In Jammu, the Director of Agriculture inaugurated the first harvest of the Himsona tomato variety, marking an important moment for horticulture in the region. This new variety is anticipated to revolutionize tomato cultivation, offering a higher yield and better resistance to diseases. The Director emphasized the importance of such innovations in enhancing the socio-economic status of farmers, stating, 'This initiative will go a long way in doubling the farmers' income by 2022.'

 

The Himsona tomato, developed through meticulous research and breeding, is adapted to the climatic conditions of Jammu, ensuring robust growth and productivity. The inaugural harvest event was not just a showcase of agricultural advancement but also a platform for disseminating knowledge among farmers. Experts provided insights on modern farming techniques and the significance of adopting high-yield, disease-resistant varieties for sustainable agriculture.

 

With agriculture being a key economic driver in the region, the introduction of the Himsona tomato variety is expected to open new avenues for export, further integrating Jammu's agricultural products into global markets. This initiative underscores the region's commitment to agricultural innovation and its potential to contribute significantly to India's agrarian economy.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is requesting $7.2 billion as part of the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 proposed budget. This funding will allow the agency to enhance food safety and nutrition, advance medical product safety, help support supply chain resiliency, strengthen the agency’s public-health and mission-support capacity, and modernise the FDA’s infrastructure and facilities. The request includes an increase of $495 million—or 7.4 percent above the FY 2023 funding level. The FDA’s request reflects the agency’s top priorities in key areas of importance for human and animal health.

 

Robert M. Califf, commissioner, FDA, said, 'The FDA continues to protect the health and well-being of millions of people. This new funding request will help us build on our accomplishments and also modernise our agency and operations as we plan for the future. Our request for critical investments will help us address our most urgent priorities, strengthen our public health capacity, advance IT capabilities, and improve agency-wide infrastructure. The budget will also support the FDA’s ability to prepare for, build resilience to, and respond to shortages, support the implementation of expanded cosmetics regulation, and protect and promote a safe, nutritious US food supply.'

 

The FY 2025 request, which covers the period from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025, includes new efforts for high-priority program areas. Highlights of the agency’s request include:

 

Enhancing Food Safety and Nutrition

$15 million to protect and promote a safe, nutritious US food supply. Funds for the FDA’s human foods initiatives will modernise the FDA’s capacity to prevent or mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks by investing in necessary tools and processes to strengthen root-cause investigations. The budget request also supports the FDA in addressing the enormous public health burden of diet-related chronic diseases and the goals of the President’s National Strategy for Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

 

Shortages and Supply Chain  

$12.3 million to address supply-chain disruptions and support supply chain resiliency. Through an agency-wide crosscutting initiative, the FDA will advance its capabilities to help prepare for, build resilience to, and respond to shortages through improved analytics and regulatory approaches. Amongst other initiatives, the agency will hire additional investigators to fulfil inspectional needs associated with increased supply-chain disruptions and consequent human food and medical product shortages in recent years. The agency will also continue promoting manufacturing quality across the pharmaceutical industry and developing and implementing modernised systems to respond to shortages more quickly.  

 

Bolstering Modernisation Efforts and Mission Support

$114.8 million to support public health employee workforce. This funding will help the FDA cover estimated inflationary pay costs and cost-of-living adjustments to minimise reductions to hiring capabilities and maintain the agency’s highly qualified, specialised staff crucial to carrying out its public health mission.    

 

$8 million in additional funds to support the implementation of the Modernisation of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA). The FDA will use the funding increase to further develop a modernised cosmetics regulatory program and enhance the agency’s efforts to protect consumers and help ensure the safety of cosmetic products. Funds will be used for activities such as developing regulations and compliance policies; managing submission platforms associated with MoCRA provisions; reviewing MoCRA-required information submitted to the FDA for industry compliance; and hiring additional subject matter experts to manage critical projects, such as the assessments of the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetic products.  

 

$2 million increase to support agency modernisation activities. The targeted investments will be used by the FDA to improve the efficiency of its operations by centralising planning, implementation, and governance of high-priority business process improvement efforts. These include the continuation of the critical inspection platform implementation and expansion effort to implement common business processes and data optimisation across the agency. The budget also proposes new 2-year spending authority to support these critical investments.

 

$8.3 million to modernise data infrastructure to best support agency operations. Funds will allow the agency to continue building the FDA’s centralised enterprise data-modernisation capabilities and strengthen its common data infrastructure. The budget also proposes new 2-year spending authority to support these critical investments.  

 

$1 million to expand foreign offices and strengthen imported products oversight. Funding will support the expansion of the agency’s foreign-office footprint, expanding agency resources to facilitate timely inspections of foreign facilities in specific countries. Additional deployed personnel would also improve oversight of imported products.

Global wheat production in 2024 is forecast to increase by 1% over the previous year but will fall short of the record output reached in 2022, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

 

The FAO noted that in the United States and Canada, two of the world’s largest wheat producers, plantings are down but anticipated yields are up due to improved weather conditions. The FAO pegs 2024 US wheat production at 51.5 million tonnes, which would be above the recent five-year average and last year’s total. Canada, meanwhile, is projected to harvest 33 million tonnes in 2024 despite a 2% contraction in wheat plantings.

 

Also contributing to the FAO’s projected global wheat output of 797 million tonnes are Russia, where a small increase is expected due to favorable weather conditions; China, where strong domestic demand and an increase in the minimum purchase price have supported expanded planted area is spurring an expected rise in production; and Pakistan, which is expected to increase production to 28.3 million tonnes in 2024.

 

India had been expected to produce a near record crop this year, but recent rainfall and hailstorms in key production areas just before harvest have tempered expectations for the country’s wheat harvest despite increased plantings.

 

With wheat planting having been disrupted by heavy rains in several of the European Union’s key wheat-producing countries, particularly France and Germany, output in the EU in 2024 is expected to fall slightly to 133 million tonnes, the FAO said, adding that a similar scenario is expected to play out in the United Kingdom.

India will have the option of temporarily withdrawing customs duty concessions on EFTA country goods under the trade agreement between the two sides, if the four European nation bloc would not fulfil its USD 100 billion investment obligations. Though the investments have to flow in 15 years -- USD 50 billion in the first 10 years (counted after implementation of the pact) and another USD 5 billion in next five years, the trade deal also provides for a three-year grace period to the EFTA bloc to meet the obligations, according to the documents accompanying the agreement.

 

India and four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) bloc signed Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10 under which New Delhi received a foreign direct investment commitment of USD 100 billion in 15 years from the member countries of the grouping.

 

The EFTA members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

 

There is a three-stage government-to-government consultation process prescribed in the document for resolution of differences raised in relation to the obligations.

 

'If, after the consultation period, India is still of the opinion that the EFTA states have not fulfilled their obligations, India may, after a further grace period of three years, suspend concessions. The suspension of concessions needs to be proportionate and temporary,' according to the agreement documents posted on EFTA website.

 

It would take around a year for the agreement to come into force.

 

The investment promotion and cooperation chapter of the agreement talks about a regular review by a specially appointed sub-committee, and it provides for a three-stage consultation procedure which can be invoked by India if the defined target has not been reached after 15 years.

 

An investment sub-committee would review progress towards the achievement of the shared objectives. The first review by the committee will be held no later than 5 years after entry into force of this agreement. Similarly, the second review would take place after 10 years.

 

The final review shall take place 15 years after entry into force of this agreement.

 

The document, however, stated that in case of occurrence of any unforeseen circumstances like global pandemic, war, geopolitical disruptions, financial crisis or sustained economic underperformance, which have had a material bearing on the progress to achieve the shared objectives, the two sides will adjust the shared objectives accordingly.

 

To facilitate investments India will have to ensure a favourable investment climate while taking into account the need to identify, assess and mitigate potential risks for security or public order.

 

As per the documents, all the duty cuts would be carried out over a period of 10 years with different timelines for each category of goods by India for EFTA member countries.

 

The joint committee will be the apex body to supervise and administer the TEPA and to oversee its further development.

 

India has received about USD 10 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) from Switzerland between April 2000 and December 2023. It is the 12th largest investor in India.

 

The FDI inflow was USD 721.52 million from Norway, USD 29.26 million from Iceland and USD 105.22 million from Liechtenstein during the period.

Bengal has recently exported vegetables and fruits worth Rs 5,700 crore and Rs 5,500 crore respectively, said Subrata Gupta, additional chief secretary, food processing industries and horticulture. He was addressing the MCCI Food Processing and Horticulture Conclave recently held in the city.

 

Mr Gupta said India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. In 2021-22, India produced about 205 million MT of vegetables and 107 million MT of fruits. Bengal ranks first or second in the production of vegetables and seventh or ninth in fruits, said Mr Gupta.

 

Subrata Gupta, recently highlighted Bengal’s significant contributions to India’s agriculture sector at the MCCI Food Processing and Horticulture Conclave. Gupta pointed out that Bengal has exported vegetables and fruits valued at Rs 57 billion and Rs 55 billion respectively. He emphasized India’s position as the world’s second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables, trailing only behind China, with annual productions reaching approximately 205 million tons of vegetables and 107 million tons of fruits during the 2021-22 period. Bengal, according to Gupta, is a leading state in vegetable production and also ranks prominently in fruit production within India.

 

Gupta addressed the substantial opportunities for investment in the sectors of harvesting, storage, transport, and processing, while also lamenting the loss of one-sixth of production due to the absence of adequate technology. He identified key challenges for entrepreneurs in the food processing sector, including poor CIBIL scores, lack of balance sheets, and insufficient experience. Gupta also noted that only a quarter of Bengal’s cultivated land is dedicated to food crops, with the remainder utilized for animal husbandry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Tuesday when they welcomed the 'thriving' bilateral partnership and progress made in the ongoing negotiations towards securing a 'historic and comprehensive' India-UK Free Trade Agreement that benefits both countries.

 

During the telephonic conversation, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards strengthening the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, a statement in New Delhi said.

 

A Downing Street readout of the call noted that Sunak and Modi agreed on the importance of securing a 'historic and comprehensive deal' that benefits both countries and reiterated the importance of an 'ambitious' outcome for bilateral trade, which is currently worth around GBP 36 billion a year.

 

In a post on X, Modi said, 'Had a good conversation with PM @RishiSunak. We reaffirmed our commitment to further strengthen the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and work for early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement.'

 

According to Sunak's office, the leaders agreed to remain in close contact as they anticipated further progress in the FTA talks, now in their 14th round of negotiations.

 

'The leaders welcomed the thriving partnership between the UK and India and discussed recent progress on Free Trade Agreement negotiations,' a Downing Street spokesperson said.

 

'They agreed on the importance of securing a historic and comprehensive deal that benefits both countries. The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of reaching an ambitious outcome on goods and services. They agreed to remain in close contact and looked forward to further progress on trade talks,' the spokesperson said.

 

The statement from New Delhi also noted that the two leaders expressed satisfaction over the progress made under the 'Roadmap 2030' in diverse areas including trade, investment, defence, security, emerging technologies and others.

 

'They assessed positively the progress made towards early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement,' it said.

 

The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest and agreed to remain in touch and exchanged greetings on the upcoming festive occasion of Holi, the statement added.

 

Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal has exuded confidence that during this fiscal, the country's goods and services export numbe$will be at the same level; as it was last year despite slowdown and uncertainties in the global trade. He also said that the government measures such production-linked incentives schemes and focus on high-quality goods and services would help in containing the country's trade deficit.

 

So our trade deficit will be significantly lower than last year.

 

'I am happy to share with you that we close the current year in March at the same level as last year. We have a little bit of an adjustment between goods and services, but collectively we will be at the same level as last year, which will be a very, very significant achievement given that most developing countries and less developed countries are seeing a fall in their international trade,' Goyal told PTI in an interview.

 

In 2022-23, India's goods and services exports stood at $776 billion.

 

The war between Russia and Ukraine; Israel-Hamas is impacting global supply chains and the Red Sea crisis has led to significant increase in transportation costs and delay as Indian exporte$have to send their consignments through the Cape of Good Hope, encircling Africa.

 

The minister said that India saw a scorching pace of growth in its international trade in the yea$between 2021 and 2023.

 

'We grew by 55 per cent over a period of two years, both in goods and in services'. It went up to $776 billion in only two years. And with growth on both goods and services, we could clearly see that this year is going to be one where we will have to consolidate the gains,' he said.

 

When asked if the government is thinking of extending some kind of support measures to exports to deal with the crisis, he said the approach of being dependent on the government to resolve all the problems is something that now Indian industry also does not really desire.

 

'We have been able to change the thinking to bring the confidence in the Indian exporte$that we should stand on our own feet. We should not be dependent on the crutches of the government. And I'm glad to share with you that they do not want the crutches of support anymore.

 

'What we are doing is of course working through the military and the Navy to see that we can give protection to the ships traversing the Red Sea. We are also continuously in dialogue working with the countries in that region and with our own exporters, and very, very mindful and watchful of the situation,' he said.

 

When asked about the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the minister said it is 'very' relevant and will continue to increase in its relevance as the world needs a rules-based trading system, which is transparent.

 

'The understanding that is gradually creeping in that we will not allow ourselves to make the same mistakes that countries made in the rural ground, for example, in agriculture,' he said.

 

Certain quarte$of experts are of the view that the WTO is losing its relevance as the member countries are not able to reach consensus on key issues.

 

On March 1, the talks at the WTO's ministerial conference ended with no decision on key issues such as finding a permanent solution to public food stockpile and on curbing fisheries subsidies, but the membe$agreed to further extend the moratorium on imposing import duties on e-commerce trade for two more years.

The Australian government has noted a rise in the sale of Indian breads, packaged foods & frozen processed foods in their local market after the implementation of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which was signed on 29th December 2022.

 

Among Australian products; avocados, almonds, paper, wood, seafood and lamb are being sold in India, apart from premium Australian wines, on which duty has been reduced from 150% earlier to cascading levels based on bottle's cost, under the existing ECTA. 

 

While India's unprecedented move to cut duties on Australian premium wine has increased market access for the product, Australia is cooperating with the Indian wine industry by assisting in technical know-how & collaboration.

 

John Southwell, Australia's Trade and Investment Commissioner responsible for Food & Beverages, agricultural & consumer products in South Asia, described the situation as a two-way street with more Australian premium wines on the tables of consumers along with growth of Indian wine industry.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 after buying grocery using UPI in Delhi's INA market, he praised the ease in transactions enabled by the UPI as he bought products like oranges and avocados from Australia from the market in India's national capital. Terming sky as the limit for India-Australia trade after a great start in the form of ECTA, he pointed out that bilateral trade in agri-food products is up, along with complementary trade in areas like cereals, breads & packaged food products.

He stated that the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is under negotiation, and described India as a fantastic trade partner which Australia looks to collaborate more with while it diversifies its markets.

Kalanamak, a premium non-basmati rice variety grown in Uttar Pradesh, may be the first one to get an exemption from export ban. However, the move may lead to a slew of demand from across the country where premium rice varieties are grown. An inter-ministerial panel is reported to have approved the proposal of the Food Ministry on Monday and a notification is likely to be issued by March 15, sources said.

 

It is learnt that the government has decided to allow the shipments of Kalanamak rice through a port in Tamil Nadu after it is certified by the Uttar Pradesh government. However, there will be no distinction to be made between evolved varieties (dwarf plants) and traditional varieties (greater height of plant), sources said.

 

The issue was taken up by the Union Food Ministry after the Uttar Pradesh government sought an exemption amid the discontent among farmers of not getting good prices, the sources said. Uttar Pradesh government has assessed that 50 tonnes of the variety may be exported over the next few months if a decision is taken now to exempt Kalanamak, the sources said. In 2021-22, as much as 21 tonnes got exported, trade sources said.

 

Lord Buddha’s gift

Kalanamak, with a black husk and a strong fragrance, is considered a gift from Lord Buddha to the people of the Sravasti when he visited the region after enlightenment. The variety also has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag when grown in 11 districts of UP – Bahraich, Balrampur, Basti, Deoria, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Santkabirnagar, Shravasti and Siddharthnagar.

 

The government has released Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1638 and Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1652 varieties developed by Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) in 2022.

 

Exports of both basmati and non-basmati have dropped by 27 per cent to 13.23 million tonnes (mt) during April-January of current fiscal from year-ago due to these curbs. The drop in non-basmati rice exports is even more steep, down by 37 per cent to 9.13 mt.

 

In order to ensure food security and keep prices under control, the Centre has taken various measures since September 2022. It first banned exports of broken rice and then imposed a 20 per cent duty on white rice. Last year, it banned exports of white rice and levied a 20 per cent export duty on parboiled rice and has fixed $950 a tonne as minimum export price for basmati shipments.

 

'When the export of non-basmati rice was banned in the year 2008, the government later exempted Sona Masoori, Ponni, Samba and Matta varieties from the curbs through an export quota. India’s rice policy was always formulated on the lines of basmati and non-basmati rice. As a result, most of the specialty rice varieties get diluted within the category of non-basmati rice,' said foreign trade policy expert S Chandrasekaran.

 

Cornerstone decision

If recognition to Kalanamak rice is made, it will be a cornerstone policy decision that will show that the government upholds other specialty varieties equivalent to basmati rice, he said.

 

In January 2024, the government came up with rules for Gobindabhog and Tulaipanji, which is a major policy shift to promote regional specialty rice varieties, Chandrasekaran said and added that the need of the hour is to abandon the usage of the term non-basmati rice and start using labels like specialty, aromatic, premium and common.

 

The agriculture Ministry has already notified grading and marketing rules for five premium non-basmati rice varieties of West Bengal – Gobindabhog, Tulaipanji, Kataribhog, Kalonunia and Radhunipagal.

In a move aimed at further digitalising the process of agri-marketing in the country, the Indian Government is setting up an e-commerce portal to help farmers and agri-entrepreneurs connect with consumers and sell their products directly. The portal, Kisankart.online, is being developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)’s Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI) in Bengaluru. It is expected to be fully operational around August this year.

 

Agri and value-added products produced by farmers, entrepreneurs mentored by the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and collectives such as the farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) across the country will be made available to retail consumers through the Kisankart portal.

 

Bypassing middlemen

'The e-commerce platform will help enable farmers and agri-preneurs to expand their market reach, bypass the middlemen and reach the consumers directly. Bypassing the middlemen will help enhance farmers’ income,' said V Venkatasubramanian, Director, ATARI Zone 11, Bengaluru.

 

Besides eliminating the intermediaries, the creation of a digital agri-marketing system will help encourage local value addition at the farm level thereby reducing post-harvest losses, promote local and special products of various geographies while empowering the small and marginal farmers, Venkatasubramanian said.

 

The portal, developed by the technology team of ATARI has been launched on a pilot basis and integrated with KVKs such as Pathanamthitta, Gadag and Kolar, showcasing products of local agri- preneurs. Each KVK will have a separate marketplace on the portal showcasing the products and have a payment gateway.

 

A wide range of products produced by farmers and agri-preneurs such as vegetables, oils, spices, cereals, millets, orchids and value-added food products including those made from various fruits, vegetables and mushrooms among others will be made accessible to consumers through the e-commerce platform. Also, farmers can access inputs such as seeds, bio-formulations, micronutrient formulations, simple hand tool implements through the portal, Venkatasubramanian said.

 

Uniform brand

All products sold through the e-commerce platform will be under the uniform brand of Kisan Samriddhi, Venkatasubramanian said. Consumers will also have access to products coming out from various farmer centric schemes such as ODOP (One District One Product) and also the Geographical Indication (GI) tagged products through the portal.

 

There are some 731 KVKs spread across the country. Besides playing a key role in taking the technological interventions to the farmers to boost crop productivity, the KVKs are also engaged in encouraging local value addition through skill building among farmers and promoting agri-entrepreneurship to make farming sustainable and ensuring livelihood security of farm families. Products coming out of the KVKs are largely marketed through local sales counters at the premises.

 

The proposed e-commerce portal, which will open up a national market for such products, will be the government’s major market linkage initiative for the farmers after the rollout of e-NAM (electronic national agricultural market).

 

Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE and DG ICAR, is optimistic in making the portal operational pan India benefitting millions of farmers and agri entrepreneurs. This will be a game changer in the process of digitalising the agri marketing.

 

Venkatasubramanian said ATARI will be leveraging the expertise of Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC) and the ICAR-IASRI (Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute) to upscale and roll out out the e-marketplace. It will also be partnering with entities such as Delhivery and India Post for the logistics and delivery of these products sold online.