India and the Dominican Republic held the second round of foreign office consultations on July 1 to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including political, trade and investment.

 

'The second round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Dominican Republic were held in Santo Domingo on 01 July 2022. The Indian side was led by Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) and the Dominican Republic by Ambassador Jose Julio Gomez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,' the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

 

The consultations reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations including political, trade and investment, capacity building and cooperation in science and technology including space, cyber security and artificial intelligence, higher education and cultural relations.

 

According to MEA, multilateral and regional issues including cooperation in the UN, International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) were also discussed.

 

The Secretary (East) called on Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez and exchanged views on strengthening bilateral relations.

 

During the discussion, the host country appreciated the establishment of India’s resident Mission in Santo Domingo on 1 January 2022. Both sides acknowledged the potential to further deepen relations including expanding trade which grew over 100 per cent to reach USD 1 billion mark. India is the fourth largest trade partner of the Dominican Republic.

 

The consultations were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere. Both sides agreed to hold the next round of consultations at a mutually convenient date in New Delhi.

 

The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region remained an important area of focus for Indian foreign policy during the year, according to MEA annual report.

 

Last year, India continued its efforts to strengthen and diversify its relationship with the LAC countries despite the restrictions imposed by the global pandemic.

 

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic Roberto Alvarez on September 21, 2021. (ANI)

Tomato is emerging as one of the major off-season cash crops in lower and mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. Solan, Sirmaur and Kullu districts harvests 86 per cent of the state's overall production.

 

Off-seasonal tomato cultivation peaks during monsoon in the hills when the crop is not harvesting in plains of north India.

 

The state annually produces 320,700 tonnes of tomato and aims to increase its production by 498,000 tonnes.

 

Agriculture Minister Virender Kanwar told IANS for some farmers off-seasonal tomato cultivation is the main source of income.

 

About 46 per cent of the state's total plantation is in Solan district with more than 90 per cent of the produce going to markets in neighbouring states mainly Delhi.

 

The other tomato growing belts are Sirmaur (30 per cent) and Kullu (10 per cent), while the remaining is in Shimla, Mandi and Bilaspur districts.

 

Most of the farmers prefer to sell their produce through local agriculture produce market committees, whileAAAAA some send directly to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMCs) of other states.

 

A group of farmers from Salogra have a market linkage with online retail stores like BigBasket. A sell the tomato produce through e-marketplace.

 

At present, 22,753 farmers, many of them with small landholdings, are engaged in tomato production with an annual turnover of Rs 203 crore.

 

Polyhouses are also being used to produce off-season vegetables, said Kanwar.

 

CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University in Palampur has developed disease-resistant high-yielding tomato varieties. They are Palam Pink, Palam Pride, Him Pragati, Him Palam, Cherry Yellow and Palam Tomato Hybrid 1.

 

To promote its cultivation, the university is regularly organizing capacity building programmes, benefitting over 25,000 farmers.

 

The Minister said the government is also extending irrigation facilities and promoting rainwater harvesting.

 

For systematic diversification of crops, the Agriculture Department has chalked out a plan for the introduction of high-yielding hybrids of vegetables, popularization of a micro-irrigation system and protected cultivation. For improvement of quality, organic and natural farming is also being promoted across the state.

 

Subsidy to the tune of 50 per cent is being provided to the farmers for diversification of cereal crops to vegetables under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, wherein the tomato crop cultivation is also being promoted, added Kanwar.

 

The centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme was launched on 29th June, 2020 by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The scheme has completed two years and a journey that started with the zest to empower the unorganized Micro Enterprises continues to fulfill the aim of formalising the food processing sector and celebrating their tremendous support towards the economy, has borne good results for the sector.

 

Envisioning enhancement of the existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and formalization of the sector, the PMFME Scheme is currently being implemented in 35 States and Union Territories. Under the scheme, the submission process for the applicants to apply for the credit-linked subsidy is done through the online portal (www.pmfme.mofpi.gov.in). Nearly 50,000 applicants have registered on the portal and more than 25,000 applications have been successfully submitted so far.

 

The digital GIS One District One Product (ODOP) map of India has been developed to provide details of ODOPs of all the States and UTs. The digital map also has indicators for Tribal, SC, ST, aspirational districts and Incubation Centers approved under the PMFME Scheme. It will enable stakeholders to make concerted efforts for its value chain development.

 

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries signed Joint Letters with Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and MoUs with Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India  (NAFED), National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD). An agreement has been signed with the Union Bank of India as the Nodal Bank for the PMFME Scheme and MoUs have been signed with 15 banks as official lending partners for the scheme.

 

Under the Capacity Building component of the scheme, the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli (NIFTEM-K) and the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (NIFTEM-T) have been performing a key role in providing training and research support to food processing enterprises/groups/clusters in partnership with the State Level Technical Institutions and private training partners. Training of beneficiaries is being conducted on food product processing including Food Safety & Hygiene and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP).

 

75 Incubation Centers have been approved under the scheme. The Ministry in collaboration with the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (NIFTEM-T) has also developed an online portal for submission of Incubation Center proposals and a digital map for the facilitation of details of Incubation Centers across the country.

 

The PMFME Scheme also envisages financial support of Rs. 40,000 for working capital and purchase of small tools for each member of the Self Help Group (SHG) engaged in food processing activities. Over 1 lakh SHG members have been identified and the seed capital amount of Rs. 203 Cr. has been released so far.

 

Under the scheme, MoUs have been signed with NAFED and TRIFED to take up the marketing and branding activities for supporting and handholding the beneficiaries along the entire value chain. Under the component 10 ODOP Brands in association with NAFED have been launched. The scheme also envisages marketing support to State-level brands. As of now, 2 State-level brands have been successfully launched, including the brand 'AASNAA' from the State of Punjab and the brand 'BHIMTHADI' from the State of Maharashtra and many others in the pipeline.

 

To commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence, under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav initiative, the Ministry is conducting 75 Unique One District One Product (ODOP) webinars/offline workshops across the country in collaboration with States/UTs and NIFTEM. 'Kahaani Sukshma Udyamon Ki' a series of success stories is also being published under this initiative wherein the inspiring stories feature the journey of the Micro Enterprises and Self Help Groups in the food processing sector, create awareness about the opportunities in the sector and encourage the existing and aspiring entrepreneurs to take the opportunity of availing the PMFME Scheme benefits to upscale their food processing business.

 

A monthly e-newsletter is also published featuring success stories, stories of innovation, One District One Product based stories, and research-based articles related to food processing. The E-Newsletter also features interviews with academics and industry professionals from the food processing sector, innovations and trends in the sector that can help Micro Enterprises, Self Help Groups, FPOs and Co-operatives to grow and become Aatmanirbhar.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said doubling farmers' income is a 'top priority' for the government along with introducing other welfare measures for the agriculturists.

 

'Farmers, farmers' welfare ... doubling their income has been a top priority for this government,' Commerce and Industry Minister Goyal said speaking at an event of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

 

It can be noted that the government in 2017 had assured that it is aiming to help double farmers' income by 2022, when the country completes 75 years of independence, through various policy interventions.

 

The government think tank NITI Aayog had come up with a report on the same with a roadmap to deliver on the promise by the end of FY23. As per experts, this would have required a 10.41 per cent increase in farmers' income every year.

 

Goyal also hit out at big tech firms who deploy sophisticated algorithms to ensure that consumers on e-commerce sites or other online mediums go to certain suppliers itself which are of choice to the platforms because they offer wider profit margins.

 

He said the ONDC initiative being steered by the government with help from the private sector will help the neighbourhood kirana or mom-and-pop stores who feel threatened by big tech firms like Amazon.

 

'Neighbourhood kirana shops will compete with modern, high profile shops and will be able to not only survive, but increase their incomes going forward,' the minister said.

 

He said a beta version of ONDC was launched at a ceremony in Coimbatore, where some of the participants in the open-platform ecosystem have started to get a taste of the capabilities of the idea.

 

Once the interoperability of platforms becomes available on ONDC and consumers get the choice, we will be able to see the benefits of the newly conceived platforms accrue to everyone, Goyal said.

 

The minister said he also suggested the team behind ONDC to launch the platform on regional languages so that more people can benefit from it.

The commerce ministry is working to release the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) before September this year and Districts as Export Hubs scheme would be part of that document, which aims at promoting exports and job creation, an official said. The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), the commerce ministry's arm which is formulating the policy, will soon send the proposal to the finance ministry for seeking funds for the scheme.

 

Under the scheme, the aim is to initially focus on 50 districts which have products that are scalable and hold huge export potential, the official said.

 

The DGFT would follow a 'challenge route' method to select these districts, the official said adding states and districts that want to avail the financial incentives under the scheme should compete for that.

 

There are 750 districts in the country.

 

'It will be a kind of competition among states and districts. We will come out with detailed guidelines for that. The scheme will find a place in the FTP. It will be a centrally-sponsored scheme, where 60 per cent of the total cost will be borne by the Centre, and the remaining by states. We are trying to release the new FTP before September,' the official added.

 

According to a document of the commerce ministry, states need to be engaged actively in the export promotion activities as exports cannot be exponentially increased without their active involvement.

 

Districts as Export Hubs scheme aims to target export promotion, manufacturing and employment generation at grassroot level.

 

The current foreign trade policy (2015-20) is in force till September 2022.

 

On March 31, 2020, the government had extended this policy for one year till March 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown. It was again extended till September this year.

 

In the policy, the government announces support measures for both goods and services exporters.

 

In 2021-22, the country's merchandise exports touched USD 420 billion and services exports aggregated at USD 254.4 billion. The government is looking at USD one trillion exports of goods and services each by 2030.

 

To push the outbound shipments, India is aggressively negotiating free trade agreements with several countries and regions including Canada, the UK, European Union and Israel. India has implemented a trade pact with the UAE in May and has signed one with Australia.

India and the European Union concluded the first round of talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) on Friday and the next round of talks is scheduled at Brussels in September, the commerce and industry ministry said on Saturday.

 

The first round of talks began on June 27 and concluded on July 1.

 

The two sides resumed negotiations on June 17 after a gap of over eight years on the proposed agreements on trade, investments and Geographical Indications (GI).

 

During the first round, 52 technical sessions covering 18 policy areas of FTA and seven sessions on investment protection and GIs were held, it added.

India's bilateral trade with the EU amounted to $116.36 billion in 2021-22.

 

The EU is India’s second largest trading partner after the US and the second largest destination for Indian exports.

 

'The trade agreement with the EU would help India further expand and diversify its exports of goods and services, including securing the value chains. Both sides are aiming for the trade negotiations to be broad-based, balanced, and comprehensive, based on the principles of fairness and reciprocity,' the ministry added.

 

The week-long negotiations were held in a hybrid mode – with some of the teams meeting in Delhi and the majority of officials joining virtually.

 

India’s FTA negotiations were led by Chief Negotiator Nidhi Mani Tripathi, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce and the EU was represented by its Chief Negotiator Christophe Kiener.

The commerce ministry's arm Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued registration certificates for about 1.6 million tonne of wheat to exporters having valid letter of credit, after the ban order of May 13, an official said.

 

The government is allowing wheat shipments for which irrevocable letters of credit (L/C) were issued on or before May 13, when the ban on the export of the foodgrain was imposed with an aim to contain rising prices.

 

War between Russia and Ukraine has severely impacted the flow of wheat in the global markets as they are key players in the sector. Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a quarter of the global wheat supply.

 

Exporters having valid L/Cs would have to register with the Regional Authorities of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to obtain registration of contracts (RCs) to ship their consignments.

 

'RCs for about 1.6 million tonne have been issued so far,' the official said adding as Russia has started exports of wheat through Turkey, prices in the global markets may stabilise.

 

India's wheat exports stood at 7 million tonne, valued at USD 2.05 billion, in 2021-22 on better demand for the Indian wheat from overseas.

 

Of the total wheat exports, around 50 per cent of shipments were exported to Bangladesh in last fiscal year.

 

The top ten importing countries for the Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.

 

India accounts for less than 1 per cent of the world wheat export. It is the second-largest producer of wheat. It had contributed around 14 per cent of the world's total production in 2020.

 

India produces around 107.59 million tonne of wheat annually, while a major chunk of it goes towards domestic consumption. Major wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat.

 

The Department of Food and Public Distribution will organize a one-day national conference on food and nutrition security in India on July 5 in Delhi.

 

According to a press release from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Sunday, the conference is aimed at facilitating cross-learning, disseminating best practices for schemes under Public Distribution System (PDS) and strengthening the focus on nutritional security.

 

Union Minister Piyush Goyal will address the conference in presence of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State (CA, F&PD) and Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State (CA, F&PD).

A daylong UT Level Krishi Mela Event cum Cluster Promotion Fair was organized by National Horticulture Board and JKHPMC in district Shopian.

 

The Mela was organized under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI’s initiative to designate district Shopian as an ‘Apple Cluster’ under its Cluster Development Programme.

 

The Mela was aimed at sensitizing the stakeholders of the Horticulture sector of the district about the benefits of the programme.

 

The Mela was inaugurated by DC Shopian, Sachin Kumar Vaishya in presence of Managing Director, JKHPMC, Shafat Sultan.

 

Speaking on the occasion, DC Shopian expressed satisfaction over the district being designated as an ‘Apple Cluster’ district under CDP and hoped that the various interventions under the programme like GI tagging and digital marketing will make the Shopian apple globally competitive.

 

MD, JKHPMC while giving a detailed overview of CDP explained that the programme envisages end to end pre-production, post production & value addition and marketing components estimated to cost Rs 268 crores, out of which the project would attract a central funding of 100 crore in its span of four year implementation.

 

The programme was attended by representatives of NHB, GT, APEDA, PARC, CITH, Agriculture Department, Horticulture Production Department, Horticulture (Plg.& Mktg.), and connected stakeholders of the horticulture industry of the district including CA Store owners, Mandi association, FPOs, SHGs etc. who gave detailed presentations in their respective areas for the implementation of CDP in Shopian during the technical session.

 

A Brochure on CDP for Shopian Cluster was also released by the dignitaries after the inaugural session.

 

In the backdrop of the district being developed by the central Agriculture ministry, as ‘Apple Cluster’, the participants connected with the horticulture sector were hopeful that implementation of CDP in the district would be a game changer for the Shopian apple which is known for its unique quality and taste.

Demand for Indian rice was robust this week as a weaker rupee made the staple more attractive than that from Thailand and Vietnam, while Bangladesh cut its import duty to cool surging domestic prices.

 

Bangladesh has cut the import duty on rice to 25% from 62.5%, with traders saying a huge volume will come from neighbouring India.

 

Deadly floods have damaged large areas of crop and have caused domestic prices to spike, even though it is peak harvesting season for the country's biggest rice crop.

 

While Bangladesh is the world's third-biggest rice producer, it often requires imports to cope with shortages due to natural disasters such as cyclones and floods.

 

Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> was quoted at $355 to $360 per tonne, unchanged from last week.

 

'Buyers have been giving preference to Indian rice because of lower prices. Demand is robust for 25% and 100% broken white rice,' said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

 

Thailand's 5% broken rice prices <RI-THBKN5-P1> fell to $412-$415 per tonne from $420-$425 last week.

 

'Demand is coming in, but not in large amounts. The market is quiet - India rice prices are lower than that of Thailand,' a Bangkok-based trader said.

 

While the farmers are expecting a good yield this year, they are under pressure from rising costs of fertilizer, the trader added.

 

Vietnam's 5% broken rice <RI-VNBKN5-P1> was offered at $415-$420 per tonne on Thursday, compared with $418-$423 a week ago.

 

'Domestic supplies are building up with more output from the ongoing harvest of the summer-autumn crop,' a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.

 

Data on Wednesday showed that Vietnam's rice exports in January-June were estimated to have risen 16.2% from a year earlier to 3.5 million tonnes, with revenue from rice exports up 4.6%.