India and the UAE which have inked a landmark trade deal have seen a 'veritable transformation' in their ties which are now beginning to have a broader ripple impact, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, emphasising that they want to use this relationship to shape the changing world.

 

A defining decision of this transformation is the signing of the bilateral trade pact which led to such effective results and speaks volumes for the bilateral relationship, he said.

 

'The fact that we were able to conclude the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement so quickly and has led to such effective results thereafter, speaks really volumes for the relationship. We're now moving into new areas,' he said while delivering the keynote address at India Global Forum and panel discussion – India-UAE: Partners for Global Impact.

 

India and the UAE signed UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February this year.

 

'Today, our discussions are about space, education, artificial intelligence, health and startups. The old, traditional energy trade investments continue, but a new agenda is also coming into being,' he said.

 

'...India-UAE cooperation is particularly significant. We have known each other for a long, but have rediscovered each other only in 2016. With CEPA, ties have really taken off. India-UAE cooperation is not about surviving change but shaping it positively,' Jaishankar tweeted.

 

The UAE is today India's 3 rd largest trade partner. It is India's 2 nd largest export market.

 

Particular salience

'More Indian citizens live in the UAE than in any other country abroad. So whether we are talking people, or whether we are talking business, the UAE has a particular salience in our perspectives,' he said during the keynote address.  

 

'After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in 2015, a visit which took place after more than four decades, we've actually seen a veritable transformation in our ties. As I pointed out, certainly our trade and investment have gone up,' he said.

 

'If we were to speak about the return of history in this part of the world, a very natural example of that is the India-UAE relationship. There are times when we may occasionally have a different perspective. Even that is often expressed quite subtly between us,' he said.

 

'So when I look at the return of history and the relationships which will go forward in the coming days, I certainly would rank the India-UAE relationship very high in that,' he said.

 

'India and the UAE are two countries very comfortable, who've known each other for a long time and who want to use this relationship today in a changing world, not just to survive in a changing world, but to shape a changing world,' he said.

 

Expanding relationship

Jaishankar also highlighted the ability to expand this relationship with other partners as another aspect of this relationship.

 

'The obvious example of that is France. We have just this year taken the trilateral with France to a ministerial level, and we certainly want to expand that,' he said.

 

India and the UAE are also doing more things together, he said.

 

He also said that India and the UAE are together exploring the possibility of health cooperation in Africa.

 

Ripple impact

He also mentioned the establishment of the I2US (India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States) mechanism which is 'yet another example of how our changed relationship is now beginning to have a broader ripple impact.'

 

'So it is in many ways a very ambitious relationship because it's not limited really by its bilateral possibilities. I'm very confident that as we get deeper into the relationship, it will also make itself felt at the global level,' he said.

 

'The traditional energy-trade relations continue but a new agenda is also coming into being. To my mind, that is something that would really redefine this relationship, and help it go to a higher orbit,' he said.

 

'Brought out the relationship between globalisation, rebalancing and multi-polarity. But underlined that more perennial competitive forces are also at work. Far from witnessing an end of history, we are seeing a return of history,' Jaishankar tweeted.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has proposed to allow farmers to apply online to seek a no objection certificate (NOC) if they want to change certification agencies for organic produce. However, experts see the move as not addressing the core issue of making a farmer’s 'hasslefree and timebound' transition from one agency to another.

 

The issue has been pending since last year, when it was found in Madhya Pradesh that fictitious organic produce growers’ groups got listed in the internal control system (ICS) mechanism under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). Later, APEDA suspended some certification companies, while some other firms announced the discontinuation of certification in commodities such as cotton and soyabean.

 

Some farmer groups had approached APEDA in March this year, complaining that they were not getting an NOC from the mandator and wanting to move to another certification agency or form a different grower group. Mandator is the service provider between the farmer and the trader.

 

Following this, APEDA has now proposed to allow farmers to fill up details like name, address, contact number, Aadhaar, and registration number online on a portal, which will be validated through SMS, sources said. This will minimise the role of mandators, and no NOC will be required from them to shift to a new certification body, the sources said.

 

lack of awareness

However, experts point out that many farmers are not aware of their own organic 'registration number,' since those data are maintained by the mandators, and if farmers are asked to mention that in the online form, they will have to go back to the mandators to get it. APEDA had in 2016 allowed farmers to seek help from certification agencies if any mandator refused to issue an NOC, whereas it has been seen that exporters, mandators, and certification bodies all work in cohesion as a result, and farmers do not get redress.

 

This initiative of APEDA will enable an organic farmer to obtain a NOC from his existing grower group and to join a new grower group that he or she wants to join, said trade policy analyst S Chandrasekaran. However, this is not the final solution; he added that the NOC should be time-bound and hassle-free.

 

Need transparency

'The grower groups never share the farmer’s identification number with his members. Until transparency improves in the system, organic farmers will have difficulty exercising their rights. For instance, the language of the organic agriculture software operated by APEDA, called TRACENET, is English. Unless it is also made available in Hindi and other regional languages, how will farmers have access?' asked Chandrasekaran.

 

The lack of financial audit in NPOP is the source of pilferage of organic farmers’ income and also a weakness in the system in supporting the profiteering activities of mandators and traders, experts said. Further, the high certification cost and in-built maneuvering procedures of NPOP with the view of preserving the trader’s interests in grower groups prevent individual organic farmers and co-operatives from participating in the organic agriculture movement, said Chandrasekaran.

 

The export of organic products certified under the NPOP Standards was 4.60 lakh tonnes ($ 771.96 million) during 2021–22. The major export destinations include the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Ecuador. Apart from cotton, other organically grown exported items include processed food products, oilseeds, spices, rice, and millets.

UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch arrives in New Delhi on Monday for the sixth round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the UK and India.

 

Badenoch will meet her counterpart Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, in person for the first time, aiming to strengthen ties between the two countries and reinvigorate talks on an ambitious bilateral trade deal.

 

She will address both teams of senior negotiators ahead of the sixth round of formal negotiations taking place throughout the week.

 

The talks – the first formal round since July – will target a deal to cut tariffs and open opportunities for UK services such as financial and legal, making it easier for British businesses to sell to an economy set to be the world’s third largest - with a middle class of 250 million people - by 2050.

 

During her visit, the Trade Secretary will also meet with business leaders to better understand their needs for a modern UK - India trade relationship. This will include a meeting with envoPAP, a UK company investing over £10 million in India to construct a plant producing Fairtrade paper and packaging products.

 

Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch said: 'I’m here in New Delhi to kickstart round six of UK-India trade negotiations and meet my counterpart Minister Goyal in person to drive progress on this agreement. Both nations have come to the table with the very highest of ambitions and a willingness to work together towards a mutually beneficial deal. I’m excited about the opportunities we can create for British business.

 

India and the UK are the 5th and 6th biggest economies in the world. We have a long shared history, and are in pole position to do a deal that will create jobs, encourage growth and boost our £29 billion trading relationship.'

 

Strong growth in the Indian economy is expected to boost UK exports to India by over £9 billion by the middle of the next decade, and UK businesses are already taking advantage of the flourishing trading relationship.

 

UK household name Pret A Manger and fintech pioneers Tide and Revolut are among those expanding in India.

 

British coffee and sandwich retailer Pret will open its first branch in India early in 2023 following a franchise partnership with Reliance Brands. Mumbai will be the chain’s first branch, as part of a plan to open 100 in total across the country.

The cultivation of Short Duration Varieties (SDVs) provide extended window between Kharif harvesting of paddy and wheat sowing for Rabi, thereby giving sufficient time to the rice farmers for in-situ management and removal of excess paddy straw. The varietal trait for height is inherent in self-pollinated crop like paddy. The dwarf varieties have less production of straw as compared to the tall varieties.

 

Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) and State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) have developed high-yielding short duration Basmati rice varieties including Pusa Basmati 1509 (115 days), Pusa Basmati 1692 (115 days) and Pusa Basmati 1847 (125 days) and non-basmati category, aromatic rice varieties PR 126 (120-125 days), Pusa Sugandh 5 (125 days) and Pusa 1612 (120 days).These early maturing varieties mature about 20-25 days in advance which enable farmers for straw management and preparation of the fields for wheat sowing.

 

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is implementing National Food Security Mission (NFSM) to increase the production and productivity of foodgrain crops including rice. The various interventions such as cluster demonstrations on direct seeded rice, line transplanting, stress-tolerant varieties etc., distribution of quality seeds of high-yielding varieties including Short Duration Varieties& hybrids, micro-nutrients, soil ameliorants, plant protection chemicals, farm equipments and machinery are implemented to increase rice production and productivity.

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri  Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

The development of cold storage infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a 53.8 per cent growth after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2020.

 

Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said 21 cold storages with a capacity of 99,555 tonnes have been constructed in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370.

 

Stating that the Government is putting in all efforts to create more cold storage infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, he said currently 2.83 lakh tonnes of cold storage capacity has been created under various government schemes in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

USDA estimate

In its recent report ‘Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual’, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) FAS (Foreign Agricultural Service) had forecast India’s apple production at 2.35 million tonnes (mt) for the marketing year 2022-23. Of this, Jammu and Kashmir is expected to contribute approximately 70 per cent to domestic apple production, and Himachal Pradesh around 20 per cent.

 

The report said 2022 monsoon provided sufficient rainfall during the flowering and fruit setting period, resulting in a favourable harvest with strong market arrivals.

 

In such a situation, cold storage plays an important role in post-harvest movements of apple in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

On the drop in the price of apples in Kashmir, Tomar said that this year, there is a bumper harvest of the apple crop year and the marketing of fruit was advanced by some days due to warm weather. As a result, unregulated and more supply in the mandis caused a drop in the prices of apples.

 

Stating that the National Highway (NH) is under construction, he said the traffic gets halted on a few occasions. This also has some impact on prices. He said NH gets damaged or broken due to natural calamities. Hence it is repaired from time to time due to which the traffic gets halted.

Applications are invited through floating Expression of Interest (EoI) by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and proposals received in response to EoI are evaluated based on eligibility and assessment criteria enshrined in the guidelines for scheme for 'Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure'. This Scheme is implementation since 2008. Approval to eligible proposals is accorded based on merit of the individual proposal as well as funds available under the scheme. Grants-in-aid is released to such approved projects on fulfilling the milestones prescribed under the guidelines.

 

A total of 72 applications were received in response to the latest EoI dated 21st June 2022 inviting appplicaiton as per the scheme guidelines dated 8th June 2022. The applications were invited from eligible entities i.e. Private Limited Companies, Partnership Firms, Proprietorship Firms, Cooperatives and Public Limited Companies. 

 

Out of 72 received applications, 53 applications were found eligible basedon eligibility and assessment criteria. Out of these 53 eligible applications, approval has been accorded to 24 entities. List of such entities is available in public domain on the website of the Ministry (https://www.mofpi.gov.in/sites/default/files/minutespac-cc-27oct-f_1.pdf).

 

19 proposals have not been found eligible on account of not fulfilling the eligibility criteria specified in the scheme guidelines. 

 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

A farm-to-table meal of buttery jackfruit stir fry, a mixed bean sambar with foraged greens and tubers, and a helping of heirloom foxtail millet await the participants on day one of the four-day Nilgiris Wild Food Festival that begins from December 19. The traditional meal is cooked on firewood and prepared by Irulas, an indigenous farming and beekeeping community of the Nilgiris. The food is served on teak leaves, after a guided forest walk on their ancestral lands in the southern Nilgiris. Attendees also get to learn about heirloom produce and traditional farming practises.

 

'It’s time we looked at foraging and produce that is available abundantly around us, instead of buying industrialised foods,' says Ramya Reddy, director of The Nilgiris Foundation (TNF) adding that the festival turns the spotlight on mindful ways of gathering food, and consuming it. 'The indigenous communities have a natural instinct towards foraging for food attuned to seasons. We hope the festival brings attention to foraging, wild foods, the place of wild foods in a climate changed world, sustainable farming, and sustainable eating. We have to start looking at smaller farms and small holdings to get our food.'

 

The festival, organised by The Nilgiris Foundation, that opens to the public for the first time turns the spotlight on indigenous, wild, and sustainably grown produce of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. The event held at multiple venues around the Nilgiris brings together growers, renowned chefs, writers and artists who care about eating mindfully. The line up has names like chef Thomas Zackaria who runs Locavore in Mumbai, Chef Abhijit Saha from Bengaluru who has over three decades of national and international experience in the food service and hospitality industry, environmentalist Lathika George from Kodaikanal, who has also authored books like Mother Earth and The Suriani Kitchen, and food raconteur Rakesh Raghunathan. The speakers will talk about their journeys and sustainability on day two, which is habba or celebration day at the The Keystone Foundation campus in Kotagiri. The habba also brings communities from across the Nilgiris showcasing indigenous food exhibits like tubers and all kinds of edibles and wild food that visitors can buy. 'We have been working with the communities for three decades,' says Pratim Roy, founder of The Keystone Foundation and one of the founders of TNF. 'Because of economic conditions, they left their land fallow and went to work as daily labourers. We helped them revive traditional agriculture, mainly cultivation of millets like ragi, thinai, saamai, and multi-cropping, and nurture seed banks of native produce.'

 

On day two, Suresh Belliraj — from the Badaga Community — who offers curated Badaga meals at his restaurant Odae, hosts a multi-course sit down meal at Riverside Dreamscapes in Aravenu. 'Millets like ragi and saamai used to be a staple at Badaga homes before rice and breads took over,' says Suresh adding that the menu, based on stories that his mom told him, gives an idea of what the local communities used to eat, starting from the 1940s to now.

 

'It’s more like progression of wild foods. For example, there used to be hunting going on, so dried meat, deer and rabbit meat, were consumed. These are now replaced with chicken and mutton. But our cooking is distinct, we use different types of spice mix for vegetable and meat-based curries. The chicken curry, heavy on coriander and chillies comes with a warm flavour. The menu tells stories about food I grew up eating: like the comforting fluffy old style bread, with a crisp black crust on top, and chicken curry.'

 

The menu has dishes made using raagi and saamai along with butter, curd, and ghee made from buffalo milk as buffaloes are reared by the communities here. Foraged wild mushrooms, bamboo shoots called ootakudi and bithukudi, spinach, varieties of beans, wild berries, and barley and wheat items introduced by the British also feature on the menu.

 

At sundown, there will be Badaga music by playback singer Belli Raj (who sang the popular Tamil song Kangal Irandaal) and his family, a lecture and discussion on food culture, followed by one-pot dinner with chicken curry, beans curry and rice. Participants will get to sample ragi balls in garlic, and tree tomato chutneys, uppu korai (roasted and slated beans), benni koo ( millets with butter), keerai hittu ( a snack made using amranthus leaves), and potthihittu( wheat pancakes), and sutta badu ( smoked meats).

 

On day three chefs Abhijit and Arup Kakati will collaborate and offer an innovative menu featuring seasonal produce for sit down multi-course meals. This includes lunch and dinner at Le Cafe, Little Earth in Udhagamandalam. From lemongrass infused tartlets and bamboo shoot pickle on tapioca crisps to wild mushroom ravioli and passion fruit granita, the menu packs in a lot. 'It’s a fusion of local ingredients, prepared in an European style. We have used artichokes and beans in a contemporary Italian twist. We have used locally grown lavender too,' says Arup. The festival ends with a Chef’s Table sit down dinner hosted by Periodic Table Restaurant in Udhagamandalam.

 

Pratim says the festival opens a window to anyone who cares about mindful living and builds the momentum for sustainability movement. 'After seeing the havoc caused by climate change and the pandemic, people are looking for answers. Food connects everybody and kick-starts conversation on not just wild, indigenous and organic food, but also ecology, health, nutrition and sustainable living.'

Under the District as Export Hub (DEH) initiative, products including agricultural products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country, Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said today in reply to a parliamentary question.

 

In order to boost farm exports, the Government introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy in 2018, with the following objectives:

 

To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high-value and value-added agricultural exports including focus on perishables.

To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional agri products exports.

To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues.

To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at the earliest.

To enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.

Promotion of exports of agriculture products is a ongoing exercise. The Government has taken several steps at State/ District levels to promote exports. State specific Action Plans have been prepared and State Level Monitoring Committees (SLMCs), Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports and Cluster Level Committees have been formed in a number of States.

 

Country and product-specific action plans have also been formulated to promote exports. The Government is also in the process to utilize the proposed District as Export Hub Initiative to achieve the objectives of Agriculture Export Policy. Under the DEH initiative, products including agricultural products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country. State Export Strategy has been prepared in 28 States/UTs.

 

The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of Department of Commerce, has the mandate to promote exports of agricultural and processed food products. APEDA has been providing assistance to the exporters under various components of its Export Promotion Scheme.

 

The Department of Commerce provides financial assistance to promote exports, including exports of agricultural products through Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme, Export Promotion Schemes of APEDA and Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) etc.

 

Further, a Farmer Connect Portal has been developed for providing a platform for farmers, Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives to interact with exporters. Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs) have been organized in the clusters to provide export-market linkages. Regular interactions, through video conferences, have been held with the Indian Missions abroad, to assess and tap export opportunities. Country specific BSMs, through Indian Missions, have also been organized. 

India's North Eastern Region (NER) witnessed an 85.34 per cent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years, revealed India's Commerce and Industry Ministry.

 

Export from the region increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destinations of export have been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe. There has been a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from N-E states like Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

 

To provide potential market linkages, the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (Apeda) organized field visits of importers to have first-hand information about the qualitative cultivation practices being followed by farmers by inviting the importers from the neighbouring countries, the Middle East, far Eastern countries, European nations and Australia. The field visits were carried out in all eight states of NER.

 

The Apeda organized an international buyer-seller meet (BSM) in Guwahati, Assam, on March 10, 2022, wherein exhibitors from across the state displayed a wide range of agri-horti products, including geographical indication (GI)-products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, processed food products, black rice, red rice, joha rice, spices, tea, coffee, honey, processed meat, spices and organic products. Importers from Sri Lanka, Dubai, Bangladesh, Oman, Netherlands, Singapore and Greece participated along with exporters from NER and other states.

 

Apeda has also planned to undertake several other projects like capacity-building of 80 budding entrepreneurs and exporters from the region. The farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and farmer producer companies (FPCs) and the state government officials organize skill development and training in food processing and value addition on horticultural produce, among others.

 

Apeda also extended its support to NER to undertake branding and promotion of Northeast products such as KIWI Wine, processed foods. It also carried out a wet sampling of Joha Rice Pulao, black rice kheer, among other things.

 

The potential crops for export from Mizoram are pineapple, hatkora (citrus), dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruit, squash, anthurium flower, Mizo Ginger, Mizo chilli and grape wine.

 

As a part of capacity-building, Apeda organized skill development programmes for manufacturers, exporters and entrepreneurs to utilise the local produce for value addition and export. Training programmes are being held in different states of the Northeast in association with the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysuru (CFTRI), and Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), for five days.

 

The Apeda, in association with the Industries and Commerce Department, Assam, organised an export conclave on February 19, 2021, in Guwahati.

 

With the Apeda's intervention, Tripura's jack fruit was exported to London, and Nagaland's King Chilli to London through a local exporter for the first time. Also, Assam's local fruit called Leteku (Burmese Grape) was exported to Dubai and Assam's betel leaves have been regularly exported to London.

 

Apeda under its Agricultural Export Policy is encouraging states to harness the potential of agri produce exports. The apex body aims to create a platform for the buyers to get the products directly from the producer group and the processors.

Government is aware of the importance of nature based fertilizers, nutrients and pesticides in organic, natural farming and conventional farming system and is promoting their production and use under various Government schemes.

 

For promotion of organic farming Government has been implement ingdedicated schemes namely ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) in the country since 2015-16. Both the schemes stress on end to end support to organic farmers i.e. from production to processing, certification and marketing and post harvest management support including processing. PKVY is being implemented in all the States across the country excepting NE States. MOVCDNER scheme is implemented only in NE States.

 

Under PKVY, farmersare provided financial assistance of Rs 50000/ha for 3 years out of which, Rs 31000/ ha / 3 years is provided directly to farmers through DBT for on-farm and off-farm organic inputs. Financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh/ cluster of 1000 ha for 3 years is provided for value addition and infrastructure creation.

 

Under MOVCDNER, an assistance of Rs. 46,575/ha for 3years is provided for creation of FPO, support to farmers for organic inputs, quality seeds/ planting material and training, hand holding and certification. Need based assistance is provided for post harvest infrastructure and value addition up to maximum limit of Rs 600 lakh for integrated processing unit, Rs 37.50 lakh for integrated pack house, Rs 18.75 lakh each for refrigerated vehicle and cold store components, Rs 10.0 lakh for collection, aggregation, grading   and custom hiring center and Rs 6.0 lakh for four wheeler/transportation.

 

Indian Council of Agriculture (ICAR) through Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research at Modipuram operates a research schemes of All India Network Programme on Organic Farming (AINP-OF) in 20 cooperating centers covering 16 States to develop package of practices for organic production of crops in cropping and farming systems perspective. The scheme involves 11 State Agricultural Universities, 8 ICAR institutes/ centers and 1 special heritage University.

 

ICAR has developed organic farming packages for 68 cropping systems suitable to 16 States. A total of 104 crop varieties are identified that are suitable for organic farming. In addition, ICAR also developed 64 prototype Integrated Farming System (IFS) models suitable to 26 states/Union Territories having potential to increase income by 3-5 times. Evaluation of natural farming in 8 major cropping systems are also in progress through AINP-OF centres.

 

Multi- disciplinary team of scientist are involved in research, need-based training to farmers and extensions agents and giving technical support to State agencies for promotion of organic farming. Scientists in KrishiVigyan Kendra (KVK) organize regular training programs to farmers and extension personnel on organic agriculture including production and use of organic inputs.

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture And Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.