NSC has made substantial improvement and provided high quality seeds to farmers at reasonable rates. This has led to high increase in agricultural production in the country,’ Pawar said while receiving cheques of dividend from the NSC and State Farms Corporation of India (SFCI). The NSC, a category I Mini Ratna company, has achieved a record turnover of Rs.472 crore – 62 percent higher than previous year. It produced more than 15.10 lakh quintals of quality seeds in the current year as against 10.18 lakh quintals during last year, said a statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry. The NSC cheque of Rs.2.26 crore was presented by its CMD, S.K. Roongta. SFCI also presented a dividend cheque of Rs.1.57 crore to the minister. The NSC declared dividend of 11 percent on its paid up share capital which is the highest payout since its inception. The production of oilseeds and pulses increased from 3.89 lakh quintals in 2008-09 to 6.89 lakh quintals during the current year. The production of vegetable seeds registered an increase of 31 percent over the previous year. The turnover of SFCI increased from Rs.195.26 crore in 2008-09 to Rs.266.21 crore in 2009-10 recording an increase of 36 percent. Its net profit increased from 9.77 crore in 2008-09 to 21.53 crore in 2009-10 with an increase of 120 percent. It is for the first time that the corporation paid dividend of Rs.1.57 crore to the central government.

AAU to help farmers through SMS

Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat has planning to collect mobile phone numbers of 10 lakh farmers of the State to provide them agricultural support through the SMS. The new scheme will begin from the next session, as disclosed by the vice-chancellor of the university Dr KM Bujarbaruah.

Govt mulling plans to ban Tobacco products

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is in mood of waging the “JIHAD” against the tobacco use after a report of the first Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)-India declared India as the World’s 2^nd largest tobacco consumer. Health Minister also shared that the ministry is working on the modalities of slowly, bringing the strict regulation in tobacco cultivation, as still there are lot many livelihood are directly dependent on tobacco and thus the famers cannot be endangered, but issues a stern warning that, indefinitely we can’t tolerate a public health hazard in the name of protecting livelihoods. GATS India provides information on both, tobacco smoking and use of smokeless tobacco along with varied dimensions of tobacco use including use of different tobacco products, frequency of use, age at the time of initiation and the like. Additionally the report throws light on the other aspects of tobacco use like, exposure to second-hand smoke; cessation; the economies of tobacco; exposure to media messages on tobacco use; and knowledge of health impact of tobacco use. The Adult Tobacco Survey (ATS) is an important component of the country's comprehensive tobacco control programme and reflects an efficient and systematic surveillance mechanism to monitor the tobacco epidemic through collection of baseline data and study of key tobacco control indicators. GATS also found that teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 years buy tobacoo from stores and 1 in every 3 adults in India smokes or chews tobacco and second-hand smoke remains a big problem in the country. The survey, covering 76,000 households from across the country, has also indicated that women smokers in India light up more cigarettes daily than men who smoke, although the use of tobacco is higher in men than women. Public health experts say around 196 million men and 77 million women are tobacco users in India in this present scenario. An estimated 274.9 million Indians consume tobacco, the first Global Adult Tobacco Survey said. Nearly 0.9 million tobacco-related deaths occur in India annually as compared to 5.5 million world wide. Eight to ten lakh persons die of tobacco related diseases every year and this reflects a higher mortality than the combined deaths resulting from other major diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV AIDS and malaria. Further, the report revealed widespread tobacco use among the youth, with more than 15 percent of youngsters under 15 years of age, and nearly 25 percent of those between 15 to 17 years consuming tobacco. The figure for those in the 18 to 19 age bracket was 19 percent. The mean age of starting tobacco use was found to be 17.8 years. Surprisingly, while the mean age for boys was 18 years, for girls it was 17 years. Further, the report revealed widespread tobacco use among the youth, with more than 15 percent of youngsters under 15 years of age, and nearly 25 percent of those between 15 to 17 years consuming tobacco. The figure for those in the 18 to 19 age bracket was 19 percent. The mean age of starting tobacco use was found to be 17.8 years. Surprisingly, while the mean age for boys was 18 years, for girls it was 17 years. "As a result of stringent tobacco control initiatives by the developed countries, the tobacco industry has shifted its base to the developing country. Countries such as India are being targeted as potential markets," Azad said. The ban on smoking in public spaces too seemed to have little effect. In terms of region, the north eastern states have the highest number of tobacco users, with 19.3 percent people using tobacco in one form or the other. Mizoram tops the list with nearly 40 percent users, while Goa is at the bottom with 4.8 percent. The survey was conducted under the supervision of the health ministry by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, an autonomous organisation of ministry. Technical assistance was provided by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and RTI International. Interviews of 69,296 adults (15 years and above) were conducted, with 33,767 men and 35,529 women. The sample size was of 72,000 households and the survey was carried out in 19 languages. Only, 3 out of 5 (61%) tobacco users notice the health warning on tobacco packages. For bringing the resolution to force and his words translate into action, the health ministry is seeking to collaborate with the agriculture ministry, and other Ministries like Rural Development, Labour dept. etc. to seek alternative crops for tobacco farmers.

Brisk apple buying, on account of price drop

Too many apples a day aren’t certainly good for growers. A bumper harvest in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradeesh has pushed down prices by a fifth over last year, causing further distress in the state, though corporate buyers such as Concor and Adani are purchasing briskly. The current prices at Shimla mandis are varying between Rs 300 and Rs 700 for a 20-22-kg box depending on the quality. The Kinnaur price is between Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,500 for a 20-22-kg box. The Jammu and Kashmir prices are varying from Rs 200 to Rs 800 for a 25-kg box. In Himachal, the crop is likely to touch 37.5-40 million boxes from the earlier expected 25 million boxes. Kashmir produces over 12 lakh metric tonnes a year and this year’s produce is over 30% from last year, but as per few sources, It would have been double but inclement weather, hailstorm and speedy winds destroyed most of the additional crop. The Kashmir apple grower is suffering from two immediate reasons — over-production in Himachal Pradesh and delayed monsoons. Usually, there was a gap of one month between the harvesting in Himachal and Kashmir and by Diwali, the rich harvest from J&K would start going to the market. The panic in Kashmir has added to the crisis. Currently, 700-800 truckloads are going to the Azadpur mandi against the demand of 300 truckloads. This has triggered a glut and a fall in the prices. With an 18,000-tonne controlled atmosphere (CA) storage in Himachal Pradesh, Adani’s Agri Fresh is hopeful of procuring over 25,000 tonne this year from both states, as in the previous year, due to high prices Adanis were only able to procure 9,000 tonne apple. Many other local Kashmir and Himachal based entrepreneurs has initiated the buy-out, as the harvesting has commenced and supposed to touch its maxima within a or, next two weeks.

SBI grants highest ever loan for Dairy projects in Punjab

Biggest Public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI) has earmarked Rs 300 cr for Dairy firms in the current fiscal, only for the state of Punjab. This is the biggest ever fresh loan provided to the sector and supposed to encourage the dairy in the beleagured state. In the last fiscal SBI had lent just Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore to the dairy sector in Punjab. Significantly, lending to the dairy sector will comprise close to 25 per cent of SBI's total fresh farm advances targeted for Punjab and Haryana states in the current fiscal. SBI has also roped in Punjab Dairy Development Board and Progressive Dairy Farmers' Association to lend money for setting up commercial dairy venture in Punjab as the state government is laying emphasis on encouraging more and more farmers to adopt dairy as their main profession to come out of traditional wheat-paddy rotation to earn remunerative returns. SBI, with margin money of 25 per cent of total project cost, will be disbursing loan at 10 per cent rate of interest for dairy farm having cows and 10.5 per cent for dairy farm of buffaloes for a tenure of 7 and 9 years, respectively. Apart from this, the bank will not be charging principal amount for two years from the borrowers.

Bharat Krishak Samaj launches magazine for farmers

Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS), a non- governmental organisation working for promoting farmers' interest announced the launch of a bi-monthly magazine ''Farmers Forum''. The first edition of the magazine was inaugurated by Union Minister for Power Shusilkumar Shinde in the presence of other dignitaries, including Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mahadev Singh Khandela. Bharat Krishak Samaj is thought to having the patronage of more 75,000 progressive farmers, mainly spread across the Jat lands of western UP, Haryana, parts of Punjab and Rajasthan. Earlier, BKS was led by Dr Krishanbir Chaudhary, but as believed he has been the victim of nepotism, aka favouratism, recently been overtaken by Sh. Ajay Jakhar, grandson of most decorated farm leader and former governor Sh. Balram Jakhar.

ICAR declared NET'10 results

http://www.icar.org.in/en/node/2121

Indian Tea to get new logo

The existing logo depicting Indian Tea, a lady in black & white carrying a wicker basket of three tea leaves strapped to her head, the 34 year old India Tea logo may soon going to be replaced with a new one, to give it a more contemporary look. Related with the same Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union minister of state for commerce has recently set up a task force to improve the brand image of Indian tea, with a new logo.

The current logo incidentally was introduced as a marketing symbol and is protected under copyright as well as certification trade mark. Mr Scindia already has had a round of discussions with producers, merchant exporters and Tea Board of India. The minister plans to create an umbrella brand for Indian tea, which is more vibrant, youthful, exciting and visually connects the rich heritage of Indian tea. He has asked all the stakeholders of the tea industry to hold brainstorming sessions and come up with suggestions. Tea Board is likely to appoint an advertising agency, which will help the industry to give a shape to this new logo. Adman Piyush Pandey, who was a tea taster in Kolkata before joining Ogilvy & Mather India in 1982, is expected to help the commerce ministry and Tea Board of India in this exercise.

The move to change this age old traditional logo has thrown open a vigorous debate. While a section of the industry feels that the current logo does not visually connect to Indian tea, there are others who feel that the logo, which has become synonymous with Indian tea should not be completely changed, since world markets have come to accept the logo for over three decades. The new logo will have to registered in all the export markets so that it is not be misused by unscrupulous traders.

India eyeing overseas for its fertilizer capacity building

To augment the prodn of fertilisers in the country, India is now looking forward and establish the manufacturing facilities well at the place of its resource. In this course, India has already signed a pact with Syria, and is in the process of working out agreements with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, without making much hue&cry. A feasibility study was also conducted for these projects, jointly by Projects and Development India Ltd (PDIL) and RITES at a cost of $1.5 million for the GOI. Although the domestic supply of DAP has exceeded demand this year, the increased capacity abroad will help hedge against future shortfalls. Rock phosphate, the main ingredient required for the production of DAP, will be provided by Syria. According to estimates, Syria has rock phosphate reserves to the tune of 1,800 mt, with an annual production capacity of just 3 mt. This rock phosphate reserve, the 11th largest in the world, could last Syria at least another 100 years. India is also looking to establish gas-based urea production capacities in Saudi Arabia and coal-based urea production facilities in Indonesia. Analysts say that the landed cost of gas in Saudi Arabia comes to about $1.2 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), as against $6-6.5 per mmBtu in India. So, although the cost of setting up a urea plant in Saudi Arabia would be the same as in India, the feedstock cost would be a fifth of that in India. India is looking to set up a coal-based urea plant in Indonesia. Indonesia is the sixth largest producer of coal in the world. Analysts say that although Australian coal is superior in quality, low-ranked Indonesian coal is cheaper and, therefore, increased demand will force India to increasingly switch to Indonesian coal. In countries like China, coal gasification is fast becoming the preferred method for urea production. So Indonesia, with its huge reserves of relatively cheap coal, is an ideal place to set up captive capacitie. India’s annual urea consumption is 27 mt, as against a domestic production of 22 mt. The deficit is made good by imports.

Sharp rise in Pulses support prices likely to follow

Govt is mulling with the idea of raising the MSP of pulses for the upcoming rabi season. Earlier, higher support prices for kharif pulses has resulted in a sharp jump in acreage under cultivation and production is estimated to rise to 6 million tonnes in the kharif season of the 2010-11 crop year. The Agriculture Ministry has proposed a Rs 20 hike in the MSP of wheat to Rs 1,120 a quintal, while the support price for pulses could be hiked by up to Rs 420 a quintal. In the pulses category, the MSP of masoor may increase to Rs 2,250 from Rs 1,830 per quintal, while that of gram could rise from Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,760 per quintal. MSP for mustard seeds would be raised marginally by Rs 20 to Rs 1,850 per quintal. The proposal to increase the MSP of rabi crops is likely to be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) hopefully by this week. The government aims to increase the pulses output by two million tonnes in the 2010-11 crop year to 16.5 million tonnes. To achieve this, it had raised the MSP of kharif pulses significantly and now it plans to do the same for rabi pulses such as gram and masoor. Higher support prices for kharif pulses had resulted in a sharp jump in acreage under cultivation and production is estimated to rise to 6 million tonnes in the kharif season of the 2010-11 crop year from 4.3 million tonnes in the year-ago period. India, the largest producer of pulses, has to import 3-4 million tonnes every fiscal to meet domestic demand of 18-19 million tonnes.

Andhra hikes subsidy on farm insurance premium

AP govt has recently announced an increase in subsidy on the premium amounts of crop insurance beginning this rabi season under the Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS). Three important components were announced in the new scheme, namely, extending the insurance cover for damages at the sowing stage itself, mid-season crop failure and post-harvest claim. The NAIS provides insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of natural calamities, pests and diseases.

India to add 17 lakhs mt food storage capacity within 5 years

After taken straightwards from the apex court (SC) and on many accounts by the parlimentrians and farmers down the road, the Agri ministry has finally accepted the shortage of food storage capacity. And in order to boost and modernise the traditional system, which is still followed thoughout India, by the godowns owned by FCI and other stet warehouse authorities, even the official and the ministers himself visited many countries of interest, China, Israel, Argentina etc. At least 50 % of the capacity would have been planned to be added by 2011 December, and the rest by 2012. So, it will be in steps to improve the storage capacity with modern technology, as million tonnes of precious foodgrains get rot, being left under open sky, on the mercy of rain god.

Crop loan refinancing to reap good harvest this year

Crop loan refinancing is set to jump 54% on a planting surge, following bountiful monsoon that prompted the Nabard to seek more govt funding. Nabard has requested the finance ministry to raise the government budget on interest subvention to match the higher demand and it is expected that the government may need to raise the subvention amount for Nabard to around 2,000crore from 1,300 crore estimated in February. Unless Nabard will get the required government support, it will be in difficulty to cater to the rising demand for crop loan refinance, especially from co-operative banks.

Rallis India Q2 net rises 28% on higher kharif acreage

A seven per cent increase in the kharif acreage has helped Rallis India report a 28 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. The net profit for the quarter under review stood at Rs 58.7 crore as against Rs 45.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.The company's net sales for the quarter stood at Rs363 crore, a growth of 15 per cent over Rs 317 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The key growth drivers were thought to be a good monsoon, which resulted in the kharif crop acreage increasing by seven per cent and significant growth in exports.

Coffee debt-relief package runs into RBI roadblock

The implementation of the Coffee Debt Relief Package, 2010, has run into trouble, with the Reserve Bank unwilling to treat the non-performing assets of coffee growers, as on June 30, 2009, as standard assets. The Union Commerce Ministry has urged RBI to reconsider its position, while requesting it to issue guidelines on loan restructuring at the earliest. Banks cannot effectively implement either the waiver or the restructuring of loans without being clear on how NPAs should be treated. If RBI does not relax its position on NPAs, the purpose of the package will be defeated. Meanwhile, the Indian Banks' Association, in its meeting held a month ago, had also suggested that the coffee growers' outstanding loans be restructured. Banks in Karnataka with exposure to the coffee sector have also urged the RBI to treat NPAs as regular assets.

Bengal towards Organic

The eastern part of the country, which is still more or less organic by default and the poor affordability of the small & marginal farmers, spread across the region. As the region is marred with the problem of regular inundation and in times water deficit too. So, in line a very positive move of the West Bengal Govt to promote the organic farming in state, much after the earlier efforts of the other Southern, Northern (UK), MP and some NE states. Bengal has a rich legacy of farming, added with its fertile gangetic belt and the expert growers. Under the program the state govt is promoting the use of biofertilisers, bio-seeds, organic fertilisers and other biotechnology based farm inputs, which are sustainable and may cause least damage to the environment. Organic manures, neem based fertilisers and pesticides, other than the livestock excreta (dung and urine) based products are likely to get a hand in almost 134 bio-villages, well spread throughout the state. The step by the state govt may be worth appreciation, when Small and marginal farmers hold 84% of the farm land in Bengal against the national average of 43. Of this, 72% of such holding has irrigation coverage in West Bengal against the national average of 44%.

India heading towards severe water deficit

A latest report by Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected that in 2030, India and many other major Asian nations are going to face the water shortage problems, which may diectly or indirectly going to affect their economy and food security scenario. Among the region’s largest countries, the ADB estimated India would have a water deficit of 50 per cent by 2030 while China would have a shortage of 25 per cent. China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Cambodia are currently feeling the heaviest impacts of the water shortage in terms of food and energy production as well as ecological damage, as per the report. ADB faulted weak enforcement of laws for the degradation of Asian water quality, with between 80 and 89 per cent of all untreated wastewater leaching into fresh water in east and south Asia, respectively. It also highlighted that while irrigated agriculture uses up 80 per cent of the region's fresh water, there have been only very minimal irrigation efficiencies since 1990. On current trends, this would lead to a 40 per cent gap between water demand and supply in Asia by 2030.

PEPSICO collaborates with famers for water conservation

In Panipat, Haryana, Pepsico has associated with the local farers and successfully completed a water conservation initiative. The project has two legs—water recharge structures aimed at improving the water availability for the neighbouring community and direct seeding of paddy that helps reduce water consumption by one-third in paddy cultivation. According to company officials, the projects will benefit nearly 200 families in and around Panipat and save 220 million litres of water in 2010. The program has been initiated in early 2007 itself and going to benefit directly 1,00,000 farmers of the region. PepsiCo India started out in Panipat by assessing the farmers’ needs and designing a water project accordingly. As a part of the venture, PepsiCo has constructed four ponds with induced recharging system that would enhance ground water recharge in three villages — Babarpur, Gudha and Ganjbar. With PepsiCo’s pioneering initiative of the Direct Seeding Methodology (DSM), a total of 4.7 billion liters of water was saved in 2009 alone. DSM helps save as much as 30 per cent water in paddy cultivation and also helps reduce cost for the farmers by up toRs 1500 an acre. This initiative has been introduced over 75 acres in Panipat in 2010 and will help save 45 million liters of water. With concerted efforts, PepsiCo aims to cover 200 acres in Panipat, thus saving close to 180 million liters of water in the next two years. Haryana Agriculture University (Hissar) and other institutions are also participating in agricultural extension initiatives in these villages. PepsiCo teams will continue working in Panipat, forming women’s self help groups and other initiatives to ensure that the community was mobilized and the improved water availability had the maximum impact.

RBI divests Nabard stake to Govt

Amid the debate over whether RBI should hold stake in lending institutions or only be a regulator, the central bank has sold almost all its holding in the apex agriculture and rural development bank, Nabard, to the Government of India. RBI divested its stake amounting to Rs 1,430 crore in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on October 13, 2010. With this, the Reserve Bank's holding in Nabard has come down to one per cent of shareholding in NABARD. The Government of India now holds 99 per cent of the stake. The move comes more than three years after RBI sold its entire stake in the country's largest lender State Bank of India to the government. The Reserve Bank held 72.5 per cent of equity in Nabard amounting to Rs 1,450 crore. The remaining shareholding worth Rs 550 crore was with the Government of India. The Union Cabinet in May 2008 had approved RBI' proposal to transfer its share holding in Nabard to the Government. Now, the only major institution where RBI holds a stake is National Housing Bank (NHB). The central bank hold 100 per cent stake in the housing finance regulator.

Prez appealed for more Tech support to the farm sector

President Smt Pratibha DeviSingh Patil has asked for more technological support to be provided for bringing the needed thrust to the farm sector. She stessed for a revolutionary change for enhancing the alomost stagnated yield. As per her statement farmers should be open to adopt the modern practices and carry over the necessary changes in the traditional farming practices and water management issues. As the country stood at the threshold of a second green revolution, an improved rural economy would mitigate the problem of rapid urbanisation. The President noted that effective role of local self-governments in the country with a participation of about 12 lakh women representatives had given momentum to political empowerment of the fairer sex.

Amira foods to supply 50 Th tonnes rice to B.desh

Largest rice exporter of India, Amira food has stuck a deal to supply 60,000 t of paraboiled rice to our eastern neighbourer Bangladesh. The whole consignment has to be shipped into two equal parts of 30,000 t each, by the yer end. The importing country is aggressive on buying as the dearth of foodgrains created in the view of widespread flood.

Himachal to market Apple manure

After Himachali apple, now it is the turn of the Apple manures to rule over the roost throughout the country. As HP is the major Apple producer, after Kashmir but lot of fruits, which accounts for not less than 30-35% get rot and spoiled due to poor handling and post harvest operations. Thus, this thought only spaked in the minds of the authorities and they handed the responsibility to the state marketing board, HPMC for the marketing of the production and YS Parmar UHF in pruduction technicality. This year Himachal is heading towards all-time record of apple production of around 4.5 cr boxes, unlike the last year lowest prodn of just 1.4 cr boxes. The apple manure would be marketed all across the country, mainly through the well- spread outlets of HPMC.

AP to introduce groundnut harvesters

As a measure of some relief to the drought hit farmers of the Anantpur distt of Andhra, the state has announced to made available the groundnut harvester from Kolkata based firm at subsidised rate. Groundnut is the major crop in the water scare region, which is only next to the Jaisalmer area of Rajasthan in terms of poor rainfall. The private has quote for 1.8 lakhs for each harvester, which is too far from the region's resource scare farmers. So, govt asked the ANGRAU to develop the affordable model in association with the firm @ Rs 70k.

Centre to call Agri Ministers meet on Sugar decontrol

After much hue & cry, centre is mulling for decontrolling the sugar industry, but only evolving a consensus among all the stkaleholders and the concerned state govt miniters. But it is apprehended that bigger cats in the sugar prodn, like UP, Maharashtra, TN and Karnataka will not easily fall in line, at the cost of huge exchequer loss to the easy-earned- earnings.

Amazan Agro launches "Pureline" brand of Mustard oil

Swastika Mukherjee, the haute face of tollywood launched the "Pureline" brand of Mustard oil in Kolakata. The product has been developed by adopting Kachi Ghani, century old traditional process to create a unique combination of purity, aroma and taste through retention of natural ingredients to address the growing consumer focus on health and wellness. The technology helps control the pungency, viscosity and frothing while cooking, in such a manner that oil does not lose its natural nutrients. The quality mustard seeds will be outsourced from Jaipur, Alwar and Bharatpur and the edible oil will be produced at a plant in Jaipur. Pureline is the first foray of Amazan Agro Products Ltd in the edible oil brand, which is a part of Rs 500 cr Amazan Group.

FCI backtracked from making direct payment to farmers

It seems govt has once again kneeled down before the middlemens' lobby on making direct payment to paddy farmers for the upcoming crop season. In a directive issued, FCI HQs at Punjab & Haryana circle extended the proposal to next year or, even further till the order comes from the higher authorities. FCI had procured over 650 tonne from Bhatinda and Kapurthala by making direct payments to farmers before the order came. In Punjab, the FCI will be procuring over 10% of the total procurement of 13.7 million tonne this season. Similarly inHaryana, FCI will procure 5% of the 2.7 million tonne paddy, which arrives in themandis. It shows how farmers are still nowhere in front of the mighty arthiyas or commission agents. By supporting them, the state government is also against the farmer’s growth. Commission agents are a link between farmers and buyers for facilitating the auction and delivery of the produce. Despite the fact that the commission agents do not have any significant role in the procurement of those crops (wheat and paddy) in which assured marketing prevails, they get 2.5% commission from the procuring agencies. Since 2006, the Punjab State Farmers Commission has recommended that payment should be made to farmers directly via cheques. It was estimated that commission agents have earned about 6427.27 crore from 1989-90 to 2009-10 on the marketing of commodities. On an average, the commission agents earned commission amounting to306.07 crore per annum on all commodities since 1989-90.

Rubber Board chief to head ANRPC

Mr Sajan Peter, chairman of Rubber Board has been elected as the chairman of "Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC)". He has been holding the charge of Rubber Board since 2005. ANRPC is an inter-governmental orgnisation established in 1970 and currently has 11 member countries- Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries account for around 92% of natural rubber production in the world. The ANRPC Assembly held at Kochi appointed Dr Kamarul Baharain Bin Basir, Director General, Malaysian Rubber Board, as Secretary-General for the next term. He will take charge as Secretary-General in June 2011, when the tenure of Prof. Djoko S. Damarjati ends. The next ANRPC meetings will be held at Beijing.

Nagarjuna Agri to set up 3 wind turbines in TN

Three Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) @ Rs 34 cr at Tirunelveli distt. of Tamil Nadu. The two WTGs has already been commissioned on Sptember 28 and the third on the following day. The step has been taken as a move of the corporate giant towards the clean development mechanism and its benefits to the local community.

Banks eyeing on farm business sector

Top public sector and private banks are targetting the agri business sector as the most promising area with latent potentials. In this direction, banks have already rolled many new farm centric programs and policies for better value - added investments in the sector. State Bank of India (SBI) would be launching some more agriculture commercial branches (ACBs) in the Southern regions like Hyderabad, Coimbatore, etc. Canara Bank is also expected to introduce agriculture marketing cells across its 10 specialised agriculture finance branches. Corporation Bank has announced the introduction of agriculture finance cells in its branches. Besides these public sector banks, Axis Bank the private sector major is also offering services for the borrowers through its 12 agri business centres, 15 commodity business centres and 66 agri clusters.

These banks are also on spree mood to recruit the agri graduates and agri business managers to handle the upcoming challenging area of Indian farmland.

BASF India coming up with 6 new agro-chemicals

BASF India, the subsidiary of agro-chem major BASF group is about to launch crop protection products for soybean, fruits and vegetables. The company is also looking forward to venture into cereals and corns with the herbicides.

Bengal starts direct Potato procurement

Looking into the malpractices by the traders and middlemen, the WB govt has initiated the direct procurement of potato thorughout the state. Bengal is the 2nd largest potato producer and all set to double the production with touching around 10 ml tonnes. Till now, govt has procured the 9.7 lakh tonnes of potato @ Rs 3.5 /kg, from which half would be sold through PDS and remaining could be lifted by traders @ Rs 4/kg. The bumper load would be transported to Orissa, NE states, Southern parts and other non-potato producing regions of the country.

Hunger persists, despite high growth

The Hunger scenario has not much changed in the Indian waters, despite the bigger claims of growth and super-power. Unlike, China and other developing nations, the growth has not translated in reducing the hunger and not even percolated to the larger and needy sections of the society. India, still ranks 67th in an 84-country ranking and has more hungry people than its neighbouring countries. Agri reforms must be used to tackle the menace of hunger, as expressed by Asia Director of IFPRI, a US based Food Policy think tank. Gulati pointed out China has been successful in expanding its economy fast, with reforms in agriculture followed by manufacturing and services sectors. "On the contrary, India''s growth story is more focused on services sector, especially IT and telecom. Agriculture sector is still waiting for reforms," he noted. World Development Report of 2008 states that one per cent agriculture growth is 2-3 times more effective in reducing poverty.

“State governments do not allow leasing of land while China leased land for 30 years. Agriculture in India is the most controlled sector,” said Gulati. India's agricultural growth in 2009-10 fell to 0.2 per cent, while it was 1.6 per cent last year. Akhter Ahmed, senior research fellow at IFPRI, said India is following the failed Soviet Union model. “Why is the government storing more than 100 per cent buffer stock resulting in rotting of foodgrains? The level of buffer stock to be maintained should be based on research as storing food grains is a costly affair.” “Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh that have fared better than India abolished ration system in 1990s as it has corruption and leakage issues. Bangladesh started a programme where it distributes 30 kg rice or wheat to a family that sends its child to school. Such policies helped in long term poverty reduction,” said Akhter. “We need to change the public distribution system by linking unique identification number with bank accounts and have conditional cash transfer where the beneficiary should be allowed to buy from 15 listed food items,” said Gulati.