Department of Agriculture Production and Farmers’ welfare Kathua, in collaboration with Basmati Export Development Foundation under Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) organized a One Day Workshop on 'Production of Basmati Rice for Export' here dat Sherpur, Hiranagar. The Event was organised to discuss an action plan to boost export from basmati Growing Regions of Kathua District thereby harnessing their potential of agricultural produce exports.

 

 Joint Director (Extension), Agriculture Production & FW, Jammu  R.K Hiteshi, Chief Guest on the occasion highlighted the importance for the production of quality Basmati of international standards. He exhorted the farmers to increase the area under basmati cultivation which will help in raising their income and also use judicious chemicals in paddy production so that international quality pesticide free basmati rice can be produced.

 

Chief Agriculture Officer, Kathua  Sanjeev Rai Gupta said thrust has been made by Department of Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare to aware the Farmers to promote export quality (Pesticide residue free) Basmati in Kathua’s Basmati growing regions. He said, during 2022-23, 6940 Ha of land in Kathua was under quality Basmati Cultivation with average Yield of 27 Qtl./ Ha producing 186680 Qtls. of good quality Basmati Rice.

 

Dr. Netra Pal Sharma, Senior Scientist, BEDF (Basmati Export Development Foundation) under APEDA gave detailed technical lecture on 'Good Agricultural Practices' for the production of Basmati meeting International standards. He informed that India is No. 1 Exporter of Basmati in the world and Jammu Basmati is most sought after. There is great scope for area expansion and doubling of farmers income by producing pesticide residue free Basmati for export.

 

Vishal Sharma, Scientist, deliberated upon good quality Basmati Production and covered all aspects of Integrated Pest Management / Integrated Disease Management underlining judicious use of insecticides/fungicides.

 

Dr. Vishal Mahajan, Head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kathua  deliberated upon the use of Organics for production of Basmati Rice, simultaneously assured transfer of technological advancements and new researches to farmers at every crop stage.

 

The successful workshop concluded with a 'vote of thanks 'by  Murari Digra, District Agriculture Officer (Extension), Kathua and participation of large number of Basmati growers.

 

Other officers and officials present on the occasion were Rajiv Katoch, Programme Coordinator, Rajesh Mankotia (Subject Matter Specialist- District Level), Anil Kumar, Assistant Soil Chemist, Soil Testing Lab, Kathua, Purshottam Gupta, Sub divisional Agriculture Officer, Kathua, Ashwani Sharma, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer, Hiranagar, H.Q Dayalachack, Sanjiv Mehta and Surinder Sharma, Subject Matter Specialists-Sub Division Level, Parmod Kumar, Agriculture Extension Officer, Kathua , Dr. Shivali Sharma and Pooja Andotra, District Nodal Officer, Women Self Help Groups, Kathua.

Based on initial estimates from States, the country’s rice production in the current kharif season will likely exceed last year’s 110 million tonnes (mt), sources said. Accordingly, the Food Ministry, on Tuesday, announced that the target for next season’s procurement beginning October 1 has been marginally raised to 52.1 mt from the current season’s actual purchase of 49.6 mt.

 

Last year the government had set the procurement target at 51.56 mt from kharif-grown rice. Though main procurement is carried out between October and March, the purchase in some States like Assam and West Bengal continue until June as kharif paddy’s harvesting is delayed in other States.

 

Addressing media, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the target is based on the feedback shared by State governments at the two-day Food Ministers’ conference on fortification that concluded on Tuesday.

 

4% higher area

Official sources said most of the State Government representatives informed that the production in their States would be almost at par with the previous year, based on the acreage report. The Agriculture Ministry will release its first estimate of kharif crops’ production for 2023 kharif season in the third week of September. The official target has been fixed at 111 mt for kharif 2023.

 

Paddy acreage has been completed in 90 per cent of normal area and is 4 per cent more than the year-ago period. The sowing area was 360.79 lakh hectares (lh) until August 18 against 345.79 lh a year ago. Higher acreage has been reported from Telangana (by 4.42 lh), Bihar (4.15 lh), Chhattisgarh (2.71 lh), Jharkhand (2.24 lh), Haryana (1.64 lh), West Bengal (1.47 lh), Uttar Pradesh (1.28 lh), Punjab (0.40 lh) and Madhya Pradesh (0.32 lh). But lower acreage was seen in Andhra Pradesh (1.53 lh), Karnataka (1.47 lh), Assam (0.61 lh) and Odisha (0.43 lh).

 

Fuelling speculation

Meanwhile, Chopra also said there is no proposal, as of now, to restrict exports of parboiled non-basmati rice. But until a decision is taken by the government, it could not be shared, he quipped, fuelling speculation that it could be still under consideration.

 

On July 20, the Centre banned exports of non-basmati white rice to boost domestic supply and keep retail prices under check during the upcoming festive season. In September last year, exports of broken rice were banned.

 

As per official data, India’s total exports of basmati rice were 4.56 mt worth $ 4.8 billion in 2022-23. Non-basmati rice exports were 17.79 mt worth $6.36 billion. In the April-June period of this fiscal, about 1.55 mt of non-basmati white rice was exported against 1.16 mt in the year-ago period.

 

The ban on the export of non-basmati white rice, which has a 25 per cent share in the rice export basket, will lower prices in the domestic market, benefiting consumers, the Food Ministry said last month.

 

Asked about the wheat import plan, Chopra said the government has no such plan. Some media reports have said the government has been negotiating with Russia to import wheat at discounted rates in a government-to-government deal.

Union minister for commerce and consumer affairs Piyush Goyal on Tuesday told onion farmers not to worry about the export curbs on the vegetable, saying the government will purchase an additional 200,000 tonnes of onions for the buffer stock at a 'historically high' price of Rs.2,410 per quintal to guard their interests. He said the Nafed and the NCCF will set up procurement centres at all onion producing areas in Maharashtra, MP and other states to ensure that the farmers get a good price for their produce.

 

Leaders from the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa attended the Business Forum of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The summit, scheduled to take place from August 22 to 24, saw the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, upon the invitation of South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa. 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to address the meeting virtually rather than attend in person, while Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov represented the country at the event.

 

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping opted to skip the key meeting, although he had arrived in South Africa ahead of his state visit.

 

This marks PM Modi's third visit to South Africa, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between India and South Africa.

 

The current BRICS summit is being presided over by South Africa, with the theme for this year's summit being: 'BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development, and inclusive multilateralism.'

The government will implement fully rice fortification programme before the scheduled target of March 2024, a top food ministry official said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address in 2021, said the government aims to distribute fortified rice via the government schemes by 2024.

 

Thereafter, a scheme for the distribution of fortified rice, containing prescribed micronutrients (Iron, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12) was launched in October 2021 in a phased manner in order to address the problem of anaemia in children and women.

 

In April 2022, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the supply of fortified rice throughout the Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman-PM POSHAN (erstwhile Mid-Day Meal Scheme) and other welfare schemes in all states and Union Territories (UTs) by 2024 in a phased manner.

 

The entire cost of rice fortification, which is around Rs 2,700 crore per annum, would be borne by the Centre as part of the food subsidy till its full implementation up to June 2024.

 

'We had planned to complete the universalisation of fortified PDS rice by March 2024. But, with the pace of distribution, we are hopeful of reaching the target before that and the entire PDS (rice) will be fortified ...in the next few months,' Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra told reporters here.

 

As of date, he said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has 240 lakh tonnes of rice, of which just 12 lakh tonnes is non-fortified rice.

 

Chopra also asserted that fortified rice is safe for people with sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia.

 

He explained that through PDS fortified rice only 7 mg per day of iron will be consumed while the human body can take 40-45 mg per day of iron.

 

The secretary said the government will also look at revising the advisory on fortified rice being harmful to people with sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia in light of new evidence.

 

Globally, Chopra said, 90 countries are using fortification of food items.

 

The Department of Food and Public Distribution organised a one-day National Seminar on Rice Fortification here.

 

While addressing the seminar, Chopra said, 'We are on track to achieve the target of 100 per cent distribution of fortified rice across all rice-consuming districts in the country.'

 

As per the plan, in the first phase, the target was to cover ICDS and PM POSHAN in India by March 2022.

 

Under the second phase, the plan was to extend the scheme to beneficiaries of PDS and other welfare schemes in all aspirational and high-burden districts on stunting (a total of 291 districts) by March 2023.

 

In the third phase, the target was to cover the remaining districts of the country by March 2024.

 

In April this year, Chopra informed that a total of 269 districts in 27 states started distributing fortified rice under PDS, achieving a 100 per cent target set for Phase II by March 2023.

 

The ministry has also developed Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for adherence to Quality Assurance (QA) & Quality Control (QC) protocols on the production and distribution of fortified rice/ FRKs (fortified rice kernels).

 

Food regulator FSSAI, the regulatory/licensing authority for food fortification, has drafted standards for FRK and Pre-mix, and provided direction to all the stakeholders for the operationalisation of draft standards with immediate effect.

India’s key partner in Central Asia – Uzbekistan – has been maintaining stable economic growth and the re-election of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has provided tremendous opportunities for prospective Indian investors in the resource rich country.

 

Several sectors in Uzbekistan are open to foreign investments and India is one of the sought after partners. Regular flights between Delhi and Tashkent could further contribute to growth momentum of the Uzbek economy. Political stability of Uzbekistan coupled with predictable policies could be point of attraction for Indian investors.

 

India and Uzbekistan signed a Joint Statement in September 2019 to set up a joint feasibility study for entering into negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). It is hoped that PTA could be signed soon and that would open up India’s entry into Kyrgyzstan as well as Tajikistan.

 

Notable Indian investments in Uzbekistanby Indian companies include those in the field of pharmaceuticals, amusement parks, automobile components, and hospitality industry. Indian majors like GMR have expressed interest in investment in airports, development of air corridor, Navoi cargo complex in Uzbekistan; KDAH (Ambani Hospital) from Mumbai has expressed interest in setting up a specialty hospital.

 

Investments in various fields, including pharma and healthcare, textiles and auto components, agriculture and food processing, and mining and jewellery sector are in various stages of discussion.

 

In the field of education in October 2019, AmityUniversity and Sharda University opened campuses in Tashkent and Andijan respectively. Indian institutions like iCreate are actively cooperating with Uzbek counterparts for promoting start-up ecosystems in Uzbekistan and training entrepreneurs in setting up incubators. Indian companies like Dev IT have entered into bilateral cooperation in field research, technologies, start- ups and innovations with budding Uzbek partners.

 

India’s National Thermal Power Corporation is also participating in various tenders including solar PV power plants and consultancy assignment for gas projects in Uzbekistan. India and Uzbekistan have set up National Coordination Committees to oversee the implementation of mutually agreed projects and initiatives.

 

India has granted market access for lemon and melon from Uzbekistan. Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) for plum and sweet cherries have been completed and is further under process. Uzbekistan has granted market access for banana and mango from India. PRA for Soyabean oil cake has been completed and additional information has been sought. Request for PRA from India include wheat, wheat flour, potato, pomegranate and pomegranate seeds.

 

Indian investors can get further impetus from the fact that Uzbekistan has maintained high growth dynamics during the first half of the year despite an unstable external environment. Uzbekistan’s economy is expected to maintain stability through the year and is expecting higher investments from India. Today Uzbekistan provides predictable financial environment and friendly people besides regular connectivity to further promote business ties.

 

Inflation in Uzbekistan continues to slow down. In January-June, prices increased by 3.5%, while in the same period in 2022 by 6.5%. In annual terms, inflation slowed to 9% (in June 2022 – 12.2%). Food inflation slowed from 8.9% in January-June 2022 to 4.1% over the same period this year. Similarly, the growth of prices for non-food products slowed from 5.8% to 3.1%, for paid services from 3.3% to 2.9%, according to official data.

 

Investments from centralized sources in the first half of the year increased by 2.4%, in particular, at the expense of budget funds by 3.6%. Foreign investments and loans guaranteed by the government increased by 6.9%. Industrial production in the first six months of this year grew at a faster pace compared to the same period in 2022 – 5.6% versus 5.1%, respectively.

 

The main factors of economic growth are due to the timely adoption of urgent measures to support entrepreneurs, as a result of which the growth of the manufacturing industry amounted to 6.3% (5.9% for the first half of 2022), the mining industry by 0.2% (-0.5%).

 

In agriculture, in particular in crop production and animal husbandry, there is an acceleration in the growth rate of output to 3.8% (in January-June 2022 – 2.7%).

 

Foreign trade turnover in the 1st half of the year increased by 19.4% to $29.2 billion. Exports increased by 23% to $12.1 billion, imports by 17% to $17 billion.

 

The export growth is due to an increase in the supply of machinery and transport equipment to foreign markets by almost 60%, gold by 47%, services by 41%, food by 33%, various finished products by 25%. At the same time, exports of non-food raw materials decreased by 26%, fuel and energy resources by 20%.

India is not considering imposing any restrictions on the exports of non-basmati parboiled rice, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Tuesday.

Last month, India surprised buyers by imposing a ban on the export of widely consumed non-basmati white rice, following a ban on broken rice exports last year.

 

Currently, there are no restrictions on the exports of parboiled rice, which constitutes nearly a third of India's total rice exports.

 

India's central bank is nudging local banks to ask their clients to settle trade between the United Arab Emirates and India using the dirham (AED) or Indian rupee (INR) to reduce U.S.-dollar-based transactions, five sources told Reuters.

 

The move is part of the Reserve Bank of India's broader aim of promoting settlement in local currencies with countries with which India has a trade deficit, with the knock-on effect of boosting the rupee's global reach, three banking sources said.

 

India's trade deficit with the UAE was $21.62 billion in 2022/23, or 8.2% of its total deficit, government data shows. In July, the two countries agreed to facilitate trade in rupees instead of dollars.

 

The idea, a government source said, was to reduce the outflow of dollars on account of this trade deficit.

 

'The RBI has asked banks to encourage clients and corporates to initiate INR-AED trades gradually, instead of using the dollar,' said a treasury official at a private bank.

 

An RBI official communicated this message verbally to foreign exchange dealers at a seminar this month, four sources said. This communication has not been previously reported.

 

None of the sources wished to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media. The RBI and trade ministry did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

 

The RBI may consider setting internal targets for the quantum of India-UAE trade it would like to see moved away from dollars, said the government source.

 

The central bank is 'keen that volumes of such trades go up' and 'has assured the market that they will be ready to support banks with INR-AED trades,' this banker said.

 

While data on such cross-currency trade volumes is not publicly available, at least three bankers said the current volume is low and may act as a hurdle for corporates to pay for the entire import in dirhams.

 

Indeed, earlier this month, Indian Oil Corp paid Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) in rupees to buy a million barrels of oil.

 

'The RBI is telling banks to first encourage large clients and corporates to start INR-AED trades because their balance sheets are relatively stronger,' another banker said.

 

But large corporates have, so far, been reluctant in engaging in non-dollar-denominated deals, said a banker with a state-run firm.

 

With smaller companies, on the other hand, bankers have pushed for such transactions by offering discounted service charges as an incentive, the banker said.

Farmers have planted more corn (maize) in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and the total area under the hardy crop in the country has exceeded 81.24 lakh hectares (lh) as of August 18. This is against 79.41 lh covered a year ago. Delayed arrival of monsoon and slow progress has resulted in a section of farmers preferring to plant corn over other crops such as pulses and cotton .

 

Madhya Pradesh has seen the area under maize increase to 17.41 lakh hectares (lh) from 15.99 lh a year ago. The area under maize in MP is above the normal (average of five years) of 13.48 lh. Similarly, Karnataka has seen maize area increase to 14.53 lh (13.79 lh in the same period a year ago) and Maharashtra at 8.77 lh (8.74 lh). The area is up marginally in Uttar Pradesh at 7.54 lh (7.49 lh), Jharkhand at 2.19 lh (1.99 lh) and Telangana at 2.05 lh (2.01 lh). However, the acreage is marginally down in Rajasthan at 9.42 lh (9.44 lh) and Gujarat at 2.82 lh (2.87 lh).

 

Hanuman Sahay Jat, Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), said the kharif acreages are on the higher side compared to last year. Due to the late onset of monsoon farmers have taken up short-duration varieties. 'The crop condition is good and almost similar to the last year. We are expecting a good crop this year,' Jat said.

 

Record output

As per the third advance estimate, India’s maize production was a record 35.91 million tonnes (mt) during 2022-23.

 

However, Bhagirath Chaudhary, director, South Asia Biotechnology Centre, said the government must seriously look into the management of fall army worm, a dreaded pest that had surfaced in maize, a few years ago. 'The pest is still active, but it is below the economic threshold levels in maize. Farmers have learnt to deal with the pest, but at an additional cost of ?3,000-4,000 per acre, which results in a higher cost of cultivation for them,' he said.

 

'Though we are close to last year’s level of 81.5 lh , yields may be a concern this kharif on account of deficit rains and higher temperature levels in August,' said Tarun Satsangi, specialist- global commodity research at agritech firm Absolute.

The food authority has put out an advisory regarding the shelf life of fortified rice and fortified rice kernel and asked the labs not to mention any info regarding shelf life, as a study is undergoing on the subject.

 

According to FSSAI, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is conducting a study to determine the shelf life of fortified rice, and fortified rice kernel and it may take more than 2 years to complete.

 

'In order to avoid any ambiguity with respect to shelf life of fortified rice and fortified rice kernel, all FSSAI notified laboratories are advised not to mention date of expiry or any information related to shelf life of the fortified rice, and fortified rice kernel until any further directions from the food authority,' reads the advisory issued by the FSSAI.

 

It was brought to the notice of FSSAI that in some cases Certificate of Analysis (CoA) issued by the fortified rice kernel manufacturers, contains expiry date.

 

'It has been further informed by the FCI that the quantum of procurement of fortified rice is much more than the annual requirement of NFSA/OWS schemes, therefore, a bulk quantity remain in storage beyond one year period,' reads the statement issued by FSSAI.