The 8th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries was held today through video conferencing under the chairmanship of Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar. Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan participated in it along with India. Under the chairmanship of India, SCO member countries adopted the Smart Agriculture project. Expressing satisfaction over the smart agriculture action plan and the initiative of innovation in agriculture, Shri Tomar said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's emphasis is on the overall development of agriculture in the country through technology. In this direction, India has taken several concrete steps  to promote smart agriculture.

 

Welcoming everyone to the SCO meeting on behalf of India, Union Minister Shri Tomar said that India gives importance to its relations with SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions. It is a matter of pleasure and pride for us to organize a meeting of SCO Agriculture Ministers to discuss strengthening cooperation in food security and nutrition, especially in the current situation. Shri Tomar said that in order to maintain the normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions, there is a need for close contact and cooperation between various countries for food and nutrition security. He added that India is the largest employer globally in the agriculture sector, where more than half of our population is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors, while India also represents an important economic activity for many countries. Its importance is also evident from the fact that the budget allocation for agriculture and allied sectors in India has increased more than 5 times in 10 years from 2013-14. Over the years, India has performed well in the agriculture sector, contributing to global food security with food grain production, registering a significant growth in exports, and exports of agricultural and allied products have crossed Rs 4 lakh crore.

 

Shri Tomar said that India's public distribution system and price support system for farmers are unique in the world. It is the good result of foresight of our policy-makers, efficiency of agricultural scientists and tireless hard work of farmers that today India is self-sufficient in food grains. India is a leading producer of many commodities like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish. He said that the welfare of the farmers and overall development of the agriculture sector has been the top priority of the Government of India. India, with its comprehensive development path in the agriculture sector, will continue to share its best practices and build capacities with other countries, bilaterally as well as in collaboration with international organizations, so that they too become self-reliant and food secure nations. He said that the rich agricultural research has played an important role in solving the issue of food security, improving the income of farmers and agriculture workers and also for the sustenance of the people. Efforts are being made by the Government of India to make the country self-reliant in the agriculture sector with concerted efforts in innovation, digital agriculture, climate smart technologies, development of high yielding, biofortified varieties, agricultural research. Efforts are being made to improve the life and livelihood of the farmers by making their agriculture sustainable and friendly.

 

Referring to the country's very important Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, Union Minister Shri Tomar said that under this, crores of farmers across the country would get Rs.6,000 per year are being given and so far about Rs 2.40 lakh crore has been deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers. Deposits have been made. Crores of farmers have been provided concessional institutional credit with a focus on extending Kisan Credit Cards to farmers and covering all PM-Kisan beneficiaries through these. Under the able leadership of Prime Minister Shri Modi, India is also promoting organic farming and natural farming with emphasis on sustainable productivity, food security and soil health. A plan has been started to promote and form 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to increase the economic potential of small and marginal farmers by adding them to farmer groups. 1 lakh crore  to develop infrastructure in rural areas. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund has been set up. India has taken several measures to increase the use of digital technologies in agriculture. National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture, Agristack and India Digital Eco-system for Agriculture etc., under which most of the schemes are being digitized and brought on a single platform, so that farmers can easily access these schemes and take benefits from them.

 

He said that insurance cover is being provided to the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, under which Rs. are given. Electronic National Agriculture Market has been developed to increase market access of farmers. India has also launched programs to create new irrigation infrastructure, conserve soil fertility including balanced use of fertilizers, provide farm-to-market connectivity, ICT linkages, etc., with the goal of increasing farmers' income. The vision of empowering farmers, farm women, rural youth is being taken forward by taking large scale lab-to-land initiatives by developing new technologies and methodologies. In view of the importance of food-nutritional security and climate-friendly Mr. Anna, he also urged the SCO countries to support the International Year of Millets declared by the United Nations on India's proposal and said that India should achieve two sustainable development goals, that is, ending hunger, providing food Determined to obtain protection and nourishment. Bio-fortified varieties are a source of staple food rich in micronutrients and are being promoted continuously to address malnutrition in the country.

 

At the beginning of the meeting, Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare gave a welcome address. Representatives of the SCO Secretariat as well as the Central Agriculture and high officials of the Ministry of Farmers Welfare and senior officials of SCO member countries participated.

India’s goods exports for 2022-23 scaled up significantly from earlier estimates to almost $451 billion, indicating a 6.9% year-on-year growth, with exports for March upgraded sharply to a nine-month high of $41.9 billion, as per Commerce Ministry data.

 

Initial estimates for the March had pegged exports at $38.38 billion, marking a sharp 13.9% decline, but revised numbers signal only a 6% contraction. The $41.9 billion exports made March only the second month of 2022-23 to cross the $40 billion mark after $42.3 billion in outbound shipments last June.

 

The Ministry, which will be releasing the initial estimates for April’s merchandise trade on Monday, also revised March’s import bill to over $60 billion, the highest in 2023, raising its initial estimate of imports during the month by $1.9 billion.

 

Remained unchanged

However, the overall import bill for 2022-23 remained virtually unchanged at $714.04 billion, a 16.5% rise from 2021-22, compared to $714.24 billion reported initially. The rise in March’s import figure was largely offset by a $1.7 billion correction in November 2022’s import tally that was initially pegged at $58.2 billion, then revised upwards by half a billion dollars and finally pared to $56.95 billion.

 

The latest revisions to official trade numbers cap off a year marked by what economists termed as significantly higher than usual variations between initial estimates and final numbers.

 

Total exports were initially pegged at $447.46 billion as per data released on April 15, then revised to $444.2 billion as per a Ministry statement on May 1. That figure has now been raised to $450.95 billion. Similarly, the import bill as per the May 1 statement was pegged at $711.85 billion, from the initial estimate of $714.24 billion.

 

Overall, export numbers were revised by over $25 billion from their initial estimates through 2022-23, with four months seeing a $3 billion-plus upward revision. The pace of these revisions has accelerated since November 2022, with exports etched up by an average $3.2 billion each month. The revision of $3.52 billion in March exports was the second highest in the year.

 

Import figure revisions have only been slightly milder, averaging over $1.5 billion a month through 2022-23. Over $2 billion revisions from initial estimates were reported in four months, with December 2022 recording the highest upward revision of almost $3 billion.

 

While experts have flagged petroleum shipments as the main driver for the extraordinarily high revisions of recent export data, the revision in import numbers needs further scrutiny.

Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary on Friday said mass adoption of new technologies like drones, artificial intelligence (AI) and precision farming in the agriculture sector is essential for India to achieve USD 5 trillion economy milestone. '... we need to leverage new technologies, such as drones, AI, precision farming, blockchain in farming to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's near future target of USD 5 trillion economy,' the minister said while addressing an event organised by agro-chemical firm Dhanuka Group.

 

Choudhary also urged scientists to identify untapped areas, such as rain-fed districts to increase agriculture production substantially by empowering farmers with new agri technologies.

 

'The potential of most of the agri-land in the country has been exhausted, only the area dependant on rains is left whose potential needs to be tapped,' he said in a statement.

 

Making a strong pitch for genetically modified (GM) crops, Deepak Pental, former Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi said, 'The USA has increased agriculture production by 35 per cent by introducing GM crops long back, whereas Europe just managed 6-7 per cent.

 

'The population in Europe is anyways not increasing, so they have the option, but do we have option? So, we need to decide which side of divide we want to be!'

 

Pental, favouring the use of agro-chemicals, said that high-quality agro-chemicals are essential to reduce the damage to crops.

 

Dhanuka Group Chairman R G Agarwal said, 'The government's forward looking policies towards new technologies and swift approvals for agriculture sector, clearance to drone guidelines being an example, are paving the way for Indian being food bowl for the world by 2047.'

National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) Member and Agriculture Economist Ramesh Chand on Friday stated that natural farming should be encouraged to tackle climate change and to improve production quality.

 

In his convocation address during the fifth convocation of Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University here in West Godavari district, Prof. Ramesh Chand said that the scientists and students encourage and promote natural farming.

 

Governor S. Abdul Nazeer, who presided over the convocation, stated that horticultural crops would assume greater significance in the context of nutritional security.

 

Justice Adbul Nazeer said, 'India is emerging as the food basket of the world. The production of horticultural crops has already surpassed agricultural production in India. The total horticulture production is 320 billion tonnes (2023).'

 

'In the agriculture sector, horticulture provides 14% employment, of which 42% are women in India,' he said. 

 

Referring to Andhra Pradesh, Justice Abdul Nazeer has stated; 'The State is emerging as one of the major horticulture hubs in the country. The State has registered a record growth in the production and research in horticulture, which spreads in 17.84 lakh hectares with an annual production of 312.34 lakh metric tonnes.'

 

He said that it is a celebrating moment that Dr.Y.S.R. Agricultural University was encouraging drone and robotic technologies in horticulture in the State. 

 

Prof. Ramesh Chand and Governor S. Abdul Nazeer presented the Ph.D. Awards and gold medals to the scientists and students. University Vice-Chancellor T. Janakiram, Registrar B. Srinivas and professors were present.

 

The love for mangoes in summers isn't just limited to Gujaratis and Indians but the Americans too! With increased demand from the US, exports of mangoes from Gujarat are expected to scale new heights and grow by at least 45%, suggest estimates by Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited (GAICL).

 

The sweet, succulent, tropical burst of flavours packed in Gujarat's mangoes are in high demand in the international market too.

For instance, Gujarat recorded direct exports of 445 metric tonne (MT) mangoes to the United Kingdom and Middle East in 2022-23, according to GAICL. However, an additional demand coming from the US with orders pouring in huge volumes has already led Gujarat's mango cultivators to export 65 MT to the USA alone. This accounts for a lion's share of 55% of the total mango exports from Gujarat at 114 MT so far, according to GAICL. Exports are expected to increase as the season progresses.

 

The United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) has approved the Gujarat Agro Radiation Processing Facility (GARPF) in July 2022. This gives Gujarat's mango farmers and exporters an added advantage with additional demand pouring from the US.

 

'With good demand, the exports are expected to surpass the 2021-22 level of 608 MT this year. By far we have already exported 65 MT and the new Cargo facility developed by GAICL near Ahmedabad will further give a boost to exports. Till date, Kesar and Alphonso mango varieties which are the pride of Gujarat were exported through Maharashtra,' said DH Shah, managing director, GAICL.

'Retail outlets in UK, Canada placing orders'

 

The Gujarat Agro Radiation Processing Facility (GARPF) will in fact, boost demand for Kesar varieties from Gir and Kutch regions of the state. 'This year exports are better than last year because crops are better and prices are almost the same as last year. There is good demand from the UK, Middle East and Canada as well. Retail outlets in these countries are placing good orders this year,' said Darshil Shah, an Ahmedabad based mango exporter.

 

Gujarat is expected to see record direct exports this year, according to exporters. 'The direct access to the US market has opened up newer avenues for exporters . The air freight rates have also come down from Rs 240 per kg to Rs 140 per kg in a year. If the government supports exporters by lowering the 18% GST rate on mango exports, overall demand in the international market may further grow.'

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has released data indicating that the United States has become the largest market for organic honey exported from India. The data shows that 80% of India's organic honey exports are sent to the United States.

 

Until February of FY 2022/23, the manufacturers earned around Rs 1,293.96 crore by exporting 58,471.80 tons of honey to America. Besides America, UAE (Rs 69.72 cr), Saudi Arabia (Rs 30.63 cr), Libya and Morocco are other favourable export destinations for organic honey from India.

 

Meanwhile, recent years witnessed a growing appeal for organic honey produced in the country, with an export of 73,51.97 tons and a 25 per cent increase in revenue generation recorded last financial year. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab and Bihar are the largest producers of honey in the country.

The first ministerial level meeting of India-European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held on May 16 in Brussels to discuss ways to increase cooperation in strategic technologies, digital connectivity, clean energy, trade and investments, an official statement said on Sunday. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal is one of the co-chairs along with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Union minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

 

The EU side is co-chaired by Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs) Dombrovskis and Vestager.

 

It said that three working groups under the mechanism will report on roadmaps for future cooperation between the two sides -- Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity; Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies; and Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.

 

'The first ministerial meeting will lay the roadmap for the cooperation under all three working groups and provide direction to achieve desired outcomes before the next ministerial meeting in the coming year,' it added.

 

During the high level meetings with senior leadership of the European Union as well as Belgium various issues would come up for discussions and that include ongoing negotiations for Free Trade Agreement (FTA), addressing issues of mutual market access, reforms in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

 

The working group on trade, investment and resilient value chains is steered by the Department of Commerce and the first meeting of the working group was co-chaired by commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal and Sabine Weyand, Director General for Trade, from respective sides.

India’s import of edible oils increased by 22.29 per cent in the first six months of the oil year 2022-23 (November to October) following a significant rise in the import of palm oil and sunflower oil during the period.

 

According to data available from the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the country imported 80.02 lakh tonnes (lt) of edible oil during November-April against 65.43 lt in the corresponding period a year ago.

 

Palm products imports up

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said the import of palm products (including crude palm oil and RBD palmolein) increased to 49.09 lt during November-April of the oil year 2022-23 against 30.92 lt in November-April of 2021-22. Attributing this increase to the price parity, he said the share of palm oil in the total edible oils increased to 61 per cent in the first six months of the oil year 2022-23 from 49 per cent a year ago.

 

Import of RBD palmolein increased to 11.10 lt in the first six months of current oil year against 9.20 lt. Import of crude palm oil (CPO) stood at 37.61 lt against 22.62 lt.

 

Stating that the share of RBD palmolein in the total palm oil import is around 22 per cent now, Mehta said India’s palm oil refining industry is heavily suffering from very low capacity utilisation due to excessive import of RBD palmolein.

 

Sunflower oil shipments surge

There has been a jump in the import of sunflower oil in the first half of the current oil year. India imported 13.67 lt of sunflower oil against 11.10 lt a year ago, recording a growth of 23.12 per cent. In fact, sunflower oil imports went up to 2.49 lt in April against 1.48 lt in March. Mehta attributed this to oversupply of the oil with international prices ruling lower compared to soyabean oil and CPO.

 

The CIF import price of crude sunflower oil was $1,036 a tonne in April against $1,108 in March. In April, CIF import price of crude soyabean oil and CPO was at $1,049 a tonne and $1,039 a tonne, respectively.

 

Soya oil imports slip

However, there was a decline in the import of soyabean oil. India imported 17.25 lt of soyabean oil against 22.06 lt, recording a decline of 21.80 per cent.

 

Indonesia and Malaysia were the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and CPO to India during the first half of the oil year 2022-23.

 

Indonesia exported 17.24 lt of CPO and 8.77 lt of RBD palmolein to India during the first six months of the oil year 2022-23. This was followed by Malaysia at 12.98 lt of CPO and 2.05 lt RBD palmolein, and Thailand at 5.73 lt of CPO and 11,499 tonnes of RBD palmolein.

 

India imported 9.53 lt of crude soyabean de-gummed oil from Argentina and 7.02 lt from Brazil during the period.

 

During the first half of the oil year 2022-23, Russia exported 3.73 lt of crude sunflower oil to India. This was followed by Ukraine at 3.40 lt and Argentina at 1.06 lt.

Pulses such as green gram (moong) and coarse cereals such as bajra and jowar continued to gain acreage in the ongoing summer cropping season. However, paddy and oilseeds acreages trail last year’s levels, so far. Overall, the area under the summer crops is marginally lower at 69.20 lakh hectares (lh) as of May 12 compared with 70.39 lh in the same period a year ago, latest data from Agriculture Ministry show.

 

The area under pulses crop stood higher at 19.61 lh, an increase of 6.3 per cent over 18.44 lh a year ago. Farmers are seen planting more area under green gram as the acreage is up by 8 per cent at 16.14 lh against 14.97 lh a year ago.The aArea planted under urad was marginally up at 3.24 lh (3.20 lh in same period a year ago).

 

Bajra gains, maize trails

The overall area under coarse cereals was up at 11.73 lh (11.30 lh). The area under bajra is up at 4.69 lh (3.98 lh), while maize is trailing marginally lower at 6.65 lh(6.94 lh). Jowar acreage was marginally higher at 0.25 lh (0.18 lh), while ragi was lower at 0.14 lh (0.20 lh).

 

The acreage under paddy as on May 12 was lower at 27.89 lh against 29.80 lh a year ago. The overall acreage under oilseeds crops also trailed at 9.96 lh (10.85 lakh ha). The area under groundnut was down at 4.78 lh (5.35 lh), while sunflower was flat at 0.31 lh. The area under sesamum was higher at 4.58 lh (4.47 lh). The acreage under other oilseeds was down at 0.29 lh (0.73 lh).

 

Higher pre-monsoon rainfall

As of May 4, the live storage of 146 reservoirs was 61.81 billion cubic metres (35 per cent) of the total live capacity of 178.19 BCM.

 

Meanwhile, the country as a whole has received 24 per cent more rainfall in the pre-monsoon, so far. From March 1 till May 12, the country has received 111.9 mm of rains against a normal 90.2 mm, as per IMD data. At least 21 sub-divisions accounting for 69 per cent of the country’s area, have received excess rains, so far. Nine sub-divisions accounting for 22 per cent of the area have received normal to excess rains, while six sub divisions, accounting for 9 per cent of the area, have received deficient rains.

The Netherlands has emerged as India's third largest exports destination after the US and UAE during 2022-23, showed commerce ministry's data on Sunday.

 

This can be attributed to a surge in shipment of goods such as petroleum products, electronic items, chemicals, and aluminium goods, reported PTI, citing commerce ministry. India's trade surplus with the Netherlands has also increased from USD 8 billion in 2021-22 to USD 13 billion in 2022-23.

 

The Netherlands has taken over major destinations such as the UK, Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Germany, the data showed.

 

India's exports to the Netherlands rose by about 48 per cent to USD 18.52 billion during 2022-23 as against USD 12.5 billion in 2021-22.

 

In 2021-22 and 2020-21, the outbound shipments to the European country stood at USD 12.55 billion and USD 6.5 billion, respectively. The exports are registering healthy growth continuously since 2000-01, when India's exports to that nation was USD 880 million.

 

Further, in 2021-22, the Netherlands was the fifth largest destination for Indian exports as against ninth in 2020-21.

 

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai said the Netherlands has emerged as a hub for Europe with efficient port and connectivity with the EU through road, railways and waterways.

 

In the calendar year, India's exports to the country increased to USD 18.1 billion in 2022 from USD 5.5 billion in 2017.

 

According to economic think tank GTRI (Global Trade Research Initiative), ATF (aviation turbine fuel) and diesel were the key petroleum products exported from India to that country.

 

Telecom equipment and smartphones with a value of over USD 1 billion were the largest electronic items, it said.

 

Mumbai-based exporter and Chairman of Technocraft Industries Sharad Kumar Saraf said the trend would continue in the future also.

 

Saraf said that the Netherlands is a gateway to Europe as their ports are very efficient hence cheaper than other European ports for shipping operations.

 

India and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations in 1947. Since then, the two countries have developed strong political, economic and commercial relations.

 

In 2022-23, the bilateral trade between the two countries increased to USD 24 billion as against USD 17 billion in 2021-22 and about USD 10 billion in 2020-21.

 

The Netherlands is among top trading partners of India in Europe, after Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Belgium. It is also a major investor in India. During April-September this fiscal, India received USD 1.76 billion in foreign direct investment from the Netherlands. It was USD 4.6 billion in 2021-22.

 

There are over 200 Dutch companies present in India, including Philips, Akzo Nobel, DSM, KLM and Rabobank. Similarly, there are over 200 Indian companies operating in the Netherlands, including all the major IT firms such as TCS, HCL, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra as well as Sun Pharmaceuticals and Tata Steel.