The second day of G20 MACS (Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists) witnessed deliberations on 'digital agriculture and sustainable agri value chain' and 'public-private partnership in agricultural research' between delegations of India and France, in Varanasi on Tuesday.

 

According to an official communiqué, one of the sessions discussed India’s Millets and Other Ancient Grains International Research Initiative (MAHARISHI) initiative. Representatives from the G20 countries and international organisations supported the initiative by stating that international research cooperation was pivotal for the promotion and adoption of millets.

 

Dr Himanshu Pathak, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, and Philippe Mauguin, chair and CEO of France’s INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) led their respective delegations in the bilateral meeting between India and France.

 

Both countries expressed keen interest in cooperation in the areas of climate change, crop diversification, soil and water conservation, natural farming, and biofortified crops.

 

The discussion on 'digital agriculture' was led by Dr. Pathak.

 

Earlier, in a bilateral meeting with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr Pathak emphasised that the extension service through Krishi Vigyan Kendras to farmers would be a key area for cooperation.

 

FAO’s Dr. Ishmahane Elouafi (chief scientist) and Dr Selvaraju Ramasamy (senior agriculture officer) recognized India’s strength in the seed sector.

 

The delegates also visited Saranath to witness a light and sound show in the evening. About 80 foreign delegates from G20 member states, international organizations and special Invitees are participating in the meeting.

 

Public-private alliance can strengthen agri sector: Expert

 

'Public-private partnerships have emerged as an effective way to address the challenges in agriculture. These partnerships can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research and development by combining the strengths and resources of both the sectors,' observed Dr Jean Balié, the director general, of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines.

 

Dr Balie was speaking at a session during the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi on the second day of the three-day event on Tuesday. The meeting discussed the conditions, gaps, best practices, and opportunities for effective public-private partnerships in agricultural research and development.

 

Dr Balié drew the guests’ attention to IRRI’s efforts and experiences in generating innovations and accelerating impact.

 

'Private sector involvement can provide the necessary funding and expertise to develop, commercialise, and scale new technologies and innovations. Moreover, partnerships can promote knowledge sharing and capacity building, thus enhancing the overall productivity and sustainability of the agricultural sector,' he added.

 

IRRI works toward finding solutions for the world’s biggest challenges and contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

India has proposed an institutional mechanism at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to keep a check on actions taken on decisions in favour of developing countries and ensure that the development issues are not lost sight of.

 

In a submission, New Delhi said that the WTO's key committee responsible for work on development and issues relating to the trade of developing countries, is unable to deliver on its mandate.

 

As per the submission, a lack of institutional mechanism, within the WTO, as regards the continuous review by the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) of participation of developing country members is impeding it from acting as a focal point for development, as envisaged.

 

'As a result, CTD is not able to deliver on its overarching mandate of focal point on development,' India said.

 

It proposed an institutional mechanism for sharing of information by other WTO bodies on development related work to CTD, and co-ordination between the CTD and other committees.

 

Besides continuously reviewing participation of developing members in multilateral trading system, the CTD should highlight challenges, measures and initiatives and report regularly to the General Council in a structured manner on the development function for appropriate action.

 

India also told the WTO General Council last month that such a move would make sure there is a proper repository of development discussions in the WTO at a single place and CTD acts as a catalyst for ensuring discussion.

 

However, it clarified that such a mechanism will not usurp upon the powers of any of the bodies of WTO but only consult and coordinate, ensure that the discussions on the issues would continue to happen in relevant bodies and be the custodian of some of the information which can work as institutional memory.

The Department of Fruit Science, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi, for enhancing the production potential of commercial grape varieties suitable for export.

 

As per the MoU signed on Monday, APEDA will provide a grant-in-aid of ?97 lakh to establish research and development activities. Vice-CHancellor V. Geethalakshmi said the MoU would pave the way for the university and APEDA to work together in areas of mutual interest.

 

The MoU documents were exchanged between R. TamizhVendan, Registrar, TNAU, and Shobana Kumar, Assistant General Manager, APEDA, Chennai, in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor, and R. Ravindra, General Manager, APEDA, Bengaluru.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of UN has recognized India’s strength in the seed sector which it would be useful to other countries, said a statement from the union agriculture ministry.

 

Earlier in the morning, a bilateral meeting was conducted with FAO. Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR), Himanshu Pathak, who is also the MACS Chair, led the discussions and emphasized that the extension service through KVK to farmers would be a very important area of cooperation. 

 

FAO representatives also expressed keen interest in extending cooperation in extension service. 

 

'Ishmahane Elouafi, Chief Scientist, FAO, and Selvaraju Ramasamy, Senior Agriculture Officer, FAO participated in the meeting. They recognized India’s strength in the seed sector, which will be very useful to other countries,' the ministry said.

 

Later in the evening the delegates visited the archaeological site and ASI Museum at Sarnath and witnessed the light and sound show.

 

The three-day G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) with the theme, 'Sustainable Agriculture and Food System for Healthy People and Planet' is underway at Varanasi. The Meeting was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and Road Transport and Highways, General (Dr.) V K Singh (Retd) yesterday.

 

A session was conducted to discuss India’s initiative on Millets and Other Ancient Grains International Research Initiative (MAHARISHI). The representatives of G20 Nations, invited countries and International Organisations supported the MAHARISHI Initiative and expressed that millets being climate a smart crop and super health food, the International Research cooperation is pivotal for its promotion and adoption.

 

Himanshu Pathak and Philippe Mauguin, Chair & CEO, INRAE - National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (France) led their respective delegation in the bilateral meeting between India and France.

 

Both countries expressed keen interest in cooperation in the areas of climate change, crop diversification, soil & water conservation, natural farming and biofortified crops.

 

Last evening the delegates experienced Ganga Arati on a river cruise through the Ganges followed by an exhilarating cultural programme.

 

About 80 foreign delegates from the G20 member states, invited guest countries, international organizations and special invitees by India are participating in the three day meeting.

 

On the concluding day on 19 April, 2023 discussion on MACS Communique will continue.

India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement (FTA), Russian deputy Prime Minister Denis Valentinovich Manturov said on Monday. The move is seen further boosting bilateral trade ties after New Delhi’s sharp increase in crude imports from Moscow since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

 

Russia’s share in India’s crude oil import basket rose to a record 28% in January compared with a mere 0.2% before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

 

As a result, India’s imports from Russia more than quadrupled to around $46 billion in FY23.

 

'We pay special attention to the issues of mutual access of production to the markets of our countries,' Manturov, who is also Russia’s trade minister, said at an event in New Delhi. 'Together with the Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on a free trade agreement with India.'

 

Foreign minister S Jaishankar said the Covid pandemic had disrupted discussions on an FTA between India and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, and that he hoped 'our colleagues will pick up on this because we do believe it will make a real difference to our trade relationship'.

 

Jaishankar said payments, logistics and certification are some of the key areas, and it is possible to find solutions to them.

 

In his address at the India-Russia Business Dialogue, Jaishankar said, 'We are discussing the importance of connectivity and the north-south and maritime corridors have been considered. There is also discussion on payment issues like international trade settlement in Indian rupee.'

 

Manturov also said Russia would consider widening the use of 'national currencies and currencies of friendly countries'. India has been keen on increasing the use of rupee for trade with Russia.

 

Manturov said road construction material and equipment and chemicals and pharmaceutical products were in demand in Russia, and 'I am sure that this will create opportunities for Indian companies to increase their supplies to Russia'.

 

Trade ties between India and Russia are on an upswing notwithstanding the increasing disquiet from Western powers over the Ukraine war.

 

By importing fuel, India chose to protect it’s citizens from hardening global commodity prices.

 

New Delhi is also currently engaged in FTA discussions with the UK and the European Union, among others.

 

Russia’s efforts to improve trade with India form part of its strategy to help evade the impact of Western sanctions by boosting commerce with Asian giants, including China.

 

On February 25, the two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads of the G20 countries concluded in Bengaluru without producing a joint communique, given the irreconcilable differences between the G7 segment of the grouping and Russia-China on how to describe the one-year-old Ukraine conflict. The G7 insisted on unequivocal condemnation of Russia for invasion of its neighbour, while Russia, with support from China, wouldn’t budge and demanded that it be called 'a special military operation'. As the chair, India had sought a consensus and suggested the word 'war' could be dropped.

South Korea’s state-backed Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. has issued an international tender to purchase an estimated 43,500 tonnes of rice, European traders said on Monday.

 

It should be sourced from Thailand and Vietnam, they said.

 

The tender seeks non-glutinous brown long grain rice and short grain rice in a series of consignments for arrival in South Korea in 2023 between July 1 and Sept. 30, they said.

 

The deadline for submissions of price offers in the tender is April 25.

The Indian government, on Tuesday, said it estimates maize output to increase by 10 million tonnes (mt) over the next five years if the growing demand for ethanol production and poultry industry has to be met.

 

Inaugurating India Maize Summit, organised by FICCI, Union Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja stressed the need to cut down losses in the entire value chain of maize in a systematic manner.

 

'Currently, maize production is in the range of 33-34 mt. We need a quantity jump in maize to 44-45 mt in the next five years in order to meet the rising demand for ethanol and the poultry industry,' Ahuja said. As the potential is high to achieve the target, making better seed availability, providing storage and marketing linkages, public and private partnerships should be the focus when agriculture is threatened by climate change impact, he said.

 

As per the second advance estimates, maize production in 2022-23 crop year (July-June) is estimated at a record 34.61 mt against 33.73 mt the previous year. But, a YES Bank-FICCI report released on the occasion said the production will likely fall (from the current level) to 34.21 mt in 2026 and marginally improve to 37.02 mt in 2031.

 

Support for value chain

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar said the State government is ready to support private players that are keen to invest in the value chain of maize, especially ethanol. 'If companies are keen to invest in the maize value chain, we are ready to support as this will empower our farmers,' he said.

 

The sugar sector, in the last season, contributed over 80 per cent of ethanol supplied to oil marketing companies (OMCs) under the ethanol-blending programme, while the remaining 20 per cent came from grain-based plants. Many grain-based plants use rice as their feedstock as it is cheaper than maize. The government provides rice for ethanol at subsidised rate of Rs.20/kg.

 

Currently, the country has the total capacity to produce 1,082 crore litres of ethanol per annum, out of which 723 crore litres (67 per cent) are installed by sugar mills and others to be produced from molasses and 359 crore litres (33 per cent) from grain-based plants. Some sugar mills have dual-feed ethanol plants, which allow them to shift to grains in case there is lower availability of sugarcane.

 

Sattar said Maharashtra has the second highest number of sugar mills in the country after UP, and maize can be used for ethanol making in the State as this would enhance the income of the farmers, he said. Further, he said private companies are welcome to set up warehouses in Maharashtra as maize growers would be benefitted by keeping their stocks to sell at the appropriate time when prices improve.

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov on Tuesday explored measures to push increase trade turnover which recorded unprecedented growth and touched 45 billion USD.

 

'Trade turnover between Russia & India exceeded 35 bn USD,' stated Russian Deputy PM & Minister of Industry & Trade, Co-Chairman of Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical & Cultural Cooperation during his meeting with Jaishankar here on Tuesday. According to Jaishankar for the period April, 2022 - February, 2023, the trade is actually about USD 45 billion and the expectation is that this will continue to grow.

 

During the meeting the two sides discussed cooperation in the areas of trade, finance, industry, energy sector, including nuclear power, agriculture, transport, healthcare, education & culture.

 

Manturov also met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman whom he knows since her days as Defence and Commerce Minister. The Russian Deputy PM also met Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the two focussed on collaboration in shipbuilding, metallurgy and railways. Russia is assisting India to create 120 Bande Bharat trains.

 

Earlier on Monday Manturov and Jaishankar met with representatives of the Russian and Indian businesses at a closed door business Forum.

 

The business forum participants had discussed issues of further enhancement of the Russian-Indian practical cooperation, including within the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC).

 

He also spoke about the measures taken to strengthen Russia's technological sovereignty.

 

Indian business representatives got acquainted with a new measure of support — a cluster investment platform, which can be applied in joint projects. It provides soft loans for the development and manufacturing of priority products, subsidies for pilot batches, preferences for insurance premiums and income tax.

 

Manturov noted that there is no goal to completely replace everything. 'We will rely on trusted foreign partners. We will make every effort to expand our cooperation ties. To exchange competence and experience in the most promising technological areas,' he stressed.

 

During the Forum on Monday, Jaishankar noted, 'I would like our Russian friends to appreciate that you can see there are big changes which are going on. There is a "Make in India" initiative which is aimed at promoting greater manufacturing capacities. And we are determined to make India a major global manufacturing hub. …And I think it should be of interest definitely to our Russian friends,' Jaishankar said, adding, 'I also want to specially emphasize the opportunities for joint projects in the "Make in India – Make for the World' format. And Russia is known for its technology strengths; and India today is focussing on production scaling and product distribution. So, even our traditional areas infact could benefit from this, but clearly there are third country market implications here, which our companies should be looking at.'

 

He went on to add, 'Our partnership today is a subject of attention and comment, not because it has changed, but because it has not. Indeed, it has been among the steadiest of the major relationships of the world in the contemporary era. But that by itself is not enough. We share a commitment to a multi-polar world. And that also means a multi-polar Asia. Russia is today looking much more towards Asia, a reassessment from its traditional focus. For India, this could mean a broadening out of our engagement that was overly reliant on the triad of military, nuclear and space cooperation. For Russia also, it presents a broader set of options.'

Russia's Gazprombank has expanded its links with banks in India to expedite trade between the two countries in national currencies, a key executive told Reuters on Monday, as Russia this year has become the biggest supplier of oil to India.

 

Trade between India and Russia has surged since the West imposed sanctions against Russia for its invasion last year of Ukraine, which has altered flows of oil and other goods.

 

'We worked hard to establish our level of partnership with Indian banks and our representatives here worked hard,' Elena Borisenko, deputy chairman of the board of management of Gazprombank, told Reuters on the sidelines of an India-Russia business dialogue event in New Delhi on Monday.

 

'Now we have infrastructure, we have payments from banks ... it is much better than it was three months ago,' she added.

 

Gazprombank is Russia's third-largest lender by assets and a key conduit of the Russian energy trade.

 

Due to higher purchases of oil, the trade balance is tilted increasingly in favour of Russia. That balance could be improved through Russian companies investing in infrastructure projects in India, Borisenko said.

 

'We are hoping that it (trade) will be better, it will be improving, and ... payments between Russia and Indian will be more and more in national currencies,' the executive said.

 

India last year implemented a broader framework to facilitate overseas trade in rupees and since then many foreign banks, including Gazprombank and other Russian institutions, have opened vostro accounts with Indian banks.

Senior Officers from the Department of Consumer Affairs visited 10 various locations across four States to interact and observe stock disclosure status of Tur and Urad during past days.

 

In this regard, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Shri Rohit Kumar Singh took an internal meeting with these officers who visited major pulses markets and interacted with various market players. During the last week, apart from holding a meeting with All India Dal Mills Association at Indore by the Secretary, Government of India, on 15th April, 2023, the Department deputed 12 senior officers to visit various places in the States of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to take stock of ground reality.

 

The interactions with ground level market players and State officials revealed that while the number of registration and stock disclosure on the e-portal is increasing, substantial number of market players have either not registered or failed to update their stock positions on regular basis. It has been observed that stocks under transaction, like, farmer’s stocks lying in mandi for auction, stocks awaiting customs clearance at ports etc. escaped the current monitoring mechanism. Further, it has also been observed that millers and traders/dealers have resorted to holding their stocks in warehouses in the name of farmers in a deliberate attempt to escape stock declaration.

 

Senior officers of the Department visited various locations, namely,Indore, Chennai, Salem, Mumbai, Akola, Latur, Sholapur, Kalaburagi, Jabalpur and Katni and interacted with officers of the State Governments, millers, traders, importers and port authorities and conducted meeting with associations of millers, importers and traders. The market players were sensitized on the importance of stock declaration and have been asked to declare their stocks truthfully and regularly or else stringent action such as seizure and confiscation of undeclared stocks may be done by the State Government. 

 

The office bearers of Importers association informed that Traders from other States like Telengana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are also importing Tur Dal from Chennai Port and requested clarification about their reporting in the State of Importers or in the State of receiving the import to ensure no duplication of data.It was clarified that the stocks should be reported in the State where it is physically available/stocked.

 

The Department has already directed State Governments and District Administrations to intensify the enforcement of stock declaration by conducting stock verification and take strict action on undisclosed stocks under relevant sections of the EC Act, 1955 and the Prevention of Black marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980. States have also been asked to look into the data pertaining to FSSAI licences, APMC registration, GST registration, warehouses and custom bonded warehouses and encourage these entities also to report their declarations of stock in order to widen the coverage of market players.

 

To improve the stock disclosure data, the Department is making certain changes in the e-portal https://fcainfoweb.nic.in/psp/ such as, incorporating text boxes for providing warehouse in which stock is held, provision for dealer/commission agent/mandi trader to upload stock data of farmer lying in his shop yard for auctioning etc. Further, the Department has been in touch with Customs to take necessary action on importers who have deliberately delayed clearance of their consignments.

 

The Department affirms its intention to sustain the efforts on monitoring the stocks of Tur and Urad. In this regard, subsequent follow up visits are being planned in addition to the weekly review meetings taken by the Committee for Stock Monitoring under the chairmanship of Mrs. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.