The ‘Shashwat Bharat Krushi Rath’, a mobile knowledge centre, has been launched in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to create awareness among farmers about globally-acclaimed sustainable, natural and chemical-free farming methods.

 

The mobile centre, inaugurated by Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, is a replica of the ‘Sustainable Farming and Rural Entrepreneurship Centre’ situated at The Eco Factory Foundation (TEFF), a Maharashtra-based non-profit organisation, near Pune.

 

A statement by TEFF said the centre will also provide information on appropriate market linkages, post-harvest technologies, government schemes. and policies related to agriculture and allied businesses/ start-ups.

 

The centre aims to strengthen farmers’ economy by imparting education on sustainable agriculture practices and to establish sustainable farms.

 

It will demonstrate the worth of sustainable farming from the grassroots level. It will touch on points such as the calendar of the plantation – what crops and when to grow them, how to grow their produce with the available natural resources in their farm, market linkages – how to add value to their business in an efficient way, how to sell their produce in the market, and other aspects.

 

The statement said the idea is to take the mobile centre across the country. ‘Shashwat Bharat Krushi Rath’ will travel across the villages of India in the coming months, it said.

 

Quoting Anand Chordia, founder of TEFF, it said: 'We are certain that this initiative will be a model project that will uplift the social and environmental morale and will bring economic viability to farmers. We wish to benefit the largest number of farmers with the takeaways of Sustainable Farming and Rural Entrepreneurship Centre.'

Jordan’s state grain buyer has issued an international tender to buy 120,000 tonnes of milling wheat sourced from optional origins, European traders said on Wednesday.

 

The deadline for submission of price offers is Feb. 23, with shipment sought in a series of possible combinations in 60,000 tonne consignments.

 

Possible shipment combinations are July 16-31, Aug. 1-15, Aug. 16-31 and Sept. 1-15.

 

The tender continues a period of active grain importing by Jordan.

 

The country has also issued a tender for 120,000 tonnes of animal feed barley, closing on Feb. 22.

 

In its last wheat tender on Feb. 1, Jordan’s state grains buyer purchased 60,000 tonnes after also seeking offers for 120,000 tonnes.

India will pitch to become the preferred sourcing partner for the global food processing industry during the fortnight at EXPO2020 Dubai and host various seminars and conferences to deliberate on ways to explore international collaborations and further strengthen its export potential.

 

Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Dr.Abhilaksh Likhi, will inaugurate the ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight at the India Pavilion in EXPO2020 Dubai on February 17th, 2022. The fortnight will showcase India’s prowess in sectors like food processing, horticulture, dairy, fisheries, and organic farming and the vast investment opportunities that it offers.

 

As part of the key theme - ‘Millets’, the fortnight will witness the millets food festival, the launch of Millets Book, and various seminars focusing on its health and nutritional benefits. It is noteworthy here that the UN General Assembly has recently adopted the resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’.

 

Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest livelihood provider in the country. The sector contributes a significant share of around 21% to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With total exports of agricultural and allied products at US$ 41.25 billion in FY21, India is among the 15 leading exporters of agricultural products in the world.

 

To harness the untapped potential of this sector, the Government has allowed 100% FDI in the marketing of food products and food product e-commerce under the automatic route. An incentive outlay of Rs 10,900 crore (US$ 1,484 million) for the food processing sector has also been approved under the PLI scheme. In addition, the comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy has been introduced to increase India’s agricultural export to US$ 60 billion by 2021-22 and US$ 100 billion in the next few years.

 

The sector is set to witness increased investment in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities, warehousing, and cold storage, with global consumption reaching the pre-pandemic level.

 

The fortnight will also see participation of several senior government officials from India who will be present during the various sessions.

 

The ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight will conclude on March 2nd.

India, which is currently negotiating about half-a-dozen free trade agreements, is set to sign the first such bilateral pact with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during a virtual summit Friday, with adequate protections for domestic industry.

 

The comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with the UAE will have clauses protecting the interests of domestic industries and providing them a gateway to markets in West Asia and Africa, three people aware of the matter said.

 

'Negotiations for CEPA were launched in September 2021 and have been completed,' the external affairs ministry said in a statement announcing the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan. 'The agreement will take India-UAE economic and commercial engagement to the next level. [The] UAE is India’s third largest trade partner, and bilateral trade and investment ties are expected to see significant enhancements,' the ministry added.

 

India is negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with the UK, Australia, European Union (EU), Canada and Israel, and all of them have negative lists of items where limited or no tariff concessions will be granted. This will be done to protect the interests of domestic industry, the three people said, requesting anonymity.

 

The CEPA with the UAE will be the second major trade deal after the India-Mauritius comprehensive economic cooperation and partnership agreement (CECPA) signed in February 2021, one of the people said. 'The India-UAE agreement is of strategic significance for both partners. We see a potential of $100 billion in bilateral trade in five years. It is a win-win for both,' he added. During the virtual summit, Modi and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed are expected to lay out their vision for the relations between the two sides at a time when India is celebrating 75 years of independence and the UAE the 50th anniversary of its foundation. The leaders will also discuss bilateral cooperation and regional and international issues, the external affairs ministry said.

 

Both countries collaborated closely during the pandemic in the critical areas of healthcare and food security.

 

Ajay Sahai, director general and CEO of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said: 'The UAE is India’s second largest export destination, next only to the US and the growth of our exports to the UAE has been very encouraging. In the first nine months of the current financial year, our exports to the UAE have already crossed $25 billion.'

 

As per official data, the trade balance is, however, tilted in favour of the UAE, with imports (India buys a lot of crude oil from the UAE) surpassing the $43-billion mark during January-December 2021.

 

Sahai said the CEPA will facilitate greater access for Indian exports to other Gulf Cooperation Council markets as they follow the same technical standards as the UAE. 'The UAE is also a re-distribution centre and a financial hub. Much of the exports to Africa are routed through Dubai,' he said.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon come out with fresh regulations for two important everyday consumption items - bread and beer.

 

Beer brands will have to disclose the calorie count per bottle or can while bread makers will be allowed to label products as 'multigrain', 'whole wheat', and 'brown' bread only if the items have specified amount of multigrain or whole wheat in them, FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal said.

 

'With disclosure of calorie count on bottles, consumers can opt for lower calorie beer,' he told ET.

 

At present beer containers mention the alcoholic content by weight.

 

A bread can be labelled whole wheat if it contains at least 75% whole wheat, brown bread if it contains 50% whole wheat, multigrain if it has 20% multigrain, and garlic bread if it has at least 2% garlic in it, Singhal said.

 

Both regulations to be notified in the next two to three months.

 

Last year, the regulator came out with a directive that all liquor bottles will carry cautionary messages of 'Drinking is injurious to health' and 'Don't drink and drive' on their labels, similar to the one on tobacco or cigarette packets.

 

The food authority had in 2018 notified a separate regulation for alcoholic drinks called the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages Standards) Regulation, 2018 that applies on all distilled alcoholic beverages (brandy, country liquor, gin, rum, vodka and whisky, liqueur or alcoholic cordial), wines and beer.

 

FSSAI has signed memorandums of understandings (MoUs) with several states to strengthen the food safety and security systems.

The Indian economy is poised to grow at the quickest pace among the league of large nations on the back of various initiatives taken by the government in Budget 2022-23, said the Finance Ministry's Monthly Economic Review.

 

'The current year may as well end with an economic reset manifest of a post-COVID-19 world...Manufacturing and Construction will be the 'growth drivers', triggered by the PLI schemes and public capex in infrastructure,' the review report said.

 

Agriculture, which continues to see a constant increase in net sown area and crop diversification, will strengthen food buffers while benefiting farmers through generous volumes of procurement at remunerative minimum support prices and income transfers through PM KISAN scheme, it added.

 

Observing that the IMF in its January 2022 update has lowered its global growth estimate for 2022, it said India is yet the only large and major country listed by the IMF whose growth projection has been revised upwards in 2022-23.

 

'In a testimony to the resilience of its people and the farsightedness of its policymaking, the Indian economy that contracted by (-)6.6 per cent in 2020-21 is now projected in 2022-23 to grow the quickest among the league of large nations,' it said.

 

The report said the Budget 2022-23 has strengthened the direction set for India's economy by the previous year's budget.

 

The capex budget, higher by 35.4 per cent over current year's budget estimates and rising to 4.1 per cent of GDP after inclusion of grants-in-aid to states for capital works, will power the seven engines of Gatishakti to reduce the infrastructure gap and facilitate private investment in the country, it said.

 

On the impact of third wave of COVID-19, it said, overall economic activity remained resilient and this is reflected in robust performance of several high frequency indicators like power consumption, PMI manufacturing, exports and e-way bill generation.

 

'Once the uncertainty and anxiety caused by the Covid-19 virus recedes from people's minds, consumption will pick up and the demand revival will then facilitate the private sector stepping in with investments to augment production to meet the rising demand. Barring external shocks – geo-political and economic – this scenario should play out for the Indian economy in 2022-23,' it said.

 

The Budget has targeted a nominal GDP growth of 11.1 per cent in 2022-23 with a GDP deflator of 3.0-3.5 per cent. The implied real growth component of just about 8 per cent is close to the forecast in Economic Survey, 2021-22 as well as 7.8 per cent projected by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI in its meeting of February 2022.

 

The unchanged repo and reverse repo rate along with the MPCs accommodative stance prioritise growth during these uncertain times and reinforce the investment orientation of the budget.

 

India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the nodal body for India’s pulses trade and industry, successfully hosted virtual celebrations on the 4th World Pulses Day on behalf of India conveying a global message of ‘Go Green with Pulse Protein’.

 

The event brought together international audiences for a common goal of creating awareness of the benefits of pulses as well as drive the agenda of increase in consumption. The live event highlighted the role of pulses as the most sustainable crop in the world.

 

IPGA hosted a live webinar on Thursday, February 10, 2022 from 3pm IST onwards with eminent speakers like; Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog as chief guest, Dr S K Malhotra - agriculture commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Sunil Kumar Singh, additional managing director, NAFED as key note speakers.

 

Some of the other eminent speakers were Cindy Brown - president, GPC, Greg Cherewyk, president - Pulse Canada, Sachin Khurana, India representative, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, Robynne Anderson - president, Emerging Ag Inc., professor Rajiv K Varshney - research programme director, Accelerated Corp Movement, ICRISAT, Varun Deshpande - managing director, The Good Food Institute India, Vastal Lilani – president, Overseas Agro Traders Association Myanmar and Dr Roshani Sanghani - allopathic doctor hormone specialist- Aasaan Health Solution, Sunil Patwari - president, Singapore Pulses Federation and Yogesh Thorat, MD, Maha FPC. Akanksha Ghai (BVeg Foods), Tarak Badkas (Altein Ingredients), Chandni Jafri (Earth Craft Shop) Chirag Sabunani (Supplant Foods) are the panelists for discussion on Smart Protein: A new frontier in pulse innovation. Manisha Gupta, editor- Commodities and Currencies, CNBC 18 was the moderator at the event.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Kothari, said, 'I am convinced that it is time for India to focus on pulses and oilseeds as we did with cereals during Green Revolution. Pulses deserve the similar kind of policy, research and investment support. With the current govt attention, India’s production of pulses has reached a new high of 23-25 mn tons. Most of the dal mill units are too small and do not enjoy scale of economies. The govt. should consider instituting a ‘Dal Mill Modernisation Fund’. To modernise Dal mills. Despite being the world’s largest producer, our per capita availability is low even as per nutritional standards. Hence, it is important that we boost domestic consumption of pulses primarily to fight widespread malnutrition and under-nutrition.'

 

Kant said, 'Food production, food security and climate change are interlinked. Changing climate will continue putting pressure on agriculture ecosystem. Droughts, hurricanes and floods will continue to pose threat to agriculture and in turn food security. Future of food is certainly pulses and they can play a key role in addressing the problem of food security. Pulses are drought-resistant, are affordable sources of protein and also help keep soil healthy. Pulses moreover, have genetic diversity and this paves the way for development of more pulse varieties that are climate-change resilient. Pulses production has increased from 8.4mn tonne in 1961 to 25 million tonne in 2021. This indicates there is lot of untapped potential in pulses cultivation through technological breakthroughs.'

 

Dr Malhotra said, 'Multi-pronged strategy needs to be followed for agriculture production and development, particularly for pulses. In 2015-16, total production was 16.2 million tonne for pulses against a 25million tonne of requirement. Then a roadmap was made to achieve productivity-led growth. This could only be achieved by coming up with new varieties with high yielding in nature with special resilience towards drought and other climatic conditions. This was implemented under the National Food Security Mission Programme by following a cluster-approach as part of which, better quality of seeds were demonstrated and provided to farmers. Mission approach for promotion of pulses helped for large-scale adoption which resulted in high yield. With this programme, we have reduced import-dependence of pulses to an extent that we are now exporting pulses. We have reached to self sufficiency from pulses deficiency. The next year 2023 will be celebrated as International Year for Millets and pre preparations are on. We seek support from all stakeholders for success. My compliments to IPGA for good organization of the World Pulses Day 2022 event.'

 

Singh said, 'Government of India has been taking a slew of initiatives to boost pulse production. If the pulse production reaches 30 million MT, it would be a good way to provide pulses at an affordable price. This cannot be achieved through one part of the value chain alone and therefore, underlines the role from farm level to retail level so that this cheap source of protein is available to the poor to help reduce malnutrition. We at NAFED have been supported by Government of India through fund, policy and infrastructure support. Now, it is our responsibility on how we continue to support them. Lot of work needs to be done to enhance research to meet agriculture and climate challenges which are reducing production level or damaging produce.'

 

Research experts on the other hand, emphasised the potential of agriculture innovation and breakthroughs by coming up with a climate change-resilient variety of pulses. Elaborating on the research conducted on these lines, Varshney said, 'Genomics and breeding innovations are one of the most effective ways of coming up with high-yielding pulse crop varieties. India has come a long way however; improvement of crop is a must. Research should be focussed in the direction of improving qualities such as pest resistance, enhanced productivity, disease resistance, sustainability, environmental stress-resistant and greater nutritional value. It is important to put in research to enhance crop productivity to meet the pulse production targets by 2030.'

 

Thorat said, 'Sustaining production of pulses requires research into field crop varieties that can help climatic changes crop varieties remain resilient. Biofortification of pulses and increasing their productivity from a nutritional point of view is a key challenge. More research in addition to policy support from Government programmes is a must to achieve this. Yet another concern is making these pulse products reach the market. Partnership with farmers and farmer producer organisations and industrial players for primary and secondary processing. Schemes and programmes by incentivising private players will help undertake this.'

 

Deshpande said, 'Protein sourced from animals poses a great challenge from a sustainability standpoint, especially in the wake of climate change. We do need to think about where we’re getting our food, especially protein and diversify the protein supply going away from animals. We may need to produce 50-70% more meat by 2050 – which clearly suggests an increase in meat demand. Finding a smarter protein supply is absolutely important in such a time and in a bid to achieve this, we need to encourage people to consume pulses albeit, giving them a smarter protein solution than pushing for changing their dietary habits radically.'

 

Lilani said, "On this 4th World Pulses Day, we at OATA Myanmar send our best wishes to all in the pulse industry. We look forward to seeing a happy mix of import volumes and reasonable rates supported with stable and long-term trade policies through the course of this year which shall go a long way in the furtherance of plantings and trade between the two countries."

The Second Advance Estimates of production of major crops for the year 2021-22 have been released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Record foodgrains production of 316.06 million tonnes is estimated. Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narender Singh Tomar said that the new record of foodgrains production in the country is the result of hardwork of farmers, efficient research of scientists and farmer friendly policies of the Government.

 

As per 2ndAdvance Estimates for 2021-22, total Foodgrains production in the country is estimated at record 316.06 million tonnes which is higher by 5.32 million tonnes than the production of foodgrain during 2020-21. Further, the production during 2021-22 is higher by 25.35 million tonnes than the previous five years’ (2016-17 to 2020-21) average production of foodgrains.

 

Total production of Rice during 2021-22is estimated at record 127.93 million tonnes. It is higher by 11.49 million tonnes than the last five years’ average production of 116.44 million tonnes.

 

Production of  Wheat during 2021-22is estimated at record 111.32 million tonnes. It is higher by 7.44 million tonnes than the average wheat production of 103.88 million tonnes.

 

Production of Nutri / Coarse Cereals estimated at 49.86 million tonnes, which is higher by 3.28 million tonnes than the average production.

 

Total Pulses production during 2021-22is estimated at 26.96 million tonnes which is higher by 3.14 million tonnes than the last five years’ average production of 23.82 million tonnes.

 

Total Oilseeds production in the country during 2021-22is estimated at record37.15 million tonnes which is higherby 1.20 million tonnes than the production of 35.95 million tonnes during 2020-21. Further, the production of oilseeds during 2021-22 is higher by 4.46 million tonnes than the average oilseeds production.                                         

 

Total production of Sugarcane in the country during 2021-22is estimated at 414.04 million tonnes which is higher by 40.59million tonnes than the average sugarcane production of 373.46 million tonnes.

 

Production of Cottonis estimated at 34.06 million bales (each of 170 kg) is higherby 1.12 million bales than the average cotton production of 32.95 million bales. Production of Jute & Mesta is estimated at 9.57 million bales (each of 180 kg). 

India’s pineapple exports rose by almost 100 per cent to $3.26 million during the April-December period in 2021, compared to $1.63 million recorded in the corresponing period of 2013, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry informed on Monday.

 

The major export destinations last year were the UAE (32.2 per cent), Nepal (22.7 per cent), Qatar (16.6 per cent), Maldives (13.2 per cent) and the US (7.1 per cent).

 

India is the fifth largest producer of pineapple in the world with an annual output of about 1.2 million tonnes. The other leading producers are Thailand, Philippines, Brazil, China, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia and the US.

 

The states where pineapple is grown include Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.

 

The other states where it is grown in a smaller scale are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

 

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) actively supported the government in taking the export of agricultural products to $20.67 billion in 2020-21 from $0.6 billion in 1986 when it was founded.

 

The APEDA also helped expand the export basket to 205 countries.

 

The export target set by APEDA for the current financial year (2021-22) is $23.7 billion, out of which more than 70 per cent, i.e., $17.20 billion, has been achieved till January.

India and the United Arab Emirates are likely to sign a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on Friday during a virtual meeting between the leaders of the two sides.

 

The trade agreement is India’s first such trade deal in the Gulf region and is likely to cover areas such as goods, services, rules of origin, government procurement and investment. The two sides began the first round of the negotiations on the CEPA in September last year.

 

'The CEPA could be signed later this week, most likely Friday,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

 

The UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to nearly $60 billion in 2019-20. It was India’s second-largest export destination after the United States, with an export value of about $29 billion.

 

In December last year, the UAE lifted a ban on import of eggs and other poultry products from India, conceding a long-standing demand.

 

The UAE is part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with which India is in talks for a separate trade agreement.

 

India's major exports to the UAE include petroleum products, gems and jewellery, minerals, cereals, sugar, fruit and vegetables, tea, meat, seafood, textiles, engineering and machinery products, and chemicals. India's top imports include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals and stones.