India and Nepal agreed on Monday to further bolster their economic and development cooperation as Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra met his Nepalese counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal and had a fruitful exchange on strengthening the comprehensive bilateral relations. Foreign Secretary Kwatra arrived here on a two-day official visit to hold talks with the country's top political leadership on the entire range of multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

 

'Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra met his counterpart Mr Bharat Raj Paudyal and reviewed the wide-ranging India-Nepal partnership,' the Indian embassy here tweeted.

 

'Both sides agreed to further strengthen their economic and development cooperation for benefit of the two countries and region as a whole,' it said.

 

Later, Kwatra called on Foreign Minister of Nepal Bimala Rai Paudyal and had a fruitful exchange on strengthening the comprehensive India-Nepal relations.

 

'Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra called on Hon'ble Foreign Minister of Nepal @bimalarp today and had a fruitful exchange on strengthening the comprehensive India-Nepal relations,' the mission tweeted.

 

During his visit, Kwatra, who was earlier India's ambassador here, will pay courtesy calls to Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Foreign Minister Paudyal.

 

It is expected that Kwatra will also discuss with his Nepalese interlocutors the possibility of a visit to India by Nepal's Prime Minister Prachanda. Prachanda has said that he will travel to India on his first foreign visit.

 

Nepal and India will discuss various matters of bilateral cooperation such as connectivity, power trade, agriculture, health and culture among others during the foreign secretary's visit, according to a statement issued by Nepal's foreign ministry here on Sunday.

 

'The visit is in continuation of the regular exchange of visits between the two friendly neighbours,' it said.

 

Earlier, Kwatra was received at Tribhuvan International Airport by his Nepalese counterpart Paudyal upon arrival.

 

He had a one-to-one meeting with Paudyal before the delegation level meeting started.

 

Seven members each from Nepal and India took part in the Foreign Secretary level bilateral meeting. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava was among the members of the Indian delegation while Joint Secretary and spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry Sewa Lamsal was among the members of the Nepalese delegation.

 

This is the first high-level visit from India after Prime Minister Prachanda assumed office for the third time in December.

 

Kwatra is also expected to meet Nepal's top political leaders, including Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli.

 

'The visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and the priority India attaches to its relations with Nepal under its 'Neighbourhood First' policy,' the Ministry of External Affairs has said.

 

India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy is an integral component of Indian foreign policy. The policy seeks to build cordial and synergetic relations with India's South Asian neighbours in various areas such as economy, science and technology, research and education, among others.

 

Valentine’s Day rose exports from Hosur has drastically reduced with just about one-third of the usual quantum of flowers exported this season. The fall in the exports is attributed to the reduced quality in production due to downy mildew disease and also the introduction of IGST on air freight making it uncompetitive in the international market, says exporters.

 

The reasons for fall in exports, however, have varied between small and medium scale farmers, who have mostly stuck to the domestic market this year due to low export quality and decent domestic prices and large contract farmers, whose exports had shrunk despite orders due to the high IGST on air cargo.

 

The heavy rainfall in October and November had afflicted many green houses and open farms with downy mildew disease. Unlike other pest attacks, where crop recovery is seen within a fortnight, recovery from downy mildew takes close to two months. This has hurt the quality production necessary for the export market, says Bala Siva Prasad, president, Hosur Small Farmers Association, and member of Flower Council of India.

 

Hosur has seen its Valentine’s Day flower exports touching 80 lakh stems in 2014-15, says Mr. Prasad. In 2015-16, the season saw exports of 60 lakh stems. However this year, only 18 lakh to 20 lakh stems were exported between February 4 and 10 – that six-day window for exports to meet the date on Valentine’s Day - cutting the exports to just one -third.

 

Cumulatively, there has been a 35% drop in quality production, according to the Hosur Small Farmers Association. This fall in the quality of production, combined with other factors have jointly undercut flower exports.

 

On the other hand, the price per stem in the domestic market as of Friday was between Rs.14 to Rs.20 while the export price per stem was Rs.20 to Rs.22. Given this less than optimal price difference between domestic and exports, in addition to the affiliated costs of exports that come with premium, labour and freight costs together have made it uncompetitive for small and medium farmers to pursue exports this Valentine season.

 

Usually, medium scale green houses source flowers from small farmers to push up their exports.

 

The pinch of low exports, however, is not too hard for the small and medium scale farmers, who are usually part of the export chain for the Valentine’s Day season. That is because of a good domestic demand that has been very high since January 20, the start of Valarpiram muhurtams that coincided in the three States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, bringing in surplus demand and fetched good prices, says Mr. Prasad.

 

Mr. Prasad, who exports 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh stems every year has not exported this year.

 

Different scales, different takes

 

For large-scale contract farmers, the rainfall and the accompanying disease were not damaging due to a good rainwater harvesting infrastructure in high-end green houses of contract farms.

 

But, it was the government’s IGST on air freight that slammed the hammer on their capacity to export, says Sridhar Chowdary, Managing Director, Suvarna Flora, which had exported over 6 lakh stems.

 

'The IGST on air freight was introduced last October with 18%. We kept getting enquiries, but could not transform them into orders because of the exhorbitant tax,' says Mr. Chowdary. ' About 20% to 30% of orders were not met for this reason, he says.

 

But across the various scales of farming, there are a range of issues that need to be addressed. Hosur produces only Taj Mahal variety of Red Rose, while African flowers especially from Ethiopia and Kenya are of high quality and quantity, offering competitive prices helped by low freight charges for the international market.

 

'We are unable to match the quality of African flowers and the new varieties by other countries. We need to focus on R&D in order to produce new varieties,' says Mr. Prasad, who is also member of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

 

The rise in input costs by 150% is also having a cascading effect on over production and exports, according to him. 

 

According to Mr. Chowdary, the National Horticulture Board’s limitation of one-time subsidy for farmers is a big hurdle for expansion of greenhouses. China is adding more greenhouses to its production, while we limit subsidy to one-time limiting expansion of greenhouse, which is necessary to increase production, he says.

Norway's Trade and Investment Minister Jan Christian Vestre has stated that his country fully supports India's efforts in promoting multilateralism and a rules-based trade system. The minister praised the Indian government's leadership at the G-20 and highlighted the importance of continuing the process of globalization.

 

'That's an initiative our government supports 100 per cent and we also appreciate your leadership at G-20 and that you are so focussed on multilateralism and that we need rules-based trade system,' Vestre said in an interviewI.

 

The Norwegian minister, who was here on a two-day visit to India last week, said that some countries are turning away from the path of globalization.

 

'We see now that some countries are turning in different directions but it is very important now that we continue this process of globalization-free trade, sharing is caring and that will be beneficial for all of us so all the initiatives from the Indian side that can promote this approach to how should we organize our world will have full support from Norwegian side,' the minister emphasised.

 

He spoke highly of the 2nd India-Nordic summit which held last year, calling it a great success. He expressed pride in the joint statement made by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the five Nordic prime ministers, which he sees as a testament to the strong ties between the two regions.

 

'We really hope we can gather the prime ministers again, hopefully, next time in Norway, because another thing we will follow up on right now,' he added.

 

The minister stated that he feels that the ties have 'never been stronger than now' and there is a huge momentum driving them forward with 'more close cooperation' in various areas, including the maritime industry, hydrogen, renewable energy, batteries, rare earth minerals, technologies, and innovations.

 

Trade between India and Norway has doubled in the last three years, and the minister stated that there is huge potential for even more cooperation in the years to come.

 

'It is very important to connect companies from India with firms from Norway so that they can work more closely together, exploring new technologies, do common projects and there is a need to increase common investment. And there are a lot of things we can share such as competence, knowledge, and experience,' he underlined.

 

India and Norway have decided to follow up on their initiatives in the areas of fuel cell technologies, green ammonia, hydrogen, and charging infrastructure with 'specific action plans,' with the aim of translating their discussions into tangible actions.

The 2nd Indian Rice Congress-2023 was inaugurated in Cuttack today by the President Smt. Draupadi Murmu in the presence of Odisha Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Odisha Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resource Development, Shri Ranendra Pratap Swain. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that rice is the basis of food security in India and also a major factor for our economy.

 

Addressing the grand ceremony at the National Rice Research Institute, the President Smt. Murmu said that today India is the leading consumer and exporter of rice, for which a lot of credit goes to this institute, but when the country became independent, the situation was different. In those days we were unable to meet our food requirements and were dependent upon imports to fulfill our needs. The President said that as irrigation facilities expanded in the last century, rice was grown in new places and found new consumers. Paddy crop requires large amounts of water, but many parts of the world are facing severe water scarcity due to climate change. Droughts, floods, cyclones are more frequent now, making rice cultivation more vulnerable. He said that even though rice is being grown on new land, there are places where traditional varieties are facing challenges. Today we have to find a middle way, on the one hand we have to preserve the traditional varieties and on the other, maintain the ecological balance. There is also the challenge of saving the soil from excessive use of chemical fertilizers, we need to reduce the dependence on such fertilizers to keep the soil healthy. He expressed confidence that scientists are working to develop ecofriendly rice production systems.

 

The President said that rice is the basis of our food security, so its nutritional aspects should also be considered. A large section of low-income groups depend on rice, which is often their only source of daily nutrition, so providing protein, vitamins and essential micronutrients through rice can help combat malnutrition. On the development of country's first high protein rice by NRRI, she said that development of such bio-fortified varieties is ideal and expressed confidence that the scientific community of the country will be able to meet the challenge.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Shri Tomar said that India is an agricultural country, so the government tries to give priority to agriculture. Agriculture sector has made a lot of progress as the hard work of our farmers is supplemented by the scientific research. We are not only self-sufficient in terms of food grains, but also among one of the countries which help the world, which is a matter of pride for us. It is the resolve of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi that no child or person in the country remains malnourished. To solve the problem of malnutrition, biofortified rice varieties should be produced to increase nutritional value; taking steps in this direction, the institute has developed varieties namely CR 310, 311 and 315. This institute has developed 160 varieties of rice. Shri Tomar said that while starting a pilot project, provision has been made in the budget for biofortified rice to be supplied in the PDS. He said that the rice production in the country was only 89 million tonnes in 2010, which has increased by 46 percent to 130MT in 2022, with the efforts of farmers and scientists. India is the second largest producer of rice and we are at Number One in exports.

 

Shri Tomar said that the Prime Minister, in the last 8-and-a-half years, under the supervision of the President, has taken initiatives to compensate the farmers for the crop loss, so he has given a security cover like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, while under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, 11.5 crore farmers have been given Rs. 2.24 Lakh Crore by depositing money in their accounts in an effort to aid their incomes. The use of technology is very important in agriculture to reduce costs, increase production and solve challenges like water scarcity, for this budget provision has been made for attracting technology and private investment in the agriculture sector. The Government of India is working with the States on the Digital Agriculture Mission, for which Rs 450 crore has been allocated in the budget. There are 86 percent small farmers in the country, for their welfare the Prime Minister has increased the short term loans to Rs 20 lakh crore from Rs.6-7 lakh crores in 2014, so that the small farmers do not get buried under loans from moneylenders, This has definitely empowered the farmers.It is the effort of the Government of India to attract private investment in the field of agriculture, for which Rs 1 lakh crore has been allocated towards the Agri Infra Fund and another Rs. 1.5 lakh crore provision made for agriculture and allied sector. This has opened the doors of private investment and efforts are being made to provide necessary infrastructure to the villages. Loans worth Rs. 16,000 crore have been approved so far for projects in the Agri Infra Fund, which is going to benefit the agriculture of our country. It is our endeavour that this Rs. 1 lakh crore reaches the ground as soon as possible, in this effort we moved forward in converting agriculture into an advanced and remunerative avenue by including private investment in it. He expressed the hope that a better roadmap regarding rice cultivation will be prepared in this Congress.

 

Odisha Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal said that rice is the staple food of the people of our country and it is deeply embedded in our culture and tradition. Referring to the story of Lord Krishna and Sudama from mythology, he said that rice can solve the issue of food security. He underlined the importance of rice as the staple food of many people. Odisha's Agriculture Minister Shri Swain said that Odisha is not only self-sufficient in rice production, but also supplies rice to 6 other states. There is a lot of scope for increasing rice production in eastern states like Odisha.

 

In the inauguration ceremony, Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE and Director General of ICAR, Dr. P.K. Aggarwal, President of the Association of Rice Research Workers, Dr. A.K. Nayak, Director of the Institute and Organizing Secretary Dr. S. Saha were present. Farmers, scientists from India and abroad, officers of central and state agriculture and other departments are participating in the four-day Congress. Books were also released on this occasion.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 130 million (over Rs 1,072 crore) loan to increase agricultural productivity and promote horticulture agribusinesses to raise farmers' income in Himachal Pradesh. More than half of Himachal Pradesh's land area is in the mountains and 90 per cent of the population lives in rural areas who are dependent on agriculture, said ADB Senior Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist for South Asia Sunae Kim.

 

'Improving subtropical horticulture in the state offers a lot of economic opportunities to farmer households. Supporting horticulture value chains will also boost the subsector's contribution to the country's development and food security,' Kim said.

 

The Himachal Pradesh Subtropical Horticulture, Irrigation, and Value Addition Project will help increase the income and resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una.

 

The project will improve on-farm irrigation and water management in about 6,000 hectares (ha) of farmland by rehabilitating and constructing new irrigation facilities, establishing new water sources, and strengthening the capacity of water user associations and of Jal Shakti Vibhag (Water Resources Department).

 

Farmers will be organised into cluster-wide Community Horticulture Production and Marketing Associations (CHPMAs) and district-wide CHPMA cooperative societies.

 

They will be introduced to other agricultural practices such as intercropping, beekeeping, and other modern agronomic techniques and skills, it said, adding, a Farmer Producer Company (FPC) will be created at the state-level to lead agribusiness development with the aim of ensuring profitability and access to markets of subtropical horticulture.

 

The FPC will handle business plan development; agribusiness promotion; and designing value-addition facilities such as sorting and packaging facilities, and storage and collection centres.

 

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members - 49 from the region, it added.

Norway's Trade and Investment Minister Jan Christian Vestre has stated that his country fully supports India's efforts in promoting multilateralism and a rules-based trade system. The minister praised the Indian government's leadership at the G-20 and highlighted the importance of continuing the process of globalization.

 

'That's an initiative our government supports 100 per cent and we also appreciate your leadership at G-20 and that you are so focussed on multilateralism and that we need rules-based trade system,' Vestre said in an interviewI.

 

The Norwegian minister, who was here on a two-day visit to India last week, said that some countries are turning away from the path of globalization.

 

'We see now that some countries are turning in different directions but it is very important now that we continue this process of globalization-free trade, sharing is caring and that will be beneficial for all of us so all the initiatives from the Indian side that can promote this approach to how should we organize our world will have full support from Norwegian side,' the minister emphasised.

 

He spoke highly of the 2nd India-Nordic summit which held last year, calling it a great success. He expressed pride in the joint statement made by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the five Nordic prime ministers, which he sees as a testament to the strong ties between the two regions.

 

'We really hope we can gather the prime ministers again, hopefully, next time in Norway, because another thing we will follow up on right now,' he added.

 

The minister stated that he feels that the ties have 'never been stronger than now' and there is a huge momentum driving them forward with 'more close cooperation' in various areas, including the maritime industry, hydrogen, renewable energy, batteries, rare earth minerals, technologies, and innovations.

 

Trade between India and Norway has doubled in the last three years, and the minister stated that there is huge potential for even more cooperation in the years to come.

 

'It is very important to connect companies from India with firms from Norway so that they can work more closely together, exploring new technologies, do common projects and there is a need to increase common investment. And there are a lot of things we can share such as competence, knowledge, and experience,' he underlined.

 

India and Norway have decided to follow up on their initiatives in the areas of fuel cell technologies, green ammonia, hydrogen, and charging infrastructure with 'specific action plans,' with the aim of translating their discussions into tangible actions.

The government on Saturday said popularisation of millets in the country will lead to increase in the income of small and marginal farmers and urged international organisations, academia and hotel industry to revive the forgotten glory of 'miracle millets'.

 

The year 2023 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of the Millet, following a proposal by India, which wants to position itself as a global hub for millets. Several initiatives are being undertaken in this regard.

 

Addressing 9th International Chefs Conference organised by the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations here, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said millets are considered traditional food for more than half a billion people across Asia and Africa.

 

In India, millets are primarily a kharif crop, requiring less water and agricultural inputs than other similar staples.

 

'Millets are important by virtue of its mammoth potential to generate livelihoods, increase farmers' income and ensure food and nutritional security all over the world,' he said in a statement.

 

The minister also urged international organizations, academia, hotels, media, Indian diaspora, start-up communities, civil society, and all others in the millets value-chain to come forward and join hands to revive the forgotten glory of 'Miracle Millets' through a collaborative approach.

 

Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja said, 'With the popularization of millets in the country, it will lead to an increase in incomes of small and Marginal farmers.'

 

Taking note of the high agricultural growth over the past few years and its robust contribution in overall GDP, he said the government is ready to take all steps to make the sector the most modern one through adoption of new and emerging technologies.

 

The government prioritised millets recognizing its enormous potential, which also aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

The global millets market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.5 per cent between 2021-2026, the statement said.

India’s basmati rice exports surged by 17% in volume during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (ended Dec. 21, 2022), while exporters are earning at least 20% more on average in overseas markets as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE together bought half of India’s total shipments of the aromatic rice. 

 

According to the latest data from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, the shipment of basmati rice increased to 3.2 million tons in April–December 2022 from 2.74 million tons in the year-ago period. However, in terms of value, the surge was 40% to $3.34 billion from $2.38 billion. 

 

Due to the depreciation of rupee, the growth is even higher – 50.5% - in Indian currency, at 26,591 crore rupees against 17,664 crore rupees. In fact, export realization in basmati rice increased to $1,044 per ton this fiscal from $868 per ton a year ago.

 

Prices did not increase from the average received ($1,057) in April-September, contrary to what was expected. Though traders and exporters paid record-high prices for basmati rice this year and anticipated a huge jump, it is a win-win for all stakeholders — farmers, exporters and consumers.

 

Recalling the 2013-14 price spiral in basmati, an industry source said exports may not rise that high over the next two months as contracts are happening at an average of $1,100-1,200/ton, though some are getting premiums and selling at $1,350 for limited quantities. 

 

In the fiscal 2013–14, India exported 3.76 million tons of basmati rice worth $4.87 billion, a record high in value terms, realizing an average of $1,295 per ton. 

 

'That was an exceptional year as Iran had bought nearly 1.5 million tons of basmati from India whereas the traditional top buyer Saudi Arabia imported around 0.8 million tons,' said an industry veteran who has been tracking basmati prices for the last two decades. 

The Government has taken several proactive steps to promote the GI tagged products in the global market, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash said in reply to a parliamentary question today.

 

The Directorate General of foreign Trade (DGFT) is the agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, responsible for execution of the import and export Policies of India with the main objective of promoting India's exports. DGFT plays a very important role in the development of trading relations with various other nations.

 

Further, the Government has established various Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) to  cater to the speci?c requirements of di?erent export products and thus, to help and assist Indian exporters by providing access to international markets, promoting Indian products through various activities and increasing the overall exports from India. The councils are formed as non-pro?t organizations under the Companies Act / Societies Registration Act. In addition to these councils, some export industries have Commodity Boards and Export Development Authorities which were set up through special Acts passed in the Parliament.

 

FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations) is the apex trade promotion organisation in the country, which was set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the private trade and industry segment. The organisation is responsible for representing and assisting Indian entrepreneurs and exporters in foreign markets. It acts as the crucial interface between Indian exporters, Central Government, State Governments, ?nancial institutions, ports, railways, surface transport and other concerned stakeholders.

 

Among the products promoted through these export promotion organisations, there are some categories for which GI tag has been granted. List of these export promotion organisations including EPC, commodity boards, export development authorities is enclosed at Annexure-I.

 

Some of the initiatives taken by Government to promote the GI tag products in the global market are as under:

 

APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) has taken initiative to promote products having registered geographical indications (GI) in India by organizing Virtual Buyer Seller Meets     on Agricultural and Food products GI with UAE, USA and Qatar in association  with the Indian Missions.

APEDA organized GI Mango Promotion Programme and Tasting Event in Belgium in association with Embassy of India, Brussels on 17th June, 2022. APEDA also facilitated GI Mango promotion Programme at Copenhagen  Denmark in association with Embassy of India at Copenhagen.

APEDA facilitated export of GI Products to di?erent destinations. Notable shipments of GI products in 2021 included export of Naga Mircha (King Chilli) from Nagaland to UK, Black Rice from Manipur to the United Kingdom, Assam Lemon to the United Kingdom and Italy, three GI varieties of Mango (Fazli, Khirsapati, and Laxmanbhog) from West Bengal and one GI variety of Mango (Zardalu) from Bihar to Bahrain and Qatar.

APEDA organized in-store promotional programmes in importing countries in association with foreign retailers to enhance exports.

DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) organized the 'India Geographical Indications (GI) Fair 2022' from 26th - 28th August, 2022 through Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, to promote GI products in India and abroad.

DPIIT recently set up a pavillion for GI products in India International Trade Fair (IITF), Delhi from November 14th to 27th, 2022.

DPIIT organized various GI Promotion Programmes/Exhibitions/ Conferences/ Buyer Seller Meets/ Workshops with focus on GI Products to boost its sale in India as well abroad.

 

List of some of the export promotion organisations in the country which includes products that have got GI tag, is as under:

 

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority

Apparel Export Promotion Council

Carpet Export Promotion Council

Cashew Export Promotion Council of India

Coffee Board

Coir Board

Council for Leather Exports

Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts

Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council

Handloom Export Promotion Council

Indian Silk Export Promotion Council

Jute Products Development & Export Promotion Council

Rubber Board

Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council

Spices Board

The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council

Tea Board

Handicrafts Business Promotion