India is mulling mega trade fairs for food, textiles and auto components, on the lines of Messe Frankfurt, Gulfood and Canton Fair, to achieve 12% growth in goods exports by 2030. These suggestions figured in a meeting held by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal with industry and exporters on Monday.

 

Officials said investment promotion arm Invest India, which is also drawing up the country’s trade strategy, has identified 100-odd companies across 30 sectors and 30 countries, and around a 100 more being shortlisted as part of the Strategic Investment Targets Initiative. Besides, sectoral targets have been set for $1 trillion goods exports by 2030.

 

The commerce and industry ministry has identified 12 priority countries including the US, Canada, Germany, Brazil and South Korea where Indian exporters would do global exhibitions.

 

'There is a need to scale up our exhibitions and invite foreign companies to exhibit here,' said an official. The push for export promotion activities comes amid falling outbound shipments.

India is likely to export 290,000 tonnes of fully broken white rice under government-to-government (G2G) route to Mali, a country in West Africa.

 

The move follows the Indian government’s decision in May to permit exports of fully broken white rice, which was banned from 8 September last year, to other countries to meet their food security needs.

 

'MEA (the ministry of external affairs) has forwarded a request from the minister of industry and commerce to export 290,000 tonnes of fully broken rice,' a senior government official said. 

 

'The quantity will be exported in two separate lots of 240,000 tonnes and 50,000 tonnes once the Directorate ­General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) examines the issue and announce the policy.'

 

The development comes amid demand from African countries that look to India for supply of fully broken white rice, other than parboiled rice.

 

This will be an addition to the government permitted broken rice exports of 500,000 tonnes to Senegal and 50,000 tonnes to Gambia in April. The government also allowed to export 200,000 tonnes of the rice variety to Indonesia in April.

 

African countries rely on India for rice supply as they get it at a cheaper rate as compared to the price offerings by Vietnam, Thailand or Pakistan.

 

While Thailand is offering 100% broken rice at $523 a tonne, the same variety of rice is being offered by India at $425 per tonne, the benchmark price in the global market. The Indian price includes a 20% export duty. A 5% broken rice is being offered at $468-$472 a tonne by India, whereas Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand are offering it at $488-492, $508-512 and $518 per tonne, respectively. These three countries are offering the 25% broken rice in the range of $458-498. In contrast, India is quoting this variety at $448-452 a tonne, spot trade sources said. These prices are free-­on-­board (FOB).

 

Queries sent to MEA, commerce and food ministries on Sunday remained unanswered till press time.

 

Due to an export ban on fully broken rice, Indian exporters cannot sell it to the international market. However, the Indian government on 24 May allowed the exports of broken rice based on permission given by it for shipments to other countries for meeting their food security needs, though the export of broken rice is banned in general. The step was taken by the government after it started receiving requests for the same from foreign ministries.

 

As the export ban on fully broken rice is on place since September 2022, African nations, which rely on India to meet its 70% rice consumption have switched to non-basmati rice. In the first two months of the ongoing financial year, import of non-basmati rice by African countries have been 35% higher than the corresponding period last year at nearly 2.1 million tonnes (mt), said executive director of All India Rice Exporters’ Association Vinod Kaul.

 

In April-May of FY24, India’s basmati rice exports were 21% more than the previous year during the same period at 830,858 tonnes, and a 6.1% hike year-on-year at 2.8 mt has been recorded in non-basmati rice exports.

 

In FY23, India exported a total of 17.79 mt of non-basmati rice, while broken rice exports were 23% lower on year at 3 mt because of a ban on shipments imposed to keep domestic prices down.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government is annually spending over Rs 6.5 lakh crore for the agriculture sector and farmers and asserted that the Centre is delivering rather than just talking about promises, in an apparent dig at the Congress party over poll guarantees. Addressing the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress here, the prime minister asked cooperatives to become carriers of social and national policy instead of politics. He asked them to become a model of transparency and corruption-free governance, and adopt digital tools in a big way.

 

Modi called upon cooperatives to work towards increasing production of oilseeds and pulses, and help the country become self-reliant in cooking oils.

 

Speaking at the event, the prime minister highlighted achievements of his government in the last nine years in the field of agriculture and related sectors.

 

Modi said the government has ensured supply of fertilisers at cheaper rates compared to other countries, bought large quantities of grains at minimum support price (MSP) and paid huge amount directly into bank accounts of farmers under PM-KISAN scheme.

 

'On an average, the government is spending more than Rs 6.5 lakh crore yearly on agriculture and farmers,' Modi said.

 

'The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around Rs 50,000 every year in some way or the other. This means, under the BJP government at the Centre, there is a guarantee that every farmer gets Rs 50,000 in various forms,' he asserted.

 

'Ye Modi ki guarantee hai. Aur maine jo kiya hai, woh bata raha hoon, vaade nahi bata raha hoon,' the prime minister said.

 

Elaborating, Modi said more than Rs 15 lakh crore have been given to farmers in the last nine years through procurement of their produce at MSP.

 

The government has spent Rs 10 lakh crore towards fertilizer subsidy in the last nine years to ensure that farmers get crop nutrients at reasonable price despite rise in global rates, he said, and quipped 'isse badi guarantee kya hoti hai, bhai'.

 

Modi highlighted that farmers are getting a bag of urea at around Rs 270, which is much lower than Rs 720 in Bangladesh, Rs 800 in Pakistan, Rs 2,100 in China and more than Rs 3,000 in America.

 

'This shows what a guarantee looks like and what massive efforts are needed to change the lives of farmers,' he said.

 

In the last 4 years, the prime minister said Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been sent directly to bank accounts of farmers under PM KISAN scheme. Under PM-KISAN, farmers get Rs 6,000 annually.

 

'You can guess how big this amount is from the fact that the total agricultural budget for the five years before 2014 was less than Rs 90,000 crore,' Modi said.

 

He also informed about the recent package of Rs 3.7 lakh crore for the fertiliser sector as well as increase in fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane farmers at Rs 315 per quintal.

 

Modi highlighted contributions of dairy cooperatives in making India the world's leading milk producer and the role of cooperatives in making India one of the top sugar-producing countries in the world.

 

He underlined that cooperatives have become a huge support system for small farmers in many parts of the country.

 

Modi said the government has decided to strengthen the cooperative sector to achieve the goal of becoming a developed nation.

 

He highlighted that it was the first time that a separate ministry was formed and a budget was allocated for cooperatives.

 

Now, Modi said, cooperatives are being presented with a platform exactly like that of the corporate sector.

 

The prime minister talked about the measures to strengthen cooperative societies and mentioned the reduction in tax rates. He highlighted the measures taken to strengthen cooperative banks.

 

Modi noted that through the Digital India campaign, the government increased transparency and ensured benefits for the beneficiaries.

 

'Today, the poorest of the poor believe that corruption and nepotism have been eliminated in the upper echelons,' he added.

 

Modi stressed that the cooperative sector should become a 'model of transparency and corruption-free governance'. For this, digital systems should be promoted in the cooperative sector.

 

'India is known in the world for its digital transactions', the Prime Minister remarked as he urged cooperative societies and banks to stay ahead when it comes to digital transactions. He said it will increase transparency and efficiency in the market while also enabling better competition.

 

Underlining that the main cooperative societies of the primary level or PACS will become a model for transparency, Modi said that the computerization of more than 60,000 PACS has already taken place.

 

He stressed that cooperatives should make full use of the technology available to them and that the nation will hugely benefit from the acceptance of core banking and digital transactions by cooperative societies.

 

Referring to the ever-increasing record exports, the prime minister asked cooperatives to also contribute in this regard.

 

He elaborated on the measures taken to meet the challenges of sugarcane farmers. Sugar mills were given a package of Rs 20,000 crore for clearing farmers' dues.

 

Ethanol blending of petrol was prioritized and ethanol worth Rs 70,000 crore was purchased from sugar mills in the last nine years, he said.

 

The prime minister noted that that food security should not be limited to wheat and rice and pointed out that India spends roughly Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore on import of edible oil, pulses, fish feed and processed food etc.

 

He urged farmers and cooperatives to work in this direction and make the nation Atmanirbhar in production of edible oil.

 

Modi exuded confidence that cooperatives will become a powerful medium of the country's economic source in the new India.

 

He emphasised the need to build villages that will become self-sufficient by following the cooperative model.

 

Modi suggested improving cooperation among cooperatives and said that cooperatives should become the carrier of social policy and national policy instead of politics.

The commerce ministry on Monday asked exporters to focus on potential key sectors such as food, electronics and engineering and 12 major markets to boost exports, an official said. It was also suggested to focus on organising fairs and exhibitions at global scale, the government official said.

 

These issues among others were discussed during a meeting called by the ministry with the industry and exporters.

 

The meeting was chaired by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal.

 

The six sectors which hold huge potential to increase the country's exports include food, textiles, engineering, electricals and electronics, medical devices, pharma and auto components.

 

The main global destinations where exports could be promoted further include the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Russia.

 

An industry representative, who participated in the meeting, said that emphasis was given on both trade and investments.

 

Increasing investments will help in promoting trade through integration with global value chains.

 

The meeting assumed significance as the country's merchandise exports have been contracting for the last four months due to demand slowdown in the global markets.

 

An exporter said that the export figures for June are also looking 'disappointing' due to the global economic uncertainties.

 

'Trade and investments need to be promoted parallelly,' the exporter added.

 

Exports declined for the fourth consecutive month by 10.3 per cent year-on-year to USD 34.98 billion in May, while the trade deficit widened to a five-month high of USD 22.12 billion, according to the ministry data.

 

Cumulatively, exports during April-May this fiscal contracted by 11.41 per cent to USD 69.72 billion, while imports declined 10.24 per cent to USD 107 billion.

 

Demand slowdown in major markets, high inflation in developed economies and the Russia-Ukraine war are impacting the country's exports.

 

Representatives from different export promotion councils from sectors such as apparel and medical devices participated in the meeting besides Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and industry associations.

 

Last month, commerce secretary Suni Barthwal has stated that the ministry is working on a trade strategy to promote exports.

 

As part of that, the Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Invest India and Indian missions abroad would focus on 40 countries.

 

These countries, including the US and European Union nations, account for 85 per cent of India's total exports.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries held the 2nd Inter-Ministerial Committee Meeting on World Food India-2023 at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi, today.  Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Shri Minhaj Alam, chaired the meeting with senior representatives from Ministries/Departments/Commodity Boards. The meeting witnessed participation from the senior officials of key central government ministries and departments. All the participants were apprised of developments in preparations for World Food India-2023, being organized between 3-5 November, 2023 in New Delhi. The meeting was held in continuation to the interaction held with the Committee members in May 2023.

 

Additional Secretary, FPI emphasized on the important role of respective ministries and departments in development of conducive ecosystem to channelise infrastructure development, trade, and investment promotion in the food processing realm. All the central ministries and departments confirmed their participation in the event through exhibition space/stalls, participation in technical sessions as well as engagements in the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet of the event.   The participating officers assured further support required for the event in Buyer Seller Meets/RBSM, engagements with startups, promotion of special Ayush products, ODOP and GI products. The officers also apprised of confirmed participation from exporters and buyers in the event and further outreach undertaken by the organizations. 

 

The Ministries and Departments were requested to share specifics of plan of action of their participation/partnership in the World Food India. Additionally, the Investment Facilitation Cell (Invest India) and the event partner (FICCI) were asked to coordinate with the respective Ministries and Departments for facilitating the discussed action plan and seek necessary support from government bodies. The next meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee is expected to be held in July 2023 regarding partnership/participation of different stakeholders.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government was spending Rs.6.5 lakh crore per year for the agriculture sector and farmers’ welfare, and there could be no guarantee bigger than this. He also sought cooperative sector support in creating world’s biggest grain storage system and making the country self-reliant in edible oils.

 

Inaugurating the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, Modi highlighted the work done by the government since 2014 and said that the agriculture budget of the UPA government’s last five years (2009-14) was less tha Rs.90,000 crore as against Rs.2.5 lakh crore already disbursed to farmers during four years (of NDA government between 2019 and 2023)) under only one scheme -- PM Kisan.

 

In the last nine years, Modi said more than Rs.15 lakh crore had been given to farmers by procuring their produce on minimum support price (MSP), while another Rs.10 lakh crore has been spent on fertilizer subsidy.

 

'The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around Rs.50,000 every year in some way or the other,' Modi said.

 

He also said: 'In the BJP government, farmers are guaranteed to get Rs.50,000 every year in different ways. This is Modi’s guarantee,' he said and added that he was only stating what his government has done and not just talking about ‘promises’.

 

In the recently held Karnataka assembly election, it has been reported widely that the Congress party won on the 'five guarantees' it promised people. The success model is replicated in Madhya Pradesh with a similar promise for voters.

 

Storage scheme

Addressing the gathering of cooperators in New Delhi, Modi also said that considering the lack of storage facilities has led to a major challenge to food security for a long time, the Central government has already announced the world’s biggest storage scheme. There is a plan to create 700 lakh tonnes (lt) storage capacity in the next five years, whereas 1,400 lt have been created in many decades.

 

He appealed the cooperative sector to make the scheme successful, as the country can store less than 50 per cent of the cereals produced. He informed that more than Rs.40,000 crore had already been invested since the rollout of the Rs.1-lakh-crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) three years back. 'A big portion of this investment is from PACs and there is a need for more efforts from the cooperatives in the creation of farm-gate infrastructure,' Modi said.

 

According to the AIF dashboard, 31,268 projects have been sanctioned whose project costs are valued at Rs.41,476 crore, for which Rs.24,459 crore has been sanctioned under AIF and Rs.14,939 crore have been disbursed, so far. Out of the total amount sanctioned, the approval for the cooperative sector is Rs.3,142 crore (13 per cent), and only Rs.602 crore have been sanctioned.

 

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that cooperatives will become a powerful medium of the country’s economic source in the new India. He also said that cooperatives should become the carrier of social policy and national policy instead of politics.

 

Food imports

On the issue of import of the food items by India, he appealed to the cooperative sector to make the country Atmanirbhar (self-sufficient) in oilseeds so that there is no import of cooking oil is required. He pointed out that as high as Rs.2.5 lakh crore worth of food items are imported annually, which can be realised by domestic farmers.

 

During the two-day event, organised by the National Cooperative Union of India, the stakeholders will discuss various trends in the cooperative movement, showcase best practices being adopted, deliberate challenges being faced and chalk out future policy action for the growth of India’s cooperative movement.

The Punjab agriculture department is planning to increase the area under basmati crop by over 20 per cent in the current sowing season, with the state government pushing for alternative crops to wean away growers from water-guzzling paddy. As sowing of the aromatic crop is set to commence this month, the agriculture department has targeted to bring six lakh hectares under the aromatic crop, up from 4.94 lakh hectares last year, an agriculture department senior official said.

 

The state government also has plans to fix a support price of Rs 2,600 to Rs 2,800 a quintal for basmati crop.

 

To promote the basmati rice crop, the department has roped in 'Kisan Mitra', who will provide technical guidance to growers for sowing it.

 

'We have targeted to bring six lakh hectares of area under basmati this season,' said the official.

 

The area under the basmati crop was 4.85 lakh hectares in 2021-22 and 4.06 lakh hectares in 2020-21.

 

Punjab grows paddy over an area of about 30 lakh hectares, including basmati, every year.

 

Basmati is mainly grown in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and other districts. The officials anticipate that farmers in Fazilka and Muktsar districts will also bring more area under basmati paddy this time.

 

The Punjab government is promoting crops like basmati, cotton and pulses as an alternative to water-consuming paddy crops.

 

The official said as farmers fetched more than Rs 3,500 a quintal from basmati paddy last year, and more growers will be encouraged to switch to basmati paddy this time.

 

Kisan Mitra, trained by the agriculture department, has been roped in to guide and provide technical guidance to farmers for basmati crops.

 

'A Kisan Mitra will guide farmers about basmati, starting from sowing till harvesting,' said the officer.

 

Farmers will also be advised about the use of only those pesticides which are recommended by the Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University for basmati crops.

 

Growers will be asked to avoid certain pesticides, as there is a risk of higher pesticide residues than the maximum residual limit in basmati grain meant for export, said the official.

 

Basmati exports from India are estimated to be over Rs 35,000 crore, with Punjab's aromatic grain having a significant share.

 

On the state government's plans to fix a support price for basmati, the official sources in the department said if the rate of basmati drops from the support price level fixed by the government in the market, then the Punjab government will intervene through Markfed (Punjab State Co-op Supply and Marketing Federation) and procure the crop.

 

The decision of fixing the support price is yet to be taken, but it could be between Rs 2,600 to Rs 2,800 a quintal, they added.

 

Punjab farmers mainly grow PUSA 1121, PUSA 1509 and 386 varieties.

 

This season, paddy transplantation was divided into four phases, with the first phase starting from June 10 in areas near the international border. The other three phases started on June 16, 19 and 21 for paddy sowing in other parts of the state.

The Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Shri Rohit Kumar Singh announced a Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) hackathon to invite innovative ideas at various levels of the tomato value chain to ensure availability of tomato to the consumers at affordable prices and help tomato farmers get value for the produce. TGC has been formulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with M/o Education (Innovation Cell).

 

The Grand Challenge invites ideas on comprehensive and focused area interventions in tomato value chain - from cropping and market insights for the farmers, appropriate cultivars (OP varieties or hybrids) with higher shelf-life of the fruits for fresh marker, cultivars specifically suitable for processing, value-addition through interventions that can increase shelf-life, improve transportation of fresh and processing products, innovative packaging and storage.

 

The entry of participants for the TGC are invited under two tracks, namely, (i) Students, Research Scholars and Faculty Members and (ii) Industry individuals, Indian start-ups, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Limited Liability Partnership (LLPs), Professionals. The winning ideas will be evaluated by Experts followed by prototype development and field implementation for ensuring its usability/scalability on a large scale and price of the product. Interested participants can apply on the portal: https://doca.gov.in/gtc/index.php

 

Tomato is produced almost in all the states in India, though in varying quantities. Maximum production is in southern and western regions of India, contributing 56%-58% of all India production. Southern and Western regions being surplus states, feed to other markets depending on production seasons.

 

The production seasons are also different across regions. The peak harvesting season occurred in December to February. The periods during July-August and October-November are the lean production months of tomato. July coinciding with monsoon season, adds to further challenges related to distribution and increased transit losses adding to price rise.

 

The cycle of planting and harvesting seasons and variation across regions are primarily responsible for price seasonality in Tomato. Apart from the normal price seasonality, temporary supply chain disruptions and crop damage due to adverse weather conditions etc. often led to sudden spikes in prices. Conversely, glut in the production of at local levels have also led to dip in prices causing huge loss to the farmers.

			Area: In Lakh Hactare
Sl. No.	Crops	Area Sown
		Current Year 2023		Last Year 2022
1	Rice	26.55		36.05
2	Pulses	18.15		18.51
a	Arhar	1.11		5.40
b	Urd bean	1.72		1.61
c	Moongbean	11.23		8.73
d	Kulthi	0.09		0.09
e	Other Pulses	4.00		2.67
3	Shri Anna -cum -Coarse Cereals	36.23		22.41
a	Jowar	0.98		0.94
b	Bajra	25.67		9.25
c	Ragi	0.88  Source:  pib.gov.in
03 Jul, 2023 Government revises the Crop Residue Management guidelines enabling efficient ex-situ management of paddy straw generated in the States of Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi. The Government has revised the Crop Residue Management guidelines enabling efficient ex-situ management of paddy straw generated in the States of Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi.   As per the revised guidelines, techno-commercial pilot projects for Paddy Straw Supply Chain will be established under the bilateral agreement between the Beneficiary/Aggregator (Farmers, rural entrepreneurs, Cooperative Societies of Farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Panchayats) and Industries utilizing the paddy straw.   Govt shall provide financial assistance on the capital cost of machinery and equipment. The required working capital may be financed either by the Industry and Beneficiary jointly         or utilizing the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), NABARD Financial or Financing from the Financial Institutions by the beneficiary. The land for storage of the collected paddy straw will be arranged and prepared by the beneficiary as may be guided by the end use industry.   Project proposal based financial assistance will be extended for machines and equipments such as Higher HP Tractor, Cutters, Tedder, Medium to Large Balers, Rakers, Loaders, Grabbers and Telehandlers which are essentially required for establishment of paddy straw supply chain.   State Governments shall approve these projects through project sanctioning committee.   Government (jointly by Central and State Governments) will provide financial support of @ 65% of the project cost, Industry as primary promoter of the project will contribute 25% and will act as the Primary consumer of the feedstock collected and Farmer or group of Farmers or Rural Entrepreneurs or Cooperative Societies of Farmers or Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs), or Panchayats will be the direct Beneficiary of the project and will contribute the balance 10%.   The Outcomes of the above interventions are :   The initiative will supplement the efforts of paddy straw management through in-situ options During the three-year tenure of the interventions, 1.5 million metric tonnes of surplus paddy straw are expected to be collected which would otherwise have been burnt in fields. About 333 biomass collection depots of capacity 4500 MT will be built in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Air pollution caused by stubble burning will be considerably reduced. It would generate employment opportunities of about 9,00,000 man days. The interventions will encourage a robust supply chain management of paddy straw which shall further help in making paddy straw available for various end uses i.e., power generation, heat generation, bio- CNG, etc. by Power/bio-CNG/bio-ethanol producers Establishment of supply chain would result in new investments in Biomass to biofuel and energy sectors.  Source:  pib.gov.in
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