Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that a total of 115 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) covering 493 products have been notified for compulsory BIS certification by the Union Government.

 

The centre hopes that through the issuance of QCOs, the notified products shall conform to the requirements of the relevant Indian Standard and the manufacturers of these products have to compulsorily obtain certification from BIS.

 

'Till May 2014, only 14 TR/QCOs covering 106 products were notified for compulsory BIS certification and implementation of Indian Standards. After May 2014, a further 101 QCOs covering 387 products have been notified,' he said.

Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign 2023-24 on 03-05-2023 at NASC Complex, New Delhi. Addressing Conference, he emphasized that agriculture remains prime pulse of the Indian economy and is at the core of the socio-economic development of the country. It accounts for around 19 per cent of the GDP and about two-thirds of the population is dependent on the sector.

 

Shri Tomar expressed happiness that India’s agriculture sector has been witnessing robust growth with an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent over the last six years. This has enabled agriculture and allied activities sector to contribute significantly towards country overall growth, development and food security. As per 2nd Advance Estimates (2022-23), production of foodgrains in the country is estimated at 3235 lakh tonnes which is higher by 79 lakh tonnes than the production of foodgrains during 2021-22. Record production is estimated of rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane. Total production of sugarcane in the country during 2022-23 is estimated at record 4688 lakh tonnes which is higher by 1553 lakh tonnes than the average sugarcane production. As per the 3rd Advance Estimates of Horticulture, a record 3423.3 lakh tonnes of horticultural production are estimated in 2021-22 which is 77.30 lakh tonnes higher over production of 2020-21.

 

The objective of this conference was to review and assess the crop performance during the preceding crop seasons and fix crop-wise targets for Kharif season in consultation with State Governments, ensure supply of critical inputs and facilitate adoption of innovative technologies with a view to enhance production and productivity of the crops.  The priority of government is agro-ecological based crop planning for diversion of land from excess commodities like rice and wheat to deficit commodities like oilseeds and pulses and high value export earning crops. Special Mustard programme was initiated during rabi 2020-21 that has brought most spectacular results. Mustard production has jumped by 40% from 91.24 to 128.18 lakh tonnes in last 3 years.  The productivity saw 11% increase from 1331 to 1447 kg/ha. The area under rapeseed & mustard enhanced by 29% from 68.56 lakh ha in 2019-20 to 88.58 lakh ha in 2022-23.  Timely action by central and state government made this remarkable achievement possible.

 

The Minister shared that India organized The Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference at IARI campus, PUSA, New Delhi on 18th of March 2023 as part of major celebration of International Year of Millets. Dedicating to the International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023, the Hon’ble Prime Minister unveiled commemorative coin and stamp celebrating IYM followed by digital launch of a book of millets (Shree Anna) standards. The Prime Minister declared ICAR-IIMR as Global Centre of Excellence which was followed by screening of a short film on Shree Anna & IYM 2023. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is ensuring that IYM is celebrated in a structured way throughout the year by organizing regular meetings (In person/ video conferencing) with all the stakeholders. Expert Institutes such as ICAR-IIMR, APEDA, ICRISAT and others are also involved to encourage R&D, productivity and value addition.

 

The Conference set the national targets for production of foodgrains and other commodities. National targets for total food grains production set at 3320 lakh tonnes for the year 2023-24.  Target for production of pulses have been fixed at 292.5 lakh tonnes compared to 278.1 lakh tonnes this year and oilseeds production will be increased from 400 to 440 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.  Total Shree Anna production has to be increased from 159.1 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 to 170.0 lakh tonnes in 2023-24. The strategy would be to increase area through inter-cropping and crop diversification and productivity enhancement through introduction of HYVs and adoption of suitable agronomic practices in low yielding regions.

 

Addressing the Conference, Sh. Kailash Choudhary, MoS (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) hoped that global demand for millets is set to rise, consequent to the celebration of the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM), This will provide us a unique opportunity to increase production, ensure efficient processing and consumption, promote a better utilization of crop rotations, and encourage better connectivity throughout food systems to promote millets as a key component of the food basket. Due to its multi-functionality, millets hold considerable potential to contribute to economic and ecological diversification, climate resilience, and food & nutritional security. Widely recognized as “Smart Food” or “Nutri-Cereals”, millets play a crucial role in transforming agri-food systems, across the globe. India is set to become International Hub for millets.

 

In his deliberation he said that there is significant increase in oilseeds and pulses still more stress should be given for further increase in the production of seeds and pulses. For the all the government facilities, schemes and information of agriculture must be given through FPO for its effective implementation.

 

Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary (Agriculture & Farmers Welfare), said that the country is maintaining an increasing trend in food grain production since 2015-16. The government has taken measures to augment crop and livestock productivity, ensure certainty of returns to the farmers through price support (Minimum Support Price), promote crop diversification and has made focused interventions to enhance credit availability, facilitate mechanization and boost horticulture and organic farming. As a result, agriculture exports touched a historic high growth in 2021-22. As compared to previous year 2020-21, the agri and allied export has increased from 41.86 billion USD in 2020-21 to 50.24 billion USD in 2021-22 i.e. an increase of 19.99%. For modernization of agriculture and facilitate farmer, government launched the SATHI (Seed Traceability, Authentication and Holistic Inventory) Portal and Mobile App, a Centralized Online System for seed traceability, authentication and inventory designed to deal with the challenges of seed production, quality seed identification and seed certification.

 

Further he stated that to combat the adverse weather conditions the single window advisory system should be adopted for issuing the weather-related issues to the farmers.  For the improvement of the soil health card system this year new initiative will be in place for which agriculture graduates will be given an opportunity to work on implementation of SHC.

 

Shri Arun Baroka Secretary (Fertilizers) assured timely supply of fertilizers for forthcoming kharif season. The government also announced to convert more than 3.25 lakh fertilizer shops across the country as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras. These will be centres where farmers can buy not only fertilizers and seeds but also implement soil testing and avail useful information about farming techniques. Further, he provided the information about Integrated fertilizer management system (IFMS) for the detail information about the fertilizer and related issues. In his deliberation he has given the information on the PM PRANAM and PM Kisan Samridhi Kendra he advised farmer should use organic inputs.

 

Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) and Director General, ICAR shared recent technological advances made in the agriculture for the benefits of the states and preparing plan of development accordingly. He stressed on using bio-fortified and climate resilient varieties to fulfill dream of food and nutritional security for all. Further in his deliberation he has highlighted for the improvement of varieties which are climate resilient and newly released and bio fortifies varieties should be used.

 

Detailed presentations were made on status of fertilizer supply by Additional Secretary (fertilizers), on agri stack for digitization in agriculture by Additional Secretary (Agriculture) on financial issues on released by additional secretary and financial advisor. JS (Crops) made a presentation on prospects and strategies for ensuing Kharif season.  The state principal secretaries Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Odisha presented their strategies for Kharif preparedness and implementation. Presentation on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was made by CEO of PMFBY, thereafter on Drought Management, Annual Action Plan of RKVY and Digital Extension plans were shared in details by respective Joint Secretaries.

 

Additional Secretary (Agriculture) and senior officers from DA&FW, ICAR and officers of different State Governments participated in the National Conference. This was followed by an interaction session with Agriculture Production Commissioners and Principal Secretaries of all the States to raise issues concerning their states for increasing area coverage, production and productivity during Kharif season 2023.

The times ahead are going to be tough and challenging and exporters should show their capabilities in such situations to increase shipments, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

While addressing FIEO's Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards function held in New Delhi, he said, 'India's exports have reached an all-time high of USD 773 billion in 2022-23.'

 

'The times ahead are going to be very, very tough. The situation is only deteriorating from what we saw as happened today in the Ukraine-Russia war, It's going to be very, very challenging in the months and years ahead of us. But tough times is the time when people with mettle show their capabilities,' he added.

 

According to reports, Russia has claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a terrorist act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying 'We didn't attack Putin or Moscow'.

 

The minister said that in the global economic uncertainties, Indian exporters showed resilience and exports of goods and services reached USD 773 billion.

 

Mr Goyal said, 'Let us all work together to ensure that we don't get left behind. Let us all work together to ensure that we will show the pathway to the rest of the world and towards that trading beyond boundaries, trading to newer markets, and trading in newer products produced in India for the world. Serving from India to the world economies, to developed economies, exploring new markets, and new opportunities, diversifying our export basket, encouraging collaborations and investment both into the country and internationally, and becoming globally more competitive. These will be the drivers of our export and future international engagements. We have to ensure that the world recognizes brand India for quality and reliability.'

 

He also expressed confidence that exports by 2030 would reach USD 2 trillion.

 

Mr Goyal gave away the 17th Set of Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards to the outstanding exporters and service providers based on their excellent export performance and incremental growth in exports.

 

FIEO President, Dr A Sakthivel in his welcome address, congratulated the awardees for their remarkable efforts shown during the turbulent period in global trade.

 

He said that they have made the country proud through the sheer dint of their hard work amid meticulous planning.

 

Dr Sakthivel expressed his gratitude to the Minister and said that the exports sectors saw a remarkable growth of over 55 per cent in 2 years, taking aggregate exports to USD 770 billion in 2022-23 and adding US$ 218 billion in the last two financial years, equivalent to Rs. 17 lakh 44 thousand crores.

India’s apex food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is reconsidering its plans to introduce a mandatory Health Star Rating (HSR) on all packaged food items, ThePrint has learnt. HSR is a front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged food.

 

The development comes a month after social media influencer Revant Himatsingka in a video criticised the endorsement of Cadbury Bournvita as a 'health drink' and claimed that the brand had 'miscommunicated' the product’s 'nutritional value' and sugar content on its packaging. 

 

While Bournvita owner Mondelez India had dismissed Himatsingka’s claims, and the influencer deleted the video saying he had received a legal notice, the matter led to calls for greater accountability in the processed and packaged food industry. 

 

Highly-placed sources at FSSAI told ThePrint that although the decision is not directly linked with the Bournvita controversy, the episode could have spurred the regulator into calling a fresh meeting with stakeholders later this month for deliberations.

 

'After coming up with the draft proposal on HSR, we have received over 10,000 comments from different stakeholders and are currently going through them,' a senior FSSAI official told ThePrint. 'However, deliberation is also still on and a meeting is being planned soon on whether health star rating or pictorial warning labels on processed food would be a better idea. We will also actively take the Union health ministry’s view on the issue.'

 

If the FSSAI does decide to go ahead with its decision, it would be the first time that a health star rating is introduced in the country.

 

ThePrint reached G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, the chief executive officer (CEO) of FSSAI, via email for comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. 

The Indian government may have to develop a sugarcane-type ecosystem for the maize crop over the next two years if the country has to achieve the 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol (EBP) target, as the molasses-based units would not be able to meet the entire target.

 

Under the Sugarcane Control Order, sugar mills are mandated to buy entire sugarcane that will be offered by farmers within a geographical area decided by State governments at not below a price fixed by the Centre.

 

The government has also fixed a minimum selling price of sugar for the mills so that they recover a certain amount which is enough to pay the sugarcane farmers after buying their crop.

 

Sugarcane’s limitations

Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said there is a limit to increasing sugarcane output, and half of the ethanol requirement has to come from grain-based plants.

 

'When we say 1,300 crore litres of requirement (to meet the 20 per cent blending target), half of which are to come from sugar-based units and a half from grain-based, where is the supply to come from,' Chopra said on Tuesday, addressing a national seminar on ethanol from maize.

 

He said sugar has its limitations unless the sugarcane area goes up. With the current level of the area under sugarcane, ethanol production cannot be raised significantly, he said. Grain-based plants, which are tapping subsidised rice offered by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), are not sustainable feedstock for ethanol, he said.

 

Against the economic cost of rice at about Rs.38/kg, the government is offering FCI stock at Rs.20/kg to distilleries for the production of ethanol. Chopra said it is just continuing to support the industry but is not a sustainable model.

 

Summing up the deliberations of the day-long event, he said maize production should go up to 42.5 million tonnes (mt) from the current 34 mt if the 20 per cent target is to be met.

 

How it can be achieved is something that has to be discussed. He suggested drawing a roadmap with the target. Secondly, the distilleries body should make collaborative arrangements with farmers, similar to what sugar mills have done, to increase the production and productivity of maize.

 

Goyal confident

Chopra said all stakeholders, including the petroleum ministry (the controlling body of public sector oil marketing companies), have agreed that a stable price regime will give a fillip to the ethanol from maize programme, as unless it is in place, the industry will not set up new plants.

 

In India, distilleries generally produce ethanol from molasses, which is a by-product of sugar.

 

To achieve the target of 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by 2025, about 1,016 crore litres of ethanol would be required, and about 334 crore litres of ethanol would be required for other uses. For this, about 1,700 crore litres of ethanol-producing capacity would be required, considering the plant operates at 80 per cent efficiency.

 

Currently, India has the capacity to produce 1,082 crore litres of ethanol (including plants under construction), out of which 723 crore litres are from molasses-based units and 359 crore litres are from grain-based plants.

 

Later speaking at the same event, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal expressed confidence that the country will achieve the target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol by 2025 and asserted that maize crops will play an important role in the implementation of this programme.

 

Terming ethanol as a 'sunrise sector', Goyal appealed to the industry to set up factories for the manufacturing of this green fuel, which can operate on dual feedstock (sugarcane and food grains).

 

He said India’s crude oil import bill could come down by Rs.50,000 crore, leading to a huge saving of foreign exchange reserves as the country can lower crude imports by 8 mt if a 20 per cent EBP is achieved.

India is exploring ways to counter the EU's domestic law that allows it to impose retaliatory tariffs in response to an appeal into the non-functioning dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

Officials said the EU law violates global trade norms and can become another dispute at the organisation. While the EU has not invoked the law as yet, New Delhi is also examining if it can retaliate by imposing higher duties on products coming from the EU against the quota restrictions put in place by the bloc on steel imports from India in 2020.

 

A WTO panel last month ruled in favour of the EU, Japan and Taiwan on India's import duty on mobile phones and base stations, among others.

 

The EU has in place Enforcement Regulation that allows it to enforce its rights by imposing customs duties or other restrictions in response to an appeal into the void (the non-functioning WTO Appellate Body).

 

'Retaliation is against the WTO rules and the appeal. If that happens, we can also explore that option. We are ready and examining every aspect,' said an official, adding that India is engaging with the EU.

 

In 2020, the EU implemented tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on steel imports, following the US decision to impose additional import duties on steel from several countries including Russia, India and Turkey. It fixed specific quotas for steel imports for exporting countries beyond which the items attracted additional import duties of 25%.

 

'We can also retaliate through TRQs on steel where EU had introduced 25% additional duty but we have not exercised that retaliation,' the official said.

 

'They have never invoked it... It remains to be seen if they exercise that,' the official said, adding that it will be detrimental to both sides if India also does the same.

 

India had proposed to impose an additional ?292 million worth of import duties on products coming from the EU.

 

'Their domestic law is not in congruence with WTO and any country can take that law to dispute because WTO members can't pass any law which is in contravention to the international law,' the official added.

The Indian government has fixed a target of 332 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrain production, including 29.25 mt of pulses, during the 2023-24 crop year (July-June).

 

Releasing the target at a conference of State officials for the preparation of strategies amid the forecast of El Nino, the Agriculture Ministry said the aim is also to ensure 44 mt of oilseed production and 17 mt of Shri Anna (millets). 'The strategy would be to increase area through inter-cropping and crop diversification and productivity enhancement through the introduction of high yielding varieties, and adoption of suitable agronomic practices in low yielding regions,' the ministry said in a statement.

 

As per the second advance estimate for the current crop year, the production of foodgrains in the country is estimated at 323.5 mt, up 7.9 mt from last crop year. Record production has been estimated for rice, maize, gram, pulses, mustard, oilseeds, and sugarcane.

 

Robust growth

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who inaugurated the conference, said the agriculture sector has been witnessing robust growth, with an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent over the last six years. This has enabled the agriculture and allied activities sectors to contribute significantly to the overall economic growth of the country.

 

The priority of the government is agro-ecological-based crop planning for diversion of land from excess commodities like rice and wheat to deficit commodities like oilseeds and pulses and high-value export-earning crops, the ministry said.

 

Addressing the conference, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said global demand for millets is set to rise, consequent to the celebration of the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM). 'This will provide us a unique opportunity to increase production, ensure efficient processing and consumption, promote better utilisation of crop rotations, and encourage better connectivity throughout food systems to promote millets as a key component of the food basket,' Choudhary said.

 

He said though there has been a significant increase in oilseeds and pulses production in the past few years, more stress should be given to further increase their output. The agri- and allied exports have increased from $41.86 billion in 2020–21 to $50.24 billion in 2021–22, he said.

 

Unseasonal heat and drought in Spain have driven concern about this year's crop production and a potential increased need for imports, at a time when there is also growing concern about the Ukrainian grain corridor.

 

The April EU Monitoring Agricultural Resources report (MARS) said no meaningful rainfall had occurred in Spain's main cropland area since January.

 

Soil moisture is now critically low for winter crops and spring barley with negative impacts on growth and development, the Mars report said.

 

'The drought is already suffocating 60% of the Spanish countryside and has caused irreversible losses to more than 3.5 million ha of non-irrigated cereal crops,' the Spanish agricultural union COAG warned last week.

 

'Weather is dry and untypically hot in Spain, we might see a really bad crop this year,' a Europe-based broker meanwhile told Agricensus.

 

The European Commission April crop forecasts call for soft wheat production in Spain to fall to 4,952,000 mt in 2023 from 5,388,000 mt in 2022, itself a sharp fall from 7,455,000 mt in 2021.

 

There has also been concern that production of other crops could be affected.

 

MARS already warned of 'an impact on areas and type of spring sowing in the southern provinces of Spain, where maize and rice will partly be replaced by sunflowers and other water stress resistant crops and part of the land might not be sown at all.'

 

The Spanish government has requested that farmers get support from the crisis reserve fund of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) because of the exceptional circumstances. 

 

Trade expects increased imports

 

Trade sources have suggested that lower production may cause an increase in feed grain imports, including those from Ukraine, but also from Brazil which is expecting a large corn harvest.

 

'Spain experienced a dramatic drought that sharply reduced grain crops, increasing the country’s grain shortfall,' the US Department of Agriculture’s Grain and Feed Annual noted, adding that this, in turn, drove Ukrainian imports.

 

Fastmarkets data shows that in 2022 Ukrainian wheat exports to Spain grew 627% to 1,154,273 mt from 158,681 mt in 2021.

 

The USDA also said Spain had benefitted from the implementation of the Black Sea grain corridor, which came in time to help it during last year’s drought.

 

Spain has been the second biggest beneficiary of the grain corridor after China, with official data showing it has imported 5.1 million mt of products under the corridor since it opened last August, of which 1.9 million mt was wheat.

 

Trade sources have expressed their concern to Agricensus about the current uncertainty around the grain corridor in the Black Sea, with Spanish buyers looking to Ukraine as a backup in the likely event that Spanish production is again affected by drought.

Indian non-basmati rice exporters hope to sustain the record-high shipments this fiscal as witnessed in the 2022–23 fiscal. In 2022-23 fiscal, shipments touched a new peak in volumes and value on the robust demand for the cereal.

 

Indian non-basmati rice exports, despite a levy of 20 per cent duty, a ban on broken rice and a decline in purchases by Asian buyers such as Bangladesh and China, touched a record 17.78 million tonnes valued at over $6.35 billion in 2022–23. In the previous year, non-basmati shipments were at 17.26 million tonnes valued at $6.12 billion. Overall, Indian rice exports in FY23 stood at over 22.28 million tonnes valued at over $11.13 billion.

 

African demand

The higher demand for Indian non-basmati rice from traditional buyers from African countries such as Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, and Senegal helped offset the decline in off-take from Asian customers such as Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Vietnam.

 

Benin, with purchases exceeding 1.55 million tonnes, was the largest buyer of non-basmati rice , compared with 1.52 million tonnes a year ago. Cote d’Ivoire at 1.21 million tonnes (0.93 mt a year ago), Senegal at 1.33 mt (1.09 mt), and Togo at 0.94 million tonnes (0.67 mt) were among the large African buyers. China reduced its rice purchases to 1.5 mt (1.63 mt), while Bangladesh almost halved it to 0.84 mt (1.62 mt) whereas Nepal also reduced the offtake sharply at 0.76 mt (1.38 mt) and Vietnam at 0.64 mt (0.70 mt) during the year. India gained market share from Pakistan, which had a bad crop last year.

 

'We expect to maintain the same figures both in value and volumes this year as there is strong demand for Indian rice,' said BV Krishna Rao, President, The Rice Exporters Association, commenting on the export outlook. There is no other country that can replace India as a rice supplier, he said. India accounts for about 45 per cent of the global rice trade.

 

Despite the levy of a 20 per cent duty last year, the demand for Indian rice is intact. 'With shipments of 22 million tonnes in 2021–22, we clocked $10 billion, and last year we clocked over $11 billion with almost the same volumes. The higher value is because of the duty,' Rao said.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) should look at the issue of farm subsidies with an open mind as it impacts the food security needs of emerging economies in the backdrop of Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Governor's seminar on 'Policies to support Asia's rebound', Sitharaman said sooner a solution is found out by the WTO, the better it would be for the world.

 

'Since WTO was founded, there has been a grievance with respect to the export of agricultural products and generally in trade, the voice of the Global South and emerging markets has not been heard at par with that of the developed countries,' she said.

 

The 'Global South' largely refers to countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

 

Subsidies for agriculture and poor farmers in developing countries were not counted at all and were frozen, she said, adding that in context of Covid and Russia-Ukraine war, food and fertilizer security have become important.

 

'We will all have to talk again (about food and fertiliser security) at the WTO with an open mind,' the minister said.

 

'There is better food security in the developed world compared to developing countries. Trade agreements have come about in a lopsided way, for which solutions have to be found,' Sitharaman said.

 

Under global trade norms, a WTO member country's food subsidy bill should not breach the limit of 10 per cent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88.

 

As part of permanent solution, India has asked for measures like amendments in the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap and inclusion of programmes implemented after 2013 under the ambit of 'Peace Clause'.

 

As an interim measure, the WTO members at the Bali ministerial meeting in December 2013 had agreed to put in place a mechanism popularly called 'Peace Clause' and committed to negotiating an agreement for a permanent solution.

 

Under Peace Clause, WTO members agreed to refrain from challenging any breach in prescribed ceiling by a developing nation at the dispute settlement forum of the WTO.

 

This clause will stay till a permanent solution is found to the food stockpiling issue.