The national policy think tank, NITI Aayog, has lauded the Odisha Millets Mission, initiated by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE), Government of Odisha, for not only boosting ragi production but also creating new income avenues for farmers in Lamtaput block of Koraput district in Odisha, where ragi (finger millet) was predominantly grown for household consumption.

 

The transformative journey began with the implementation of the Aspirational Blocks Programme, a visionary initiative aimed to enhance the quality of life of citizens and service delivery in the remotest and less developed blocks of India. Under this program, farmers in the region were incentivized to embrace innovative agronomic practices.

 

Organizations such as PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action) and the Koraput Nari Shakti Farmers Producers Company (KNSFPCL) played a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge and providing support to the farming community. Key strategies included encouraging staggered nurseries and the System of Millet Intensification (SMI) to mitigate the effects of erratic rainfall on finger millets.

 

The success of the mission is evident in the tangible outcomes experienced by the farmers. They have experienced higher productivity, allowing them to meet their consumption needs and sell the surplus in the market, including the government Mandi to take advantage of the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

 

Principal Secretary of DA&FE, Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee said, 'The recognition from NITI Aayog is a testament to the impactful strides made by the Odisha Millets Mission in transforming the agrarian landscape of Koraput. By fostering a shift towards innovative agricultural techniques, we not only bolstered ragi yields but also empowered local farmers economically. We are committed to further expanding and replicating such initiatives to uplift farmers across the state, fostering resilience and prosperity in the agricultural sector.'

 

In Lamtaput, the farming journey has been truly inspiring. In the year 2017-18, the collective efforts of 729 farmers paved the way for an extraordinary success in the cultivation of ragi on a vast expanse of 174 hectares. The number of farmers who participated in the cultivation increased gradually with participation of 5162 farmers covering 2666.3 hectares in 2023-24.

 

PRADAN as facilitating agency under Odisha Millets Mission, with its dedicated efforts collaborating with Koraput Nari Shakti Farmers Producers Company, created milestones in Ragi procurement and fostered a positive impact on the lives of local farmers. In the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21, with the participation of 894 farmers achieved a procurement of 10043.76 quintals, and its further increased significantly reaching 31718 quintals with the participation of 2482 farmers during KMS 2022-23.

 

The commendable success of the Odisha Millets Mission in the district is largely attributed to the support provided by Collector & District Magistrate Abdaal M. Akhtar. With his encouragement, the mission and other initiatives by the Department witnessed remarkable success in the district.

The next round of negotiations between India and South American nation Peru for a free trade agreement is scheduled to start on February 12, an official said.

The proposed agreement is aimed at promoting bilateral trade and investments between the two countries.

 

In such pacts, two trading partners either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them, besides easing norms to promote trade in services.

'The sixth round of negotiations for a proposed trade agreement between India and the South American nation Peru is scheduled from February 12-15,' the official said.

Issues which are expected to figure in the negotiations include rules of origin, trade in goods, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

Negotiations for the agreement started in 2017 and the fifth round was concluded in August 2019. The negotiations were paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During 2022-23, the bilateral trade between India and Peru stood at USD 3.12 billion.

India exported goods worth USD 865.91 million to Peru and imported goods valued at USD 2.25 billion.

Key Indian exports to Peru include motor vehicles/cars, cotton yarn and pharmaceuticals, while imports items include gold, copper ores and concentrates.

Peruvian businesses are also looking to export agricultural products like avocados, fresh grapes and blueberries, and natural resources like calcium phosphates to India.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said farmers have made an immense contribution to make India the fifth largest economy in the world.

Addressing the 38th Foundation Day programme of the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya in Raipur, he said farming is not just a means of livelihood but also a driving factor for economy and social development.

 

'By implementing modern technologies in agriculture, the goal of ensuring food security and making India a developed nation by 2047 can be achieved,' the Vice President said.

He said India is developing rapidly and the contribution of youths will further accelerate the pace.

Dhankhar stressed the need to use modern technology in farming. He urged students and scientists to share their knowledge with farmers and encourage them to utilise available resources.

'Chhattisgarh has a rich agricultural heritage. The state is witnessing an exciting era of innovation in the field of agri technology,' Dhankhar said.

During the program, he launched the Sanjeevani Instant, Sanjeevani Madhu Kalk and Sanjeevani Rice Bar developed by the university and released the Agricultural Guide 2024.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai also spoke on the occasion.

The programme was attended by Chhattisgarh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, state Agriculture Minister Ramvichar Netam and others.

India is drawing up a list of market access and non-tariff barriers(NTBs) hurting its goods and services exports and would take them up with the respective trade partners as it seeks to give a fillip to outbound shipments.

 

The commerce department has begun the exercise with barriers such as registration requirements, higher pesticide levels and domestic standards, put up by Africa and 12 Central Asian countries, including Russia, and would then study the restrictions imposed by other trading partners.

 

'We are doing this exercise because despite good relations with many countries, our exports to them haven't grown commensurately,' said an official.

 

Resolving NTBs is crucial as lower import tariffs sometimes do not benefit exporters because of technical barriers. In FY23, India's goods exports were $451.07 billion. In April-December FY24, exports fell 5.7% year-on-year to $317.12 billion.

 

India may clock goods exports between $440 billion and $450 billion in FY24, as per industry estimates.

 

'The US has raised concerns related to India's quality control orders, which it considers as non-tariff barriers. These issues came up at the recent Board of Trade meeting as well,' said an industry representative.

 

Indian exports of basmati rice, tea, poultry, bovine meat, fish and chemical products to the EU, garments to Japan, and meat, fish dairy and industrial products to China have been subject to NTBs in the past.

 

The US and the EU have raised with India concerns related to technical barriers in the areas of toys, electronics & ICT, telecommunication and alcoholic beverages.

 

While India has also raised EU's hazard-based approach to plant protection products and setting of import tolerances, the official said that more work needs to be done to reciprocate to such measures.

 

Recently, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that India will impose NTBs on a reciprocal basis and asked industry for data on such measures to help improve the country's position in trade negotiations.

The country's wheat production is expected to be good this year amid higher coverage, according to Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, that began in October has been completed. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab are the top three states having the maximum area under wheat coverage.

 

'As per the sowing data, wheat has been covered in more area and we expect good production this year,' Munda told PTI.

 

As per the ministry's data, the total acreage under the wheat crop remained higher at 336.96 lakh hectares till the last week of the current rabi season of the 2023-24 crop year (July-June), as against 335.67 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

 

On January 3, Food Corporation of India Chairman and Managing Director Ashok K Meena indicated that the country could achieve a new record in wheat production at 114 million tonnes in the ongoing 2023-24 crop year provided weather conditions remain normal.

 

Wheat production stood at a record 110.55 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year, compared to 107.7 million tonnes achieved in the preceding year.

 

Sharing about wheat crop prospects this year, a senior agriculture ministry official said the crop is in good condition and there are no reports of any damage to the crop till date.

 

'The current cold weather condition is good for the growth of wheat and other rabi crops,' he said.

 

Climate-resistant seeds have been sown in more than 70 per cent of the total wheat area covered in both Punjab and Haryana this year, he said.

 

The two states have sown wheat in a total area of around 59 lakh hectares this year, the data showed.

 

Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry has started issuing regular advisories to help farmers take care of the wheat crop after the completion of sowing.

 

As per the latest advisory for the period covering January 16-30, the ministry has asked farmers to complete the application of nitrogen fertilizer up to 40-45 days after sowing. Farmers have been asked to apply urea just before irrigation for better results.

 

In case of late sown, if farmers notice both narrow and broad leaf weeds in their wheat field, they have been advised to spray herbicide Sulfosulfuron 75WG of about 13.5 grams per acre or Sulfosulfuron plus Metsulfuron of 16 grams per acre in 120-150 litres of water before the first irrigation or 10-15 days after irrigation.

 

Keeping in view the favourable humid weather for yellow rust disease, farmers are advised to visit their crops regularly to observe 'stripe rust' (yellow rust) incidence.

 

To tackle lodging in early sown wheat crops, farmers have been asked to provide 'growth regulators' in high fertility irrigated conditions. For frost management, light irrigation should be applied to wheat crops taking due care of the Met Department forecast.

 

The Met Department has forecast rain in northeast and central areas of India during January 16-30 and the temperature is expected to drop below normal in the forthcoming week.

 

The government is taking proactive steps to help farmers prepare to save the wheat crop in the events of extreme weather conditions.

The commerce ministry will launch an online platform in the next 2-3 months to provide all relevant information, including details about custom duties, for aspiring exporters. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said the portal will act as a one-stop place for getting all information on engaging in export activities.

 

The 'Trade Connect ePlatform' will provide facilitation for new and aspiring exporters, information on various regulations to access markets, sectors, export trends, and easy access of benefits under Free Trade Agreements.

 

Besides, it will facilitate access to sector specific events along with a facility to address trade related queries to officials in Government of India and associated entities to get expert advice.

Israel's Ministry of Agriculture approved an increase in the import quota by 30 million eggs with exemption from customs duties. This was done to offset expected shortages caused by the Iron Swords War in Gaza.

The 30 million is in addition to 16 million eggs in the existing quota.

 

In general, in Israel, an average of 40 million edible eggs are produced every week, which satisfies the local demand. About 70 per cent of Israel's laying hens are concentrated in the Galilee and the Golan, and they produce about one billion and 600 million eggs a year - about 73 per cent of the total national production.

However many of the farms where eggs are produced were evacuated because of the threat of attacks by Hezbollah terrorists based in Lebanon.

Eggs can be imported to Israel from the following countries, from avian flu-free areas: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and the US, eggs for industry. In addition, the veterinary services of the Ministry of Agriculture are working to open up Italy as an additional import source, subject to receiving avian flu-free areas.

Prices of parboiled rice exported from top hub India jumped to their highest level in four months this week, while strong demand and shrinking supplies supported rates for the Thai variety.

Rates for India's 5% broken parboiled variety were quoted at $525 to $535 per ton this week, their highest levels since September, rising from last weeks $510 to $517 range.  

 

Despite sluggish demand, prices are rising due to reduced paddy availability caused by strong government buying, said Himanshu Agarwal, executive director at Satyam Balajee, a leading exporter.  

Thailand's 5% broken rice prices were quoted at $665 per ton on Thursday, climbing from last week's $648-$650 per ton.

Thai traders noted strong demand from Indonesia and some from African markets drove the prices higher.  

'There is lots of new demand from Indonesia after they announced plans to buy rice from many countries, creating lots of activities for the market, which drove up the price,' a Bangkok-based trader said.  

Supplies have also dropped, which also contributed to price increases. Traders said new supply is expected to enter the market around next month.  

In Vietnam, prices of the 5% broken rice were steady at $653 per metric ton, remaining at the same levels seen in the past three weeks.  

'Demand is not strong at the moment as buyers are awaiting new supplies from the winter-spring harvest,' said a trader based in the Mekong Delta.  

'We expect this year's exports to possibly hit $8 million tons, same as 2023 (levels), as global demand for Vietnamese rice will remain strong,' the trader added.  

Rice prices in Bangladesh have gone up by 5 Bangladeshi Taka ($0.0457) this week despite good yield and reserves, which the government blamed on hoarding by unscrupulous businesses to make windfall profits.  

The country's food minister, Sadhan Chandra Majumder, warned millers and traders to bring down prices, or else stern action will be taken against those stockpiling.

Maize prices increased by 20% in the first two weeks of January compared to October as demand picked up after the government’s plans to procure the commodity for ethanol production due to restrictions on the use of sugar for producing biofuel.

 

As per trade estimates, maize prices increased to Rs 2,366 per quintal in Gulabbagh in Bihar and feed-grade maize prices increased to Rs 2,400 per quintal in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

 

'The prices will stay firm in the coming months because the demand is going to go up significantly,' said Gopal Sharma, a maize trader from Begusarai in Bihar adding that there even could be shortage of the commodity going forward.

 

India is promoting the use of maize as an alternative to sugar to boost ethanol production and ensure sufficient supply of the sweetener in the market. In December, the government directed sugar mills not to use cane juice to produce ethanol as the country's sugar production is expected to decline in the 2023-24 marketing year that began in October.

 

The production of maize is estimated to be 35.91 million tonnes in 2022-23 in the agriculture ministry’s third advance estimate which traders said is insufficient to meet the demand once distilleries start producing ethanol with it.

 

The kharif harvest was also lower 25-27% than expected in certain parts of the country due to erratic and scanty rainfall during the season.

 

With the government planning to procure maize federally, farmers have planted more of it, moving away from other crops, taking the rabi (winter) sowing of the cereal to 20.51 lakh hectares till January 12, up by 4% against 19.71 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year, according to government data, across major growing states - Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

 

India aims to raise corn production by 10 million tonnes over the next five years as demand for ethanol production grows, besides higher demand from the poultry industry, which uses it as feed and has recently approached the government to open duty-free imports to meet future demands.

The Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has invited bids to conduct a study on the Indian organic market and to formulate an export promotion strategy. The idea is to explore and utilise avenues for promotion and branding of Indian organic products.

 

The scope of the study “Indian Organic Market and Export Promotion Strategy” includes estimation of the market size, assessment of demand, capturing trends and extrapolating the market size for the upcoming 10 years and benchmarking it to global growth estimates among others.

 

The study will also capture the trends in organic exports in the past five years, major market destinations and composition of exports, policy environment, best practices and organic promotion initiatives of major exporters such as the US, EU, UK and Canada.

 

The exports of India’s organic products stood at $708 million in 2022-23 and considering the global market size of around $138 billion, APEDA sees a tremendous scope to significantly increase the organic exports in the near term, the apex agri export promotion body said in the tender document.

 

The shift in global consumption patterns towards healthier, safer, sustainable and nutritious food has propelled organic products into the limelight. APEDA believes that the surge in demand presents a golden opportunity for India, to meet the growing global demand for organic products and to tap into the global organic food market.

 

APEDA, which is taking steps to promote exports of organic products, is also the secretariat for National Programme for Organic Production, specifying the accreditation and certification programmes for organic production.

 

The organic certification programme covers all agricultural commodities including non-APEDA scheduled products and over 10 lakh farmers are registered under the programme.