Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security agreed to temporarily allow the import of chicken eggs from foreign countries, adding that the decision will be reviewed when the domestic supply stabilises.

 

While Middle Eastern countries such as Oman and Qatar are the main destinations for India’s eggs, the export landscape over recent months has changed with significant orders from countries here output is plummeted, including Malaysia, which previously exported eggs.

 

A shortage of over 150 million eggs

Following the imports of eggs from foreign countries, the eggs shortage in Malaysia was reduced to 1 million in December, according to the country’s Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Mohamad Sabu, CNA reported. This compares to a shortage of 157 million eggs in November and 118 million eggs in November.

 

'For the first time, Malaysia is buying large quantities of eggs from India, and it seems that India’s egg exports to Malaysia will remain strong during the first half of 2023,' Sasti Kumar, joint managing director at Namakkal-based Ponni Farms, one of India’s leading egg exporters, told Reuters. He added that India shipped 5 million eggs to Malaysia in December, 10 million in January and up to 15 million in February.

 

Egg imports from India have helped Malaysia bring prices down from the record highs seen in December. The president of the Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Association of Malaysia, Tan Chee Hee, is positive that egg production in the country will recover in the coming months as the government increases subsidies.

 

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), through its schemes, is helping strengthening of food processing/ preservation infrastructure with efficient supply chain across the country and thereby reducing gap between production and processing capacity & post-harvest losses. MoFPI is implementing a Central Sector Umbrella scheme- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) since 2016-17. Projects completed under component schemes of PMKSY have resulted in creation of about 194 Lakh Metric Tonnes of preservation & processing capacity.

 

Union Minister of State for M/o Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel informs Lok Sabha, in a written reply to a question, that as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, MoFPI is implementing Centrally Sponsored PM Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme since 2020-21 for providing financial, technical and business support to Micro Food Processing Enterprises and so far applications of 18472 beneficiaries have been sanctioned under the scheme. Also, Central Sector Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI), implemented by MoFPI, is targeted to facilitate expansion of food processing capacity by creating champion brands in Food Processing Sector with total outlay of Rs 10,900 Cr for a period of 6 years (2021-22 to 2026-27). A total of 180 proposals have been approved for assistance under different categories of PLISFPI.

G-20 is an influential platform for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in shaping and strengthening the global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues. India is chairing the G-20 forum from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023. G-20 consists of 19 countries and the European Union, - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa, United Kingdom, the United States of America and the European Union. G-20 members represent approximately 85 percent of global GDP, more than 75 percent of global trade, and nearly two-thirds of the world population.

 

State Agricultural Extension and Training Institute, Bhopal, in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, New Delhi and MANAGE, Hyderabad organized a workshop on the theme 'Women Led Agricultural Development' regarding the contribution of women in agricultural entrepreneurship and agri-startups in Madhya Pradesh and providing financial assistance, in which about 250 women farmers, entrepreneurs, new startup founders and other participants from various districts of the state participated. In this program Shri Nirupam Mehrotra, C.G.M, NABARD-Bhopal was the Chief Guest and Shri S.K. Ingle, Joint Director (Mass Media), MoA&FW graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. First of all, the program was addressed by Shri K.P. Aharwal, Director, SIAET. Shri Sanjeev Kumar Ingle advised the women of the state to take advantage of the State and Central Government schemes for technical and financial assistance in Startup women entrepreneurship. He advised the small and marginal farmers to innovate spraying of pesticides and nutrients in the crops, so that crops can be sown in the shortest time and with less while fetching more returns. Further, he informed that the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has aimed at the formation of 10,000 FPOs. The women of MP have been advised to take advantage of these schemes so that they can avail of maximum financial assistance and adopt the Farm Gate App for agricultural produce marketing. In order to ensure the participation of MANAGE Hyderabad, NABARD and other associate banks for agricultural entrepreneurs, an agreement was signed during this program.

 

Suggestions were given by Shri Tarsem Singh Jeera, Circle Head Bhopal, Central Bank of India emphasizing on increasing the value addition and marketing of agricultural products through AC&ABC program.

 

Shri Nirupam Mehrotra, C.G.M, NABARD-Bhopal said that in MP Rural areas, one-third of the total women (around 15-29 age group) are increasingly moving towards women entrepreneurship. But still there is a need to do more work towards gender equality. He said that once the Self-Help Group is started, the rules for availability of working capital and marketing should be made easier for women to take forward the SHGs.

 

Dr. Shahaji Fund, Deputy Director, MANAGE Hyderabad said that the AC&ABC program was first launched as a pilot project in the state of Telangana. After this it is being run in all the states of India. NABARD Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, SBI, MPGB Bank and MANAGE signed an MoU on the occasion. After that Women entrepreneurs from different districts of the state narrated their success stories.

 

Doubts from participants were resolved during the interactive session.

 

Panel discussion on Agri entrepreneurship and Agri Startup were held in the second session. Smt. Suman Prasad, Deputy Director (Agriculture), District Bhopal, Smt. Rashmi Varghese, Deputy Director (Agriculture Directorate), Vindhyachal Bhavan, Bhopal, Smt. Ashalata Pathak, Senior Agriculture Development Officer, Directorate Vindhyachal Bhavan Bhopal, Shri Vinay Patidar, Consultant, MANAGE Hyderabad, Dr. Swati Sharma, Nodal Officer of NGO CARD, Bhopal and officials of MANAGE, Hyderabad and SIAET-Bhopal participated in the proceedings.

 

Preeti Maithil Nayak, former Director Agriculture and MD, Farm Seeds and Development Corporation, explained the Agricultural women entrepreneurs on startups related to agricultural inputs and value addition of agricultural produce.

 

After this Shri U.S. Jadoun, Deputy Director SIAET, presented a memorandum of thanks to the women participants, and the program concluded. The program was conducted by Smt. Rani Rackwar of Doordarshan Bhopal.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and his UK counterpart James Cleverly reviewed bilateral relations and India’s G20 presidency during a phone conversation on Tuesday.

 

leverly called Jaishankar ahead of his expected visit to India to attend a meeting of G20 foreign ministers during March 1-2.

 

'Received a call from UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly. Reviewed our bilateral relationship and discussed the agenda of India’s G20 Presidency,' Jaishankar said in a tweet.

 

This was the first contact between Jaishankar and Cleverly since a two-part BBC documentary on the 2002 sectarian violence in Gujarat triggered a controversy in India.

 

The external affairs ministry had described the documentary as a 'propaganda piece' designed to push a particular 'discredited narrative'.

 

There was no official readout on the phone conversation and it was not immediately clear whether the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries figured in the discussions. The two sides missed the target of concluding the trade deal by Diwali last year because of differences on key matters such as tariffs on automobiles and alcohol and mobility of professionals and students.

 

The two sides are currently focused on implementing a 10-year roadmap for bolstering ties in defence, security, trade and investment and people-to-people contacts.

 

The Roadmap 2030 was adopted during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then British counterpart Boris Johnson in May 2021.

 

At the time, the two sides also upgraded the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

India’s winter wheat crop is in good condition as of now as there has been rainfall in the north west India in the last three-four days, said Gyanendra Singh, director of ICAR-IIWBR, the apex body for wheat cultivation in the country.

 

India’s January rainfall hit a five-year low at 12.4 mm, taking the deficit in rainfall to 25% in the month, according to data from India Meteorological Department (IMD).

 

'The rains have happened and the wheat crop is in exceptionally good condition without any incidences of diseases,' he said adding that India is likely to produce 112 million tonnes of wheat or a little more during the harvest period as the area sown under wheat has increased.

 

In 2022, India's wheat output fell when a severe heat wave reduced production drastically, shrinking procurement, which fell to 18.792 MT in the 2022-23 marketing year from 43.444 MT in the previous year. After having initially encouraged exports at the beginning of 2022-23 wheat season, India had to ban outbound shipments because of reduced production.

 

Singh said the country is better prepared for such an incident this year as farmers have used new seeds with better tolerance to heat and are high yielding in nature. The new varieties are DBW 187, DBW 303, DBW 222, DBW 327 and DBW 332.

 

'We are also issued advisory for farmers and helping government agencies to handle such an adversity better if it happens again this year,' Singh said. He added that in India, extreme weather scenarios such as sudden rise in temperature, heat stress, excess rain take place only once in 4-5 years and so the chances of it happening this year are low.

 

Area under wheat has increased marginally by 0.37% to 341.85 lakh hectare (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi season and has been sown in 341.85 lakh ha as of January 27 against 340.56 lakh ha in the year-ago period.

 

The higher area is reported from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.28 lakh ha), Bihar (1.28 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.52 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.44 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (0.22 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.08 lakh ha) and Assam (0.03 lakh ha), the data showed.

 

The wholesale price of wheat had been hovering at an all-time high of Rs 30 per kg in Delhi in January when the government had to intervene announcing an Open Market Sale of 3 MT of cereal from the stocks of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to processors and traders.

 

Wheat, along with mustard, is the main rabi crop whose sowing begins around October and harvesting happens in March and April.

Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday met Minister of Transport of Qatar Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti and discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral maritime cooperation, according to an official statement. The statement said India-Qatar cooperation in diverse sectors has been steadily growing in an excellent framework led by historical close ties, regular and substantive engagement.

 

'Fruitful discussions were held on commitment to strengthen the bilateral maritime cooperation, including interaction between Indian ports and Qatari ports to share best practices in areas of port operations, logistics, supply chain management, and digitalisation,' the statement said quoting Sonowal.

 

India's bilateral trade with Qatar in 2021-22 was USD 15.03 billion. India's export to Qatar during 2021-22 was USD 1.83 billion and India's import from Qatar was USD 13.19 billion.

 

According to the statement, in 2021, India was among the top four largest export destinations for Qatar and also among the top three sources of Qatar's imports.

 

The statement further said that the year 2023 marks 50 years of establishment of full diplomatic relations between India and Qatar.

 

Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti is on an official visit to India from February 5-8, 2023.

A 12 per cent increase in the export of major agriculture and processed products during the first three quarters of the current fiscal has buoyed the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to target a record $26-29 billion in this fiscal, against $24.76 billion in 2021-22.

 

'Since our (APEDA products) exports have already reached nearly $20 billion, we will exceed the target and also increase from the previous year’s level. Unless there is a global slowdown, we are set to cross $27 billion this year and may reach up to $29 billion,' said M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA. The agency, which contributed half of the $50.21 billion in the total export of agriculture and allied sectors during 2021-22, is responsible for all agri products, divided into 27 categories, excluding tea, coffee, spices and marine products.

 

Reachable target

Exports have jumped to $19.69 billion during April-December of the current fiscal from $17.51 billion a year ago. The government has set a target of $23.56 billion for the export of APEDA products during FY 2022-23. Due to the weakening of the rupee, exports surged by 20.4 per cent to ?1.57 lakh crore from ?1.3 lakh crore a year-ago.

 

Angamuthu said the focus on the top 10 potential products (non-basmati rice, basmati rice, bovine meat, miscellaneous preparations, cereal preparations, maize, groundnut, guar gum, pulses, processed vegetables) and top 10 export destinations (Bangladesh, UAE, the US, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Vietnam, Malaysia, China and Nepal) has helped to achieve the growth, so far. 'Efforts are being made to push exports in further 40 potential target destinations,' he said.

 

In view of the International Year of Millets in 2023, APEDA has planned an aggressive campaign for the promotion of these Shri Anna (nutri cereal) and its value-added products in select markets for boosting export, he said. Besides, APEDA has chalked out several activities in different States to boost quality produce.

 

Basmati shipments surge

According to latest official data, basmati rice exports have surged by 40.26 per cent to $3.34 billion from $2.38 billion, while that of non-basmati rice registered a modest growth of 3.35 per cent to $4.66 billion from $4.51 billion in the year-ago period.

 

But in terms of volume, basmati rice shipments have surged 16.6 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes (mt) and non-basmati rice by 4.6 per cent to 13.17 mt during April-December of 2022-23 from the year-ago period.

 

Fresh vegetables registered a 7.5 per cent growth to $662 million from $616 million while fresh fruit exports declined 0.6 per cent to $459 million from $462 million. Pulses shipments increased by 80.38 per cent to $436 million from $242 million, the data show. Exports of processed fruits and vegetables together have jumped to $1.04 billion from $888 million, up by 17 per cent, and that of dairy products recorded a growth of 19.45 per cent to $471 million from $395 million.

 

The export of poultry products increased by 91.7 per cent to $95 million from $50 million and that of other cereals including maize by 13.6 per cent to $869 million from $764 million.

In order to increase the level of food processing industry and encouraging rural entrepreneurship across the country including rural areas, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing Central Sector Umbrella Scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) and Centrally sponsored PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme.

 

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel informed Rajya Sabha, in a written reply to a question, that the PMFME Scheme provided financial, technical and business support for setting up/upgradation of 2 lakh micro food processing enterprises through credit linked subsidy during five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.  Under component schemes of PMKSY, MoFPI mostly provides financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for creation of modern infrastructure and setting up of food processing / preservation industries including cold chains with associated infrastructure like primary processing facilities, collection centres, pre-conditioning, pre-cooling, ripening and packing.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi today with Digital Green under public private partnership framework to build a national level digital extension platform. The platform will host a digital library of curated multi-format multi-lingual content, help extension workers access and deliver curated content to farmers on time and upskill the vast network of extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, MoA&FW, GoI said that 'The proposed national digital platform will help make our extension system more efficient and effective by connecting farmers to the strong foundation of digital agriculture ecosystem that is being built by the government. Digital capacity of this extension system is crucial to help farmers reap the benefits of digital agriculture and will serve as one of the component of digital public infrastructure for Agriculture announced recently in the Union Budget '.

 

There are over 200,000 extension workers in India in agriculture, livelihood and allied sectors. This ambitious initiative will converge the outreach efforts of departments of agriculture, horticulture, livestock, dairy, fisheries and rural livelihoods under a single digital platform through a decentralised content creation and targeted dissemination. To be launched within six months, the platform will have the portal and capabilities to serve the entire farming community in India and catalyse Agtech and other market actors with newer and higher value proposition.

 

The MOU is with Digital Green, an award winning social enterprise that is leveraging the power of technology to support small and marginal farmers to enhance their productivity and income, strengthen their agency and build community level resilience. Founded by Rikin Gandhi, a technocrat and social development enthusiast, Digital Green has been working with governments in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, serving over 25 lakhs farmers and having enhanced the capacities of over 4000 front like workers.

 

According to Rikin Gandhi, technology has no value unless it makes a positive difference to the last mile farmer. Thanking the GoI for investing in technology to make Indian farm system future ready, he said that 'we are honoured and proud to be partnering with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and be a key stakeholder in making our small and marginal farmers thrive and proposer. He further added that the envisaged platform will contribute to and complement the national systems to emerge as a digital public good for the farm sector in India.'

 

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of South India’s 1st Industrial Corridor Project to be implemented at Tumakuru which is spread over 8500 Acre of land under the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, today.

 

Shri Basavaraj S. Bommai, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Raj Nath Singh, Union Minister for Defence, Shri A. Narayanaswamy, Union MoS for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Murugesh Nirani, Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri Araga Jnanendra , Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri J. C. Madhuswamy, Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri B. C. Nagesh, Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri V. Somanna, Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri G. S. Basavaraj, Member of Parliament , Shri Jaggesh, Member of Parliament, Smt. Sumita Dawra, CEO&MD, NICDC and other dignitaries graced the occasion.

 

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that taking forward the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, Tumakuru Industrial Township has been planned with holistic and integrated approach in line with the principles of PM-GatiShakti to address the issue of last mile multi-modal connectivity to the economic zone.

 

The Government of India, through the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT), and the Government of Karnataka, through the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), have taken up the development of the Industrial Township at Vasanthanarsapura, spread across 8500 acres in three phases in Tumakuru district through the project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

 

The CBIC project includes the development of industrial townships at three nodes: Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Tumakuru (Karnataka), and Ponneri (Tamil Nadu). The Tumakuru node has been prioritized for development, with an area of 1736.20 acre being identified as the priority development area.

 

The Phase-A of the project is expected to generate employment opportunities for approximately 88,000 people and attract investment of around Rs. 7,000 crore over a period of 5-6 years, triggering growth and prosperity in the region.

 

Based on the principles of last mile multimodal connectivity of PM-GatiShakti, the upcoming industrial township will have world class infrastructure with Mumbai-Chennai National Highway 48 adjoining the site, Bengaluru International Airport located at a distance of approx.115 km, Tumakuru Railway Station situated at a distance of 25 km and Mangaluru Port at a distance of 300 km and very well connected to the site through NH. The Multi Modal connectivity ecosystem will ensure a seamless movement of raw material and finished goods.

 

All other minor infrastructure gaps have also been identified and necessary interventions are being undertaken by concerned ministries. The project will be a mixed-use development comprising of land uses like industrial, institutional, residential, commercial, green spaces etc. making it a completely self-sustainable and resilient smart industrial city. This project will facilitate investments, foster innovation, enhance skills development and build finest manufacturing ecosystem for pitching India as a global investment destination. Target sectors are Food Products, Textile and Apparels, Electronics, Auto & Auto Components, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Engineering, General Manufacturing etc.

 

With the objective to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP of India, the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme is being implemented whereby 32 greenfield industrial smart cities under 11 industrial corridors are being developed with world class Plug-n-Play infrastructure.

 

With the Government’s mantra of 'Reform, Perform and Transform', 04 such smart industrial cities have already been completed at Dholera in Gujarat, Shendra Bidkin in Maharashtra, Vikram Udyogpuri in Madhya Pradesh, Integrated Industrial Township at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

 

The Tumakuru Industrial Township project and the Industrial Corridor Programme at large will contribute to futuristic and inclusive growth of the country with the vision of the Government for ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.

 

PM concluded by adding, 'The development of the CBIC project is a major step towards promoting industrial growth and improving connectivity in the region. I am confident that this project will bring significant economic and social benefits to the people of the region.'