Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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darshhan
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by darshhan »

nandakumar wrote:
Prasad wrote:Exactly. If it is done once, you need to actively discourage it the next year. As we've seen in maharashtra earlier, even despite drought they continue to produce vast amounts of sugarcane. Converting them to fuel and creating a dependency of this sort will make it entirely impossible to reduce sugar production.
I have spoken to some people who are familiar with the farm economics. What they say is that with the exception of rice and wheat and to some extent cotton, sugarcane cultivation offers the farmer some advantage which other produces lack. First and foremost there is marketing certainty. Once the Tahsildar issues a cane cutting order sugar mill cannot refuse to accept it. There is price certainty. Above all there is negligible crop wastage. For all the hassles in cultivation and payment from mills, farmers if their land is capable of growing sugarcane, they prefer to do so.
Plus once you sow the crop, it produces sugarcane for 3 years.
Kakkaji
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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Centre drafts 4-pronged strategy to lift oilseeds output
The Centre plans to distribute seed kits of high-yielding soyabean and groundnut varieties free of cost to farmers as part of its four-pronged approach to increase oilseeds production in the country. The free kits are worth ₹233 crore that will be distributed during the Kharif season starting June.

The four-pronged action plan envisaged by the Centre — with the help of State seed agencies — includes distribution of seeds of soyabean varieties yielding not less than 20 quintals per hectare worth ₹104 crore to farmers in 73 high potential districts across in eight States such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, covering an additional area of 3.9 lakh hectares (lha).

Besides, it would explore the possibility of growing soyabean as an inter-crop in an area of around 1,47,500 hectares in 41 districts in six States, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. The seeds used for this is expected to cost around ₹76 crore. The third one will cover 90 districts in nine States, consisting all major eight soyabean growing States and Bihar. The Central government seed agencies will supply seed mini kits worth ₹40 crore for the same.

The fourth one is focused on groundnut where seeds worth ₹13 crore will be given to farmers in seven States such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The productivity of these groundnut varieties is expected to be not less than 22 quintals/ha per hectare, the statement said. The Centre expects this will result in additional production of 12 lakh tonnes of oilseeds as an additional 6.37 lha will be brought under oilseed crops, including soyabean and groundnut, an official statement said. This will result in producing another 2.4 lakh tonnes of edible oils in addition to the annual production of 10-11 million tonnes.

This could see the area under oilseeds topping 200 lakh hectares during the Kharif season from 197 lha last Kharif and the normal 181 lha.

India, which consumes nearly 25 million tonnes of edible oil, depends on imports to meet nearly 60 per cent of its edible oil requirement. India’s annual import of edible oil totals about 14.5 million tonnes with over ₹80,000 crore of precious foreign exchange being spent on these shipments. Two-thirds or over nine million tonnes of edible oil imports are in the form of palm group of oils from Malaysia and Indonesia. While India imposes 35.75 per cent as Customs duty and cess on palm oil imports, Indian customers also have to pay for the export taxes that Indonesia and Malaysia levy on exports of these oils from their soil.

While the normal kharif oilseed area is little more than 181 lha, Indian planted close to 197 lha in the previous kharif season.

Earlier this month, the Centre said it would attempt to increase pulses production by expanding the area under the protein-rich crops through inter-cropping. It said the area under pulses would be increased by 4.05 lha with 20.27 lakh seed mini kits of various Kharif pulses being distributed.
Kakkaji
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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10,000 bee-keepers register for hive-to-tongue traceability project
Nearly 10,000 bee-keepers in the country have registered under an initiative of the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) to provide hive-to-tongue traceability of honey and its products, according to BNS Murthy, Horticulture Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare.

he said this project uses blockchain technology

Honey collected from these people will be put into the major domestic and export markets in the coming days, he said. With the quality honey, farmers can get good returns for honey they harvest.

Consumers, who are looking at quality honey as an immunity booster during this pandemic, will be guaranteed of quality honey with this initiative. The traceability initiative is beneficial for both the producer and consumer, he said.
Kakkaji
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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Jackfruits from Tripura exported to London
In a major step towards harnessing exports potential of agricultural and processed food products from north-eastern region, a shipment of 1.2 metric tonne (MT) of fresh jackfruit was today exported from Tripura to London.

Jackfruits were sourced from the Tripura based Krishi Sanyoga Agro Producer Company Ltd. The consignment was packed at APEDA assisted pack-house facility of Salt Range Supply Chain Solution Ltd and exported by Kiega EXIM Pvt Ltd.

This was the first APEDA assisted pack house for exports to European Union, which was approved in May 2021. APEDA regularly carries out promotional activities to bring the North- Eastern states on the export map of India.

Recently, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was sent to the USA from Assam. Iron rich ‘red rice’ is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer. The rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan’, which is an integral part of the Assamese food.
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Oil companies, sugar mills work in sync to put India’s ethanol blending programme on track
318 crore litres of ethanol have been contracted for supply during the current ethanol year

India seems to be on track with its ambitious plan to blend up to 20 per cent ethanol in petrol. In April, public sector oil refiners-cum-retailers have been able to achieve an ethanol blending of 7.63 per cent at the national level. In fact, as many as 11 States across the country have managed to touch 10 per cent blending.
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First consignment of GI certified Shahi Litchi from Bihar exported to UK: Commerce ministry
India exported the season's first consignment of Shahi Litchi from Bihar to the United Kingdom by air route on Monday, the commerce ministry said. It was a GI-certified product. The GI tag helps growers get premium price of the product as no other producer can misuse the name to market similar goods.
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Need to cut incentives for paddy cultivation: Siraj Hussain, former agriculture secretary
The incentive for growing paddy has to come down and the same for alternate crops, for which India is import-dependent, has to increase.

Siraj Hussain spent 18 years of his career handling agriculture, food and allied sectors in Centre as well as Uttar Pradesh, out of which 10 years as joint secretary, additional secretary and secretary in the Union government. He was also chairman and managing director of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) during 2010-12. Currently, he is a senior visiting fellow at the Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier). Hussain spoke to FE’s Prabhudatta Mishra on several issues in Indian agriculture — from surplus food management to the impact of Covid-19 cases in the rural areas and from growing alternative crops of paddy to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils.
Kakkaji
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CMFRI’s novel venture yields bumper harvest of green mussels

T
he marine institute reaped rich harvest through its integrated farming combined with cage fish and seaweed farming

An experimental farming on a commercial scale has proved that the innovative farming technology — Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) practice — is successful and well suitable to Kerala’s ecosystem.

A bumper harvest of green mussel was recorded in the integrated farming combined with cage fish and seaweed farming undertaken by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute under participatory mode with fish farmers in Moothakunnam in Ernakulam district.

A good harvest with better growth rate of green mussel showed that IMTA practice is economically feasible and well suitable to Kerala’s condition. A scientific team led by Shoji Joseph, Principal Scientist of CMFRI, also observed that the fishes inside the cage attained better growth and seaweed being cultured around the cage showed healthy status with fast growth rate. Fish will be harvested by the end of the next month.
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Israel to help 75 villages with intensive modern farming
Indo-Israeli Villages of Excellence is aimed at creating a model ecosystem in agriculture across eight States, alongside 13 centres of excellence

As part of its deepening bilateral ties with India in agriculture, Israel will help 75 villages in eight States to transform traditional farms into modern intensive farms which can provide farmers with better net income and better livelihood.

The Indo-Israeli Villages of Excellence project (IIVoE) is a new programme under the fifth Indo-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP) signed between the two countries on Monday. Under the IIAP, first initiated in 2008, Israel has set up 29 Centres of Excellence (CoE) in 12 States for implementing advanced intensive agriculture farms tailored to local conditions. Besides, five such CoEs are under construction. These CoEs generate knowledge, demonstrate best practices and train farmers. Every year, they produce more than 25 million quality vegetable seedlings, 3.87 lakh quality fruit plants and train more than 1.2 lakh Indian farmers about latest technology in the field of horticulture.
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India's foodgrain output to rise 2.66% to record 305.43 MT in 2020-21, says government.

India's foodgrain production is estimated to rise 2.66 per cent to a new record of 305.43 million tonnes in the current crop year 2020-21, on better output of rice, wheat and pulses amid good monsoon rains last year, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. In the 2019-20 crop year (July-June), the country's foodgrain output (comprising wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals) stood at a record 297.5 million tonnes.

Releasing the third advance estimates for the 2020-21 crop year, the agriculture ministry said foodgrain production is projected at a record 305.43 million tonnes.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar attributed the rise in production to efforts of the farmers and scientists as well as policies of the central government.

As per the data, rice production is pegged at a record 121.46 million tonne in the 2020-21 crop year as against million tonne in the previous year.

Wheat production is estimated to increase to a record 108.75 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 107.86 million tonnes in the previous year, while output of coarse cereals is likely to increase to 49.66 million tonnes, from 47.75 million tonnes a year ago.

Pulses output is estimated at 25.56 million tonnes, a rise as compared with 23.03 million tonnes in 2019-20 crop year.

In the non-foodgrain category, the production of oilseeds is estimated at 36.56 million tonnes in 2020-21 as against 33.21 million tonnes in the previous year.

Sugarcane production is pegged at 392.79 million tonnes from 370.50 million tonnes in the previous year, while cotton output is expected to be higher at 36.49 million bales (170 kg each) from 36.07 million bales in the previous year.

Production of jute/mesta is estimated to drop slightly to 9.62 million bales (180 kg each) in 2020-21 crop year, from 9.87 million bales in the previous year.

The ministry said the foodgrains estimates have been made based on the inputs from states.
arshyam
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by arshyam »

This is a good move, given the looming water shortages in these states that are not suited for paddy cultivation. I hope Punjab also adopts a similar model to diversify. Would moving away from paddy help curb the crop burning activities?

Haryana Govt To Give Rs 7,000 Per Acre To Farmers Who Shift Out Of Paddy Cultivation To Lessen Water-Guzzling Crops - Swarajya
The Haryana state government is set to encourage farmers to shift away from cultivating the water-guzzling paddy crop on two lakh acres this year.

JP Dalal, Haryana’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, explained to The Indian Express that the government would roll out an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre to farmers who cultivate maize, cotton, pulses and horticulture crops instead of paddy.

This monetary benefit will be provided under the ‘Mera Paani-Meri Virasat’ campaign, which aims to reduce the massive usage of water that is otherwise required in paddy fields.

Moreover, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government will provide an insurance cover amounting between Rs 30,000-Rs 40,000 per acre to cultivators who decide to substitute paddy with fruits and vegetables for a small premium.

There is a massive opportunity for the development of horticulture in Haryana as 60 per cent of its area falls in the national capital region (NCR), which could further facilitate the delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables to Delhi residents.

Farmers will also be motivated to grow pulses like urad, moth bean and moong as these products tend to attract lucrative prices in the market.

The ‘Mera Paani-Meri Virasat’ initiative was launched in 2020, and it targeted reducing the area of land used to cultivate paddy by one lakh acres last year.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by rsingh »

^^^^
.....and let our Rajasthani brothers to grow paddy in arid areas. Have seen people growing paddy with using canal water in extremely dry desert.
Kakkaji
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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Roadmap for Self Sufficiency in Pulses and Oilseeds
The Seed Minikit Programme was launched by Union Agriculture Minster Sh. Narendra Singh Tomar today by distributing Seed Minikits (higher yielding varieties of seeds) to farmers.

Addressing the farmers, Union Agriculture Minister mentioned that the Central government in collaboration with states has been implementing various activities to enhance production and productivity of pulses and oilseeds under the National Food Security Mission. From the year 2014-15, there has been a renewed focus on increasing the production of pulses and oilseeds. The efforts have yielded good results. Oilseeds production has increased from 27.51 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 36.57 million tonnes in 2020-21 ( 3rd advance estimates), while pulses production has increased from 17.15 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 25.56 million tonnes in 2020-21 ( 3rdadvance estimates He stated that though trends in area, production and productivity of oilseeds and pulses are encouraging, but these need further acceleration. He mentioned that the Seed Minikits programme is a major tool for introducing new varieties of seeds in the farmers fields and is instrumental for increasing the seed replacement rate.

The mini kits are being provided by the Central Agencies National Seeds Corporation (NCS), NAFED and Gujarat State Seeds Corporation and wholly funded by the Government of India through the National Food Security Mission.

20,27,318 Seed Minikits of pulses, about 10 times more than last year, and more than 8 lakh Soybean seed mini kits and 74 thousand Groundnut mini kits are to be provided free of cost directly to the farmers under the National Food Security Mission alongwith free distribution of soybean seeds for intercropping and in high potential districts in 41 and 73 districts respectively.

The Government’s priority is on increasing production of pulses and oilseeds. The formulated strategies are to increase production through area expansion, productivity through HYVs, MSP support and procurement. Experience in the Mustard Mission of Rabi 2020-21of only selected varieties having yield potential more than 20 quintals per hectare resulted in 13% increase in productivity and 14% in production from almost the same area.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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Milk production increase in Dudhsagar and Banas dairies of North Gujarat
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/06/26/ ... h-gujarat/
Mehsana: Daily milk production of Banas Dairy and Dudhsagar Dairy increased by 7 lakh litres and 2.50 lakh litres respectively as public of rural areas in North Gujarat is switching to cattle keeping as an alternative occupation due to the adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic on other sectors and businesses.
....
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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Import burden: Govt draws up plan to expand P&K fertilisers capacity.

Concerned over extraordinary price rise of raw material used to manufacture diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser in international market this year, the government has decided to ramp up domestic production to cut imports. The Centre has already decided to increase the subsidy on DAP by 140% to Rs 1,200/ bag during this kharif season to insulate farmers from the spike in global prices.

The budget allocation for subsidy of P and K fertilisers for FY22 is Rs 20,720 crore as against Rs 37,372 crore spent in FY21. The total fertiliser bill for the current financial year was pegged at Rs 79,530 crore, as against Rs 1.28 lakh crore, with urea being the most commonly used and the most subsidised fertiliser. After the decision on DAP, the fertiliser subsidy bill will increase by Rs 14,775 crore in current fiscal.

For over a decade now, prices to the farmers of phosphatic and potassic fertiliesrs are to a large extent determined by the market as subsidies provided by the government are fixed. These fertilisers are mostly imported, as high as 90% of annual demand.

Minister of state for fertliser Mansukh Mandaviya directed to commercially exploit and ramp up the production in the existing 30 lakh tonne of phosphorite deposits which are available in Rajasthan, central part of peninsular India, Hirapur (Madhya Pradesh), Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mussoorie syncline (Uttarakhand) and Cuddapah basin (Andhra Pradesh), fertiliser ministry said on Monday.

Chairing a meeting with ministry officials and industry stakeholders to improve the availability of phosphatic fertilisers and to reduce the dependence on imports, Mandaviya said that the department of fertilisers is ready with an action plan to make India Aatmanirbhar in rock phosphate, the key raw material to manufacture DAP.

Discussion and planning with department of mining and Geological Survey of India is going on to expedite the exploration in the potential potassic ore resources in Rajasthan’s Satipura, Bharusari and Lakhasar and to explore in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. All the departments are working jointly to start the mining of potential reserves as soon as possible, the statement said. Potash is the key raw material to manufacture Muriate of Potash (MoP) fertiliser.

In 2019-20, the total sales of DAP and MoP fertilisers were to the tune of around 13 million tonne, out of which DAP alone had about 10 million tonne, according to industry estimate. In 2020-21, the consumption of DAP and MoP fertilisers was estimated to have grown by over 15% to about 15 million tonne.

The international prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia and other items used in DAP have gone up by 60-70% since late March. Prices of finished DAP in international market have also increased. Despite this sharp increase, DAP prices in India were initially not increased by the companies, but some companies later increased the prices beginning of this financial year. The government subsequently asked all the fertiliser firms to sell their old stocks of DAP at the old prices only.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

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UP: Yogi Govt's Efforts Result In Significant Growth In Dairy Units And Milk Production In State
by IANS - Jul 2, 2021 05

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/up-yogi-g ... n-in-state
...
Six large investors, including Amul, have invested Rs 172 crore in setting up dairy plants.

According to the government spokesman, seven dairy plants are in the process of being set up while 15 investors have offered to set up units.

Uttar Pradesh is the largest milk producing state in the country and accounts for more than 17 per cent of the milk production in India.
....
To promote cattle rearing and milk production, the state has started Gokul Awards and Nandbaba Awards.

These are given to the highest producer of milk from indigenous cows.
....
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by disha »

For several center schemes, states have to do heavy lifting. And here the states neither have the capacity or capability to do any such thing leading to failures.

For example, take the case of fasal bima yojna. It has been failure everywhere other than in Karnataka. https://swarajyamag.com/economy/why-pm- ... except-one

One can go through the article, but the long and short of it is that K'tka made the process smoother with it-vity.

And here is where Modi government can succeed. Give a nice kick up the NIC and ensure that they come up with norms for private sector participation in the backend processes and front end apps. Connect each government scheme with the consumer/citizen in focus with the right it-vity apps and backend processes. Take CoWin as an example. It is overall a decent platform and a decent app and India can run it for 50 countries for free.

India can do the same for all its scheme and open up public data centers and compute clouds for apps for government scheme and also offer it to other countries big and small.

And this is where Modi Government has an immense opportunity.
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Horticulture production hits record high at 329.86 million tonnes, says Agriculture Ministry
According to the second advance estimate of horticulture production released by the Ministry of Agriculture today, India is expected to have the highest ever horticulture production of 329.86 million tonnnes in 2020-21, up by 2.93% over previous year. The increase in production has been registered in vegetables, spices, medicinal and aromatic crops.
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Boosting Production of Pulses
The seed minikits of pulses are distributed to the farmers of major pulse growing States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM). The district wise allocation and distribution of seed minikits is managed by the respective State Governments.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is implemented by the States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM). The States transfer the benefit to the targeted beneficiaries through DBT by using Aadhar enabled system. Many states viz., Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc have reported Aadhaar enabled distribution of seed minikits. The production and productivity of pulses under seed minikits programme is primarily monitored by State Government field functionaries and State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSM-EC) headed by Chief Secretary/Agriculture Production Commissioner. Besides, field visits of seed minikits fields are also undertaken by National Level Monitoring Teams (NALMOTS) constituted by The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. As a result of the various interventions under NFSM-Pulses programme, the production of pulses has increased from 16.32 million metric tonnes in 2015-16 to 25.56 million metric tonnes in 2020-21 (3rd Advance Estimates). The productivity of pulses has also increased from 655 kg/ha to 878 kg/ha during the same period.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.
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Corteva Agriscience inks pact to promote sustainable rice production in 40,000 acres UP
Global agricultural firm Corteva Agriscience on Thursday said it has signed a three-year project with the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG) hosted by the World Bank Group, to promote sustainable rice cultivation in 40,000 acres in Uttar Pradesh.

The project provides a framework for Corteva, 2030 WRG and a task force of multiple stakeholders to work towards transforming 40,000 acres of land from traditional methods of transplanting rice to the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) technique, it said in a statement.

According to Corteva Agriscience, the three-year project will promote sustainable livelihood in agriculture, build the capacity of farmers on the DSR technique of rice cultivation through various training programs, field demonstration sessions, market linkages, market-based sustainability financing and agronomy assistance leading to their socio-economic empowerment.

Through this project, Corteva will also assist farmers with hybrid seeds and mechanised sowing services as well as help in soil testing and management of weeds and pests on the farms.

Applying these practices can lead to 35-37 per cent reduction in water usage in rice farming, better soil health and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (by 20-30 per cent), supporting climate resilient precision agro-forestry in the state, it said.
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India breaks into the top 10 list of agri produce exporters.

India broke into the top 10 list of agricultural produce exporters in 2019 with a sizeable share in the export of rice, cotton, soya beans and meat, according to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report on the trends in world agricultural trade in the past 25 years.

In 2019, Mexico and India, with 3.4% and 3.1% share in global agri exports, respectively, replaced Malaysia (7th) and New Zealand (9th) as the largest exporters, while the US, which topped the list in 1995 (22.2%), was overtaken by the European Union in 2019 (16.1%). The US’s share fell to 13.8% in 2019. Brazil maintained its ranking as the third largest exporter, increasing its share from 4.8% in 1995 to 7.8% in 2019. China climbed from the sixth spot in 1995 (4%) to fourth in 2019 (5.4%).

The top rice exporters in 1995 included Thailand (38%), India (26%) and the US (19%). In 2019, India (33%) overtook Thailand (20%) to top the list, while Vietnam (12%) overtook the US to the third spot. The top 10 exporters accounted for more than 96% of exports in both 1995 and 2019.

India is also the third-largest cotton exporter (7.6%), and the fourth-largest importer (10%) in 2019. It had not featured in the top 10 list in 1995. In the largest traded agri product, soya beans, India (0.1%) has a meagre share, but was ranked ninth in the world. In the “meat and edible meat offal" category, India was ranked eighth in the world with a 4% share in global trade. While India was the seventh-largest wheat and meslin exporter in 1995, it does not feature in the top 10 list in 2019.

However, India lagged behind as a value-added contributor to world agri exports. India’s share of foreign value-added content in its agri exports was also low at 3.8% primarily due to high tariffs on agri imports to protect the domestic market.

In a report, “Reforms to promote agri exports" released earlier this year, the commerce ministry had said that the government’s consistent and concerted endeavours to usher in reforms to boost agricultural exports have been highly fruitful.

“Despite the unprecedented global pandemic, India has been able to step in to meet the increased global demand, emerging as a significant global supplier of food and other essential agricultural products," the ministry added.
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Wheat, paddy procurement at all-time high: Government.

Around 433.32 LMT wheat procured in the current marketing season RMS 2021-22 so far, against the last year corresponding purchase of 387.66L MT -11.77 % more in comparison to last year’s corresponding period. This is an all time high, said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

About 49.14 Lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 85,581.35 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

In addition, 869.76LMTs of paddy was procured on MSP for ongoing KMS 2020-21 and RMS benefitting 128.37 Lakh farmers. This is 14.55 % more paddy procured in comparison to last year’s corresponding period. Government agencies have also procured total 10,49,575.80 MT of Pulses and Oilseeds on MSP.

About 128.37 Lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement Operations with MSP value of Rs. 1,64,211.54 crore.

The government through its Nodal Agencies has procured10,49,575.80 MT of Moong, Urad, Tur, Gram, Masoor, Groundnut Pods, Sunflower seed Mustard Seed and Soyabean having MSP value of Rs.5,662.82 Crores benefitting 6,38,366 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Odisha and Rajasthan under Kharif 2020-21 and Rabi 2021 and Summer 2021.

Around 5089 MT of copra (the perennial crop) having MSP value of Rs.52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the crops season 2020-21. For the season 2021-22, sanction for procurement of 51000 MT of Copra from Tamil Nadu has been given, against which procurement will be started from the date as decided by the state government.

About 49.14 Lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 85,581.35 crore, the ministry said in a statement.
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To cut ballooning import bill, govt targets 3- fold increase in domestic palm oil output
The government has set the ambitious target for more than three-fold increase in domestic palm oil production, from the current 3 lakh tonnes to 11 lakh tonnes by 2025-26, to reduce India’s high dependence on import of edible oil. To accelerate production and cultivation of oil palm in the country, the government will now put special focus on the North East and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Sources said the proposal for National Mission on Edible Oil - Oil Palm (NEMO-OP) was placed before the Cabinet on Wednesday and it has been approved. The mission to push domestic palm oil production gains significance considering India imported nearly 133.5 lakh tonnes of edible oil in 2020-21 worth Rs 80,000 crore to meet the domestic requirement and the share of imported palm oil was around 56% followed by soyabean (27%) and sunflower oil (16%).

TOI has learnt that under this mission the government will focus on increasing the oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and 16.7 lakh hectares by 2029-30. The Centre will provide some financial assistance to farmers to ensure that they get a good price for their produce. It will work out the formula price and the viability price of the produce.

Sources said the weather condition in North East and Andaman and Nicobar Islands is conducive for oil palm cultivation and this is the reason why the special focus of the mission will be on these two areas.
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Lower Mandi Arrivals: Small firms active in farm trade on behalf of bigger companies
Though the farm laws that sought to liberalise marketing of agricultural crops have been kept in abeyance since January, a steep fall in crop arrivals is being reported from several Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees-controlled mandis, indicating that significant volumes of the crops are directly purchased from farmers by private traders.

Even as big corporate houses are keeping away from direct purchases of the agricultural produce from farmers amid the row over the farm laws, smaller traders are active in the market and sell the stocks to the biggies.

Direct purchases are less expensive to the traders as mandi taxes are not required to be paid.

While there are anecdotal evidences of a flourishing trade outside the mandis from other states, data gathered by FE from the Madhya Pradesh agriculture department showed arrivals of crops across the mandis in the state witnessed a 19% fall during the rabi harvesting period (April-June). Mandi arrivals of all agriculture and horticulture crops in the state were at 150.63 lakh tonne during April-June against 185.27 lakh tonne in the year-ago period. Wheat arrivals at the state’s mandis witnessed an ever sharper 48% year-on-year fall at 32.47 lakh tonne.

“As there was no decline in any of the rabi crop output barring masur, crops should have reached the mandis. Covid-19 can’t be cited as reason for the fall as the pandemic was there during last season as well and a nationwide lockdown was imposed,” said a market observer adding that some more relaxations in enforcement would further push trading activities outside the APMC market yards.

Traders have preferred to buy directly from farmers to save mandi tax of 1.5%, sources said. Small companies and traders opened procurement centres at village levels and bought wheat on behalf of big corporate houses.

The corporate houses active in agricultural trade include ITC, Cargill, Adani Agro, LT Overseas.

The small private traders who continue to do direct purchases from farmers don’t have any formal contracts with big companies who they sell the commodities to. “We don’t have any contract with any company. However, the crops purchased by us are being sold on every alternate day as the storage capacity at the village level is very limited. Whenever there is a dispute over price or the companies refuse to pay us at least the procurement rate, we will exercise the option of selling the stocks to flour millers,” said a staff at a Gurgaon-based agri-trade firm which is into wheat procurement in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh for many big FMCG companies.
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Post by isubodh »

Kakkaji wrote: Traders have preferred to buy directly from farmers to save mandi tax of 1.5%, sources said. Small companies and traders opened procurement centres at village levels and bought wheat on behalf of big corporate houses.
Isn't that exactly what the aryhars were doing. A middlemen between farmer and Corporate. Going forward the corporate will fix the price and then middlemen will try extracting more profit at the expense of farmer. We end up where we started.
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Post by morem »

Farmers now have an option to sell to the trader of their choice, as opposed to only in mandis. Supply demand equation will determine prices. Unless buyers form a cartel, but that is less likely.
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Post by sanjayc »

isubodh wrote:
Kakkaji wrote: Traders have preferred to buy directly from farmers to save mandi tax of 1.5%, sources said. Small companies and traders opened procurement centres at village levels and bought wheat on behalf of big corporate houses.
Isn't that exactly what the aryhars were doing. A middlemen between farmer and Corporate. Going forward the corporate will fix the price and then middlemen will try extracting more profit at the expense of farmer. We end up where we started.
The issue was that farmers were barred from selling to anyone except Arthiyas in the nearest mandi. It was an exploitative monopoly. This has been broken by allowing farmers to sell to whomsoever they want. Arthiyas are protesting at the loss of this monopoly over farmers.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by venkat_kv »

isubodh wrote:
Kakkaji wrote: Traders have preferred to buy directly from farmers to save mandi tax of 1.5%, sources said. Small companies and traders opened procurement centres at village levels and bought wheat on behalf of big corporate houses.
Isn't that exactly what the aryhars were doing. A middlemen between farmer and Corporate. Going forward the corporate will fix the price and then middlemen will try extracting more profit at the expense of farmer. We end up where we started.
Isubodh Saar,
Apart from what others have said about farmers being able to sell in nearby mandis only earlier, for what ever price was quoted in the Mandi, they can now sell to different middlemen for what ever price they deem fit.
It is different from what arthiyas were doing previously, in that at the very least you don't have to pay mandi fees. The mandi decided the upper limit for the price of produce (which was generally less than or equal to the MSP atleast in the Southern States) and from the total from the produce, the arthiyas/middlemen commission and the mandi fees would be deducted.

We are in this predicament due to the arthiya sponsored farmer protests of not allowing corporate to procure directly. The Supreme Court in all its infinite wisdom asked for postponement citing "perceived rushed" passing of the bills ignoring the numerous commissions that gave their reports for the same.

coming to your question, in the future when the laws come in, the corporates can be expected to step in directly and procure or do contact farming which stipulates by law that produce has to be taken at MSP as the floor.
At the very least in "most places" the corporates can be expected to directly procure cutting out the middle men and keep them in certain cases either due to geography or closeness to the power circles.

ofcourse most laws start with good intentions, but we have to make sure they work for the most part and this will be no different.
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Food grain output to touch new record of 308.65 million tons in 2020-21, says government.

India's foodgrain production is estimated to rise 3.74 per cent to a new record of 308.65 million tonnes in the crop year 2020-21, on the better output of rice, wheat and pulses amid good monsoon rains last year, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. The record output is projected in rice, wheat, maize, pulses, and oilseeds, it added.

In the 2019-20 crop year (July-June), the country's foodgrain output (comprising wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals) stood at a record 297.5 million tonnes.

Releasing the fourth advance estimate for the 2020-21 crop year, the agriculture ministry said foodgrain production is projected at a record 308.65 million tonnes. The estimate has been revised upward by 3.22 million tonnes from the third estimate of 305.43 million tonnes for the same year.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the record foodgrains are being produced in the country due to the tireless hard work of the farmers, the skill of the scientists and the agriculture and farmer-friendly government policies. "The central government is doing work with the states to advance Indian agriculture, which will continue," he added.

As per the data, rice production is pegged at a record 122.27 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year as against 118.87 million tonnes in the previous year.

Wheat production is estimated to increase to a record 109.52 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 107.86 million tonnes in the previous year, while the output of coarse cereals is likely to increase to 51.15 million tonnes from 47.75 million tonnes.

Pulses output is estimated to be a record 25.72 million tonnes, as compared to 23.03 million tonnes in the 2019-20 crop year.

In the non-foodgrain category, the production of oilseeds is estimated at 36.10 million tonnes in 2020-21 against 33.21 million tonnes in the previous year.

Rapeseed/mustard seed production is pegged at a record 10.11 million tonnes for the 2020-21 crop year.

Sugarcane production is pegged at 399.25 million tonnes from 370.50 million tonnes in the previous year, while cotton output is expected to drop marginally to 35.38 million bales (170 kg each) from 36.07 million bales.

Production of jute/mesta is estimated to drop slightly to 9.56 million bales (180 kg each) in the 2020-21 crop year, from 9.87 million bales in the previous year.

The government releases four estimates before the final one at different stages of crop growth and harvesting.
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Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco swoop in on $24 billion India farm-data trove.

Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. are among technology giants lining up to harness data from India’s farmers in an ambitious government-led productivity drive aimed at transforming an outmoded agricultural industry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, which is seeking to ensure food security in the world’s second-most populous nation, has signed preliminary agreements with the three U.S. titans and a slew of local businesses starting April to share farm statistics it’s been gathering since coming to power in 2014. Modi is betting the private sector can help farmers boost yields with apps and tools built from information such as crop output, soil quality and land holdings.

io Platforms Ltd., the venture controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., and tobacco giant ITC Ltd. are among local powerhouses that have signed up for the program, the government said this week.

With the project, Modi is seeking to usher in long-due reforms to make over a farm sector that employs almost half of the nation’s 1.3 billion people and contributes about a fifth of Asia’s third-biggest economy. The government is counting on the project’s success to boost rural incomes, cut imports, reduce some of the world’s worst food wastages with better infrastructure, and eventually compete with exporters such as Brazil, the U.S. and the European Union.

“This is a high impact industry and private players are sensing the opportunity and want to be a large part of it,” said Ankur Pahwa, a partner at consultancy EY India. “India has a very high amount of food wastage because of lack of technology and infrastructure. So there’s a huge upside to the program.”

The idea is simple: Seed all the information such as crop pattern, soil health, insurance, credit, and weather patterns into a single database and then analyze it through AI and data analytics. Then the goal is to develop personalized services for a sector replete with challenges such as peaking yields, water stress, degrading soil and lack of infrastructure including temperature-controlled warehouses and refrigerated trucks.

Under the agreement, the big tech companies help the government in developing proof of concepts to offer tech solutions for farm-to-fork services, which farmers will be able to access at their doorstep. If beneficial, firms would be able to sell the final product to the government and also directly to growers and the solutions would be scaled up at the national level.

So far, the government has seeded publicly available data for more than 50 million farmers of the 120 million identified land-holding growers. Some of the local companies that have signed up include Star Agribazaar Technology, ESRI India Technologies, yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Organic Research Institute and Ninjacart.

But success is far from guaranteed. The plan to rope in big corporations is already drawing fire from critics, who say the move is yet another attempt by the government to give the private sector a greater sway, a development that could hurt small and vulnerable farmers.

The program may even add fuel to the protracted protests Modi’s government has been struggling to tackle for more than nine months after controversial new agricultural laws riled up some farmers. With crucial state elections due in 2022, it may get tougher to sell the technology-to-help-agriculture plan to a farming community already suspicious of the government’s intentions.

“With this data they will know where the produce wasn’t good, and will buy cheap from farmers there and sell it at exorbitant prices elsewhere,” said Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra, a farmer from the northern state of Punjab, who has been protesting since November against the new farm laws. “More than the farmers it is the consumers who will suffer.”

Technology adoption is still at a nascent stage in India, said Apeksha Kaushik, principal analyst at Gartner. “Limited availability of technology infrastructure and recurring natural phenomena like floods, droughts have also worked against the deployment of digital solutions,” she said.

Anxiety over data privacy could be another challenge. Abhimanyu Kohar, a 27-year-old farmers’ leader, who has been supporting the protesting farmers, said it’s a “serious issue.” “We all know the record of the government in keeping the data safe,” he said.

Despite the hurdles, a few one-year pro bono pilot programs are already underway.

Microsoft has selected 100 villages to deploy AI and machine learning and build a platform. Amazon, which has already started offering real-time advice and information to farmers through a mobile app, is offering cloud services to solution providers. Representatives at the India offices of Microsoft and Amazon didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

Star Agribazaar, whose co-founder Amit Mundawala calls the project a “game changer,” will collect data on agri land profiling, crop estimation, soil degradation and weather patterns. ESRI India is using geographic information system to generate data and create applications, according to Managing Director Agendra Kumar.

“Once you have the data, you can correlate with on-ground reality and improve your projections, take informed decisions and see which regions need policy intervention,” said P.K. Joshi, former director for South Asia at Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute.

A similar data-driven system implemented in the southern state of Karnataka last year helped increase efficiency in delivery of government benefits, said Rajeev Chawla, the state’s additional chief secretary. Some bank loans have even been made to farmers using the centralized data, and all government programs, verification for insurance and loans and minimum support price are being routed through the mechanism, plugging leakages and eliminating frauds, he said.

Besides the tech giants, many smaller companies and startups are likely to join the program. When completed the project will form the core of a national digital agriculture ecosystem to help farmers realize better profitability with access to right information at the right time, and to facilitate better planning and execution of policies, according to the government’s consultation paper on digital agriculture.

“How this exercise will translate into action or lead to higher production and farm income, that remains to be seen,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care Ratings Ltd.
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For easy access to schemes, Govt plans 12-digit unique ID for farmers, database.

The government has started generating 12-digit unique IDs for farmers that can be used to avail all farm-related services under various schemes “seamlessly”, according to a senior official of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

Vivek Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, told The Indian Express that a unique ID for each farmer is part of the Government’s initiative to create a database by collating data from various schemes, such as PM-Kisan, and linking them with land records.

“The intent is to create a unified farmer service interface. The unique ID will enable them to seamlessly avail various Government schemes and credit facilities, and help the Centre and state governments in better planning of procurement operations,” Aggarwal, who heads the Ministry’s Digital Agriculture Division, said.

“We have started internally generating unique farmer IDs and once we are ready with the database of 8 crore farmers, we will launch this,” the official said.

“So far, the database has been prepared for 11 states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.The remaining states, including Telangana, Kerala and Punjab, will be covered in the coming months,” he said.

For this, Aggarwal said, a database is being created from existing schemes such as PM-Kisan, Soil Health Card and PM Fasal Bima Yojana. “All farmer data in Central schemes will be linked to land record details available with state governments. Aadhaar will be used as a deduplication mechanism,” he said.

Besides, linkage of land parcels through a Geographical Information System (GIS), where maps are digitised by states, will be used. According to Aggarwal, GIS data of land parcels will help farmers in getting precise advisories.

The plan to issue such an ID to farmers, and the creation of a database, was discussed during the Chief Ministers’ Conference earlier this month. ]On September 6, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that his Ministry has created a database of 5.5 crore farmers and it will be increased to 8 crore by this December.

Recently, as part of its digital mission, the Agriculture Ministry signed MoUs with 10 private companies, including CISCO, Ninjacart, Jio Platforms, ITC and NCDEX e-Markets Ltd (NeML), and Microsoft, Star Agribazaar, Esri India Technologies, Patanjali and Amazon.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by V_Raman »

Why is the govt releasing such varieties of rice - https://theprint.in/india/pm-releases-f ... rs/742076/

How is this non-GMO when a gene is modified to get the herbicide resistance?

Such weed control chemicals like this are linked to causing cancer inevitably...
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Post by SBajwa »

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/featu ... ies-316369

Amritsar farmer: A master of hybrid chillies

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 25

Gurbir Singh, a marginal farmer of Bhorshi Rajputan village, has made a mark in progressive farming. He is a well-know vegetable seed and nursery seller in the area.

Narrating his story of struggle, Gurbir said he was unable to continue his studies, due to unfortunate death of his father in a road accident in 2000. He said he was 19-year-old and his family was under debt.

He said he had to take care of his mother, two younger brothers and a sister. As a result, he started sowing vegetables on his 2.5 acres.

Later, Gurbir contacted Dr Narinderpal Singh, In-charge Farm Advisory Service Scheme of Punjab Agricultural University, and got training in making chilli hybrid seeds.

Gurbir became a master in hybrid chillies and cytoplasmic male sterility technique used for breeding of new varities. He established Gobinpura nursery for quality production in vegetable and did several experiments. During rabi season, nursery is raised on 8.5 acres while during kharif season it’s reduced to 3 acres.

Gurbir has developed a vermicompost unit to supplement essential nutrients for nursery. He constructed a moveable net house in 1 kanal, where he grows tomato, brinjal, capsicum and cauliflower.

Net-house cultivation increases quality and quantity of nursery. In order to improve water efficiency, Gurbir uses drip irrigation system.

A biogas plant has been installed to optimise the use of cow dung. The biogas is used in kitchen and slurry in fields. Gurbir was awarded by the PAU in 2010. He also got ‘Best Nursery Grower’ award in 2009 and got many awards in addition to ‘Farmer Award’ by Amritsar Deputy Commissioner under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency scheme.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by srin »

V_Raman wrote:Why is the govt releasing such varieties of rice - https://theprint.in/india/pm-releases-f ... rs/742076/

How is this non-GMO when a gene is modified to get the herbicide resistance?

Such weed control chemicals like this are linked to causing cancer inevitably...
Why will they inevitably cause cancer? If I ingest it, what cancer will it cause ? Please link to some studies.
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Post by Haresh »

Delhi begins spraying Pusa bio-decomposer in fields to prevent stubble burning

https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/delhi/ ... 2021-10-12
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Record foodgrains production likely in 2022.
India achieved record foodgrains production this year but the withdrawal of three agri-reform laws and spike in cooking oil prices cast a shadow on the country's resilient agriculture sector that is on course for better harvest in 2022 despite pandemic blues.

While soaring production of foodgrains that also helped the government provide free additional rations for COVID-hit poor families for many months together came as a relief, the passing year will be remembered for the long drawn farmers' protest at Delhi borders against the three laws and subsequent repeal of the legislations.

The Indian agriculture sector, which was among the few segments that remained robust amid the pandemic gales, is expected to register a growth rate of 3.5 per cent in the current financial year ending March 2022.

Foodgrains production hit an all-time high in the 2020-21 crop year that ended in June at 308.65 million tonnes. The production could reach 310 million tonnes in the current crop year.

The government procured huge quantities of wheat, rice, pulses, cotton and oilseeds at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the benefit of farmers. During 2020-21, paddy and wheat procurement reached a record 894.18 lakh tonnes and 433.44 lakh tonnes, respectively.

As production and procurement continued smoothly, the farmers' agitation, which started in November 2020, finally ended this month after Parliament passed a Bill on the first day of Winter Session on November 29, to repeal the three contentious farm laws. The Supreme Court had stayed implementation of these laws in January itself.

Farmers unions are claiming victory after they forced the Centre to accede to their demands. In contrast, economists and government officials see it as a setback in ushering in reforms in the agricultural marketing system. The jury is still out on the merit of these three laws.

"We were expecting one-fifth of the country's farmers to benefit from the implementation of the three farm reforms. "We completely lost that opportunity. However, I feel the setback is only temporary," Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand told PTI.

Had farm laws been implemented, the Niti Aayog member said, "it would have helped achieve the target of doubling farmers income to a large extent. We had put nearly 20 per cent increase in income on implementation of the farm laws."

The three laws, passed by Parliament in September 2020, were aimed at giving marketing freedom to farmers beyond notified mandis.

A framework for contract farming and regulating supply of essential commodities only under extraordinary circumstances were the other main objectives.

Chand said, the overall performance of the agricultural sector has been robust this year. "The agri-growth rate is intact. This year, we expect 3.5 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of March 2022, same as last year's level," he said. Record production of foodgrains helped the agriculture sector to maintain its growth rate.

Agriculture Commissioner S K Malhotra said the country's foodgrains production could touch 310 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June).
Good monsoon rains, adoption of new technologies and successful implementation of government schemes like PM-KISAN have aided the rise in production.

Malhotra said crop productivity has been improving as farmers are adopting better seed varieties that give higher yields and are high in nutritional value, besides having resistance to diseases and adverse climatic conditions.

The official also pointed out that the unseasonal rains affected perishable and horticulture produce in some parts of the country. As a result, prices of some commodities like tomatoes came under pressure.

Despite bumper production of oilseeds crops, the edible oil prices skyrocketed to unprecedented levels on global cues. India meets about 60-65 per cent of the domestic demand of edible oils through imports, which jumped to a record Rs 1.17 lakh crore in 2020-21 season, ended October.

Prices of mustard oil rose to around Rs 200 per litre and prices of other cooking oils also went up.

During the year, the government reduced import duties of palm oil as well as other oils multiple times to ease domestic prices but rates are still ruling high.

To keep the prices under control, the government also banned futures trading in many commodities and also imposed stockholding limits on traders and wholesalers.

A sharp rise in rabi oilseeds acreage has given hope for a likely fall in cooking oil prices in the New Year.

Among other developments, co-operative major IFFCO launched nano-urea in liquid form that promises to reduce India's import as well as subsidy bill.

"We started producing nano urea commercially and we have so far produced 1.5 crore bottles of nano urea which helped save Rs 6,000 crore of government's subsidy," IFFCO MD U S Awasthi said and urged the government to support production of such innovative products.
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How a Nashik brand is sparking its own green revolution.

Nearly 20 years ago, a gold medalist with a master’s degree in agriculture engineering along with his five uncles was struggling to keep his small grape farm afloat. Today, 47-year-old Vilas Shinde’s Sahyadri Farms symbolises one of the biggest success stories in the country’s agricultural scenario with over 13,500 farmers owning about 28,000 acres in Nashik region of Maharashtra coming together to produce over 1,000 tonne of fruits and vegetables per day. With revenue of Rs 525 crore, Sahyadri has become the country’s largest farmer-producer company (FPC) and a role model for others to follow, besides the largest grape exporter. The FPC is developing a retail footprint across the state and is also building a pan-India presence through its e-commerce platform.

Founder and chairman of Sahyadri Farms, Shinde says he is replicating the Amul model in vegetables and fruits. “Sahyadri’s journey as a farmer producer company began with barely 101 farmers in 2011. Now there are 25 FPCs under the umbrella of Sahaydri Farms. I took my learnings as an individual farmer and decided to bring like-minded farmers together so our problems could be solved as a single unit. Amul’s success in milk made us realise that we can do this in fruits and vegetables,” he says.

Sahyadri Farms is the also largest company in the country producing, purchasing and processing tomatoes. Around 60% of Sahyadri Farms’ fruits and vegetables are exported and 40% is sold in India. “We export our products to 42 countries, including Russia, the US, and various European countries,” he says.

During the lockdown, the FPC seized the opportunity to directly reach out to consumers by delivering produce to housing societies with about 38,000 home deliveries a month. Now, besides producing fruits and vegetables Sahyadri is also into manufacturing of different kinds of value-added products of vegetables and fruits such as pulps, dices, fruit juices, slices, ketchups, frozen vegetables and fruits jams under the brand name of Sahyadri Farms at the company’s Rs 300-crore fruit processing plant.

The company has also developed a retail footprint through 13 stores spread out in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik to sell its products. Customers in these cities can also buy on the e-commerce platform. Additionally, retail and wholesale buyers of fruit can make purchases through the ‘Sahyadriyan’ app where products are supplied through 49 Sahyadri Farms distribution centres in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. At present, more than 50 tonne of fruits are supplied daily. This year, Sahyadri Farms wants to expand its presence in the north and east India. The target is to supply 500 tonne on a daily basis and build a pan-India presence in three years. Shinde says the company will invest Rs 200 crore to develop the supply chain and strengthen its backend process. “Like Amul, we will develop our brand nationally and overseas markets as well,” he says.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by Cyrano »

All this feels like it is good news, but India needs to stay away from GM crops, marketing friendly & quick n high yield hybrid varieties, overuse of fertilisers, pesticides & ground water.

Once we have achieved food security, quality must be favoured over quantity. We shouldn't really be caring for food exports.

In my recent long trips to desh, I was mighty disappointed to see tasteless, water gorged, huge sized, attractive looking vegetables and unseasonal fruit in all veggies store chains. For ex: Tomatoes that don't get soft even after 30mins of cooking have no flavour made my heart sink. I also noticed very very low rate of worms in all types of veggies - can only imply high level of pesticide use or hybrid varieties that are pest resistant but poor in nutritive value. Went back to buying from traditional veggie vendor shops, their veggies seemed a lot better though not like 30-40 yrs ago. Saw lot of hybrid/GM looking corn being consumed as well. Not sure what variety exactly.

Havent seen much focus/publicity on "organic" veggies or foods - may bee the area I live in is not posh enough or I've not looked around enough. Of course whats considered "organic" can differ greatly.

Refined (barely) edible oils are everywhere, heavy dubious marketing - they are a health disaster. I'm shocked the Govt is pushing and touting Palm oil - of all things !!!

I'm not specially delighted by "value addition through food processing" - they are also a long term health disaster. Unless you add lots of refined oil, salt, sugar, colorants and additives NO FOOD becomes shelf stable for weeks and months. Every grocery store displays processed foods like breakfast cereals, biscuits, jams, cakes, and sugary drinks etc very prominently you have to cross acres of that to get to "kirana" maal like simple daals and spices which take up hardly 1 full aisle out of a dozen ! TV is full of ads for processed foods, explicitly targeting children. Nothing new you may say, we also grew up with Rasna and Boost ads. Well, for many of that era they were occasional luxuries, not ubiquitous and affordable commodities like today. I suspect prices are being kept deliberately very low (qtys too) to hook them young. All such foods lead to high blood pressure, CV diseases, diabetes, obesity, and a bunch of other complications that will slow-kill millions life long.

You only need to look at the food habits and (ill-)health stats of US to realise that India must avoid such a malevolent and toxic (I've used those two adjectives very consciously) food growing, processing, marketing and consumption models at all costs.

To sum up, delighted agri sector is doing great, but worried about the trends that are repeating the West's glaring mistakes and scared about the risks for 1.3 billion people consuming trash food and ruining their health - especially children, & the environment in the process.

Our Agriculture and Health ministries need to work very closely together.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by nandakumar »

There is a difference between American usage of tomato and Indian's usage. The former uses it principally as a Sandwich filling while the latter uses it principally in cooking where heat mashes it up. So, the hard to squeeze tomato so essential in the US is not actually needed in Indian cuisine. That said, Indians prefer hybrid variety because on an average it is Rs 10 per kg cheaper than native varieties.
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Re: Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

Post by shaun »

Cyrano wrote:All this feels like it is good news, but India needs to stay away from GM crops, marketing friendly & quick n high yield hybrid varieties, overuse of fertilisers, pesticides & ground water.

Once we have achieved food security, quality must be favoured over quantity. We shouldn't really be caring for food exports.

In my recent long trips to desh, I was mighty disappointed to see tasteless, water gorged, huge sized, attractive looking vegetables.... .
Yes you are quite right in your observation. These day vegetable are tasteless . Processed food should be avoided and can be avoided if people spend their time in cooking . But oil is some thing you can never avoid . You can use coconut oil for your hair and mastard oil for your body during winter , it won't be sticky , try using any refined blended oil , it will be very sticky until you shampoo or soap . Now think the same going inside your body , it's given high BP etc will manifest from consuming any blended oil .
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