The two countries also decided to create a new trade policy forum working group on resilient trade, and to continue to work together on resolving outstanding trade issues, they added in the statement.
India and the United States have established a new working group to build sustainable supply chains and boost bilateral trade, the governments said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The working group will initially focus on trade facilitation, digitization of customs procedures, issues related to sustainable finance and the scaling up of innovative clean technologies, according to the statement issued after a Trade Policy Forum meeting in Washington D.C.
At a meeting co-chaired by India’s trade minister, Piyush Goyal, and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the countries also agreed to continue close monitoring of visa issues and increase dialogue on food and agricultural trade issues in 2023.
The United States will also consider India’s interest in the restoration of beneficiary status under the U.S. generalized system of preferences program, the statement added.
The Trade Policy Forum, revived in 2021 after a gap for four years, will reconvene on a ministerial level before end of 2023.
The two countries said they mean to continue to work together on resolving outstanding trade issues.
“Waiting for all-or-nothing comprehensive agreements will only slow our shared goal of achieving a $500 billion trade relationship,” the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-India Business Council, Atul Keshap, said in a statement.
Goyal also said the two countries are looking at larger bilateral footprints for trade and investments than mini deals, with a focus on greater market access and ease of doing business.
U.S. companies are also looking to invest more in India, he added.
“U.S. companies have ambitious plans and are looking to invest large capital and bring technology to India,” Goyal said in a statement released on Thursday.
According to the latest data, farmers have sown wheat in 332.16 lakh ha till January 6 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), against 329.88 lakh ha during the same period last year.
New Delhi: The country’s wheat production is likely to set a new record of more than 112 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), according to official sources. Wheat production had declined to 106.84 million tonnes due to heat wave in key growing states in 2021-22 crop year, as per the agriculture ministry data.
In 2020-21, the country had achieved record wheat output of 109.59 million tonnes.
“The crop prospect of wheat crop is better due to current weather conditions and slightly higher acreage. The total production is estimated to be more than 112 million tonnes this year,” sources said.
Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards, while harvesting will start from March/ April.
According to the latest data, farmers have sown wheat in 332.16 lakh ha till January 6 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), against 329.88 lakh ha during the same period last year.
Higher coverage was reported from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (1.69 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.20 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.70 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.63 lakh ha), Bihar (0.44 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.10 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.06 lakh ha) and Assam (0.03 lakh ha), according to the data.
Godrej Agrovet Ltd. has become the first company in the country to be awarded a verification Certification under the Indian Palm Oil Sustainability (IPOS) Framework, issued by an independent international certification body, in recognition of the sustainable practices adopted by its oil palm business.
The certification was presented to the Chief Executive Officer of Godrej Agrovet’s Oil Palm Plantation business Mr. Sougata Niyogi.
India, the world’s largest consumer of palm oil, is pushing ahead with its ambitious plans to boost its production of the commodity.
The IPOS Framework, established by the Solvent Extractors Association of India with assistance from Solidaridad, the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, and SOPOPRAD, has been created for the Indian industry and lays down a set of environment-friendly, economically viable, and socially beneficial practices and guidelines.
It is aimed at facilitating the well-being of farmers while ensuring that the growth is sustainable from environmental & social perspectives.
Godrej Agrovet’s CEO, Oil Palm Plantation, Sougata Niyogi said “With more than thirty years of experience in the oil palm business, Godrej Agrovet is the largest developer and producer of Crude Palm Oil in India. The business plays a vital role in driving the sustainability agenda in the production of Oil Palm and has therefore strived to educate farmers on sustainable palm oil cultivation practices continuously. This certification is a result of our commitment to supporting farmers to enhance their farm management skills that lead to improved productivity. We are grateful to the Indian Palm Oil Sustainability Framework (IPOS) for recognizing our efforts and look forward to achieving greater milestones soon”
Over the years, Godrej Agrovet has developed plantations across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram. Recently, Godrej Agrovet has signed MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with Assam, Manipur, and Tripura State governments for the development and promotion of oil palm cultivation in the region under the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) scheme. The MoUs signed are in line with the company’s long-term strategy to be the catalyst of India’s edible oil mission through sustainable growth of oil palm production and doubling of farmers’ income.
“Giving importance to agriculture in bringing about development and security of livelihood in the northeast, farming activities are being strengthened through agricultural education and research,” Tomar said. The minister said the Centre is working to ensure that the country’s agricultural sector remains strong to be able to meet all challenges to make sure that there are sufficient food reserves at all times, an official communique said on Friday.
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that agriculture is the country’s fastest growing sector and there will be no constraint of central funding for its development. Referring to the northeast, he said the Centre and the northeast states governments are working together to develop the agriculture sector given its potential for organic farming.
“Agriculture is the fastest growing sector in the country and the Center is making continuous efforts to make farming profitable. There will be no constraint of central funding for development of agriculture sector,” the union minister said inaugurating the newly constructed administrative and academic buildings of Pasighat Agriculture College in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.
The Centre has endeavoured to establish a link between research and farming and provide scientific advice to farmers at the ground level. The setting up of the institute as visualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give an impetus to the development of agricultural education and research in Arunachal Pradesh along with other northeastern states, he said.
“Giving importance to agriculture in bringing about development and security of livelihood in the northeast, farming activities are being strengthened through agricultural education and research,” Tomar said.
The minister said the Centre is working to ensure that the country’s agricultural sector remains strong to be able to meet all challenges to make sure that there are sufficient food reserves at all times, an official communique said on Friday.
Steady efforts are on to connect farming with modern technology and research institutions and agricultural universities have a vital role to play in that direction, Tomar added.
He congratulated the people of East Siang district and hoped that the students after graduating will actively contribute in empowering the country’s agriculture sector. He also hoped that the new facilities provided to the college would encourage and motivate students to work harder and help in increasing their capacity by providing technological benefits.
Tomar also visited the two-day Kisan Mela organised in the college campus and interacted with farmers, the communique said.
Arunachal Agriculture Minister Tage Taki emphasised the importance of locally grown crops for enhancing farmers’ income, export opportunities and encouragement for natural and organic farming for sustainable increase in production.
Taki also informed that all centrally sponsored welfare schemes are being implemented to enhance income and living standards of the farming community in the state, the communique added.
The Union Environment Ministry on Saturday rebutted the claims made by activists that statutory regulations were violated during the appraisal and approval of GM mustard in India, saying the product was conditionally cleared only after stakeholder consultation.
The Coalition of GM-free India, a group of NGOs opposing genetically modified crops, on Friday released a report alleging that no (independent) health expert ever participated in GM mustard appraisal.
In a response issued on Saturday, the Ministry said: “The Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety (AFES) report prepared by the sub-committee in 2016 with regard to the biosafety dossier of GM mustard was uploaded on the ministry’s website for inviting comments by the public for a period of 30 days (from September 5 to October 5, 2016).
“Further, the entire dossier was also made available for review by the public in the ministry’s office for the same duration,” it said.
The conditional environmental release of GM mustard has been granted after stakeholder consultations as prescribed in the Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) guidance documents (Guidelines for the ERA of Genetically Engineered Plants, Risk Analysis Framework, Stakeholder’s guide) of 2016. The conditional approval for environmental release is subject to the clearance from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India,” it said.
Responding to the coalition’s allegation that the Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research had received the seeds on October 22 last year before the formal approval was given on October 25, the ministry said the environmental release of GM mustard was recommended in the 147th meeting of the GEAC held on October 18 last year.
“The letter of approval for environmental release of GM mustard was issued on October 25 after the approval was granted by the central government and the seeds were sent to the ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research (DRMR) on October 29,” it said.
The coalition had also claimed that GM mustard did not get tested as a herbicide-tolerant (HT) crop because there are no regulatory guidelines and protocols for HT crops.
The ministry said the use of the terminology ‘herbicide tolerant’ for GM mustard that has been granted environmental release is “not appropriate.”
“The herbicide tolerant (HT) trait present in GM mustard is a selection marker for experimental use during the development phase followed by use during the production of mustard hybrid seed for the purpose of identifying genetically modified (GM) plants,” it said.
Countering the claim that the GM mustard approval ignored the fact that agriculture is a state subject, the ministry said Biosafety Research Level-I and Biosafety Research Level-II trials of GM mustard were conducted after obtaining the no-objection certificates from state governments.
Responding to the coalition’s claim that the GEAC “kept agreeing” to the requests of “the applicant” for an exemption from tests, the ministry said the applicant was advised to undertake field demonstration studies of GM mustard in 2018 with a view to generate additional data on honey bees and other pollinators.
It said a letter was received from Prof. Deepak Pental, the man behind GM mustard, in May 2022, indicating that GM technology deployed for the development of mustard has been well tested and used for more than 20 years in Canada, the U.S., and Australia.
“References indicated no untoward effect of the technology has been reported with respect to honey bees. Comments were sought from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Department of Agriculture Research & Education (DARE) on the letter received from Prof Pental. Both DBT and DARE opined that GEAC recommendation regarding the environmental release of GM mustard may be reconsidered,” the ministry said.
It said the GEAC, in its 146th meeting held on August 25, 2022 had constituted an expert committee to examine the matter which recommended the environmental release of GM mustard and its further evaluation by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) along with post-release monitoring with respect to honey bees.
The GEAC recommended the environmental release of GM mustard based on the recommendation of the expert committee.
“To generate scientific evidence in Indian agro-climatic situation and also as a precautionary mechanism, the field demonstration studies with respect to the effect of GE mustard on honey bees and other pollinators, as recommended in the 136th GEAC meeting, shall also be conducted post-environmental release, simultaneously by the applicant, within two years under the supervision of ICAR, as per ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/guidelines/regulations and the report be submitted to the GEAC,” the ministry said.
In October, the environment ministry allowed the environmental release of the Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11) developed by the Delhi University for its seed production and testing before its commercial release. At present, Cotton is the only GM crop allowed for cultivation in India.
Before the testing could start, the coalition approached the Supreme Court seeking its directions to stop the trials. The next date of hearing on the matter is January 10.
According to activists and farmers, GM mustard is a herbicide-tolerant crop and toxic chemicals sprayed on the plant would impact the health of the people consuming it. They also argue that it is environmentally unsustainable and does not suit Indian agricultural conditions.
In December, the government had told Parliament that extensive studies carried out on toxicity, allergenicity, compositional analyses, field trials, and environmental safety of GM mustard lines versus their non-transgenic comparators provided evidence that DMH-11 was safe for cultivation, food, and feed use.
It also said farming technologies like GM crops is important to ensure food security and reduce reliance on imports and that it has not found any evidence of decline in honey production in the country due to GM cotton.
The actual procurement stood at record 759.32 lakh tonne in the previous kharif marketing season. According to official data, the total paddy purchase increased to 541.90 lakh tonne till January 3 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season from 494.50 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
The government’s paddy procurement for the central pool rose 9.58 per cent to 541.90 lakh tonne so far in the ongoing 2022-23 kharif marketing season, according to the food ministry data. Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana were the top contributors to the central pool.
Normally, paddy procurement begins from October. However, in southern states, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it begins from September.
The government aims to procure 775.72 lakh tonne of paddy in the 2022-23 kharif marketing season (October-September).
The actual procurement stood at record 759.32 lakh tonne in the previous kharif marketing season. According to official data, the total paddy purchase increased to 541.90 lakh tonne till January 3 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season from 494.50 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
Paddy purchase in Punjab declined marginally to 182.13 lakh tonne so far this marketing year from 187.12 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
The procurement in Chhattisgarh increased sharply to 82.89 lakh tonne from 55 lakh tonne, while the buying of the grain in Haryana rose to 58.96 lakh tonne from 54.50 lakh tonne.
In Telangana, the paddy procurement remained lower at 56.31 lakh tonne as against 63.84 lakh tonne in the year-ago period while in Uttar Pradesh, the procurement rose marginally to 42.96 lakh tonne from 42.73 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
In Madhya Pradesh, the procurement rose sharply to 34.50 lakh tonne so far this marketing year from 22.42 lakh tonne in the year-ago period, the ministry data showed.
The paddy procurement is undertaken by both state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) and private agencies. It is procured at the minimum support price directly from farmers and is utilised for meeting the demand under several welfare schemes.
Paddy is grown in both kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) seasons. But 80 per cent of the country’s total paddy production comes from the kharif season.
According to the first estimate of the agriculture ministry, the country’s paddy production is estimated to decline 6 per cent to 104.99 million tonne in the 2022-23 kharif season due to decrease in paddy acreage in the wake of poor rains in key producing states, especially Jharkhand.
Agrochemicals maker Safex Chemicals Ltd on Tuesday said it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in its new agri-tech arm, AgCare Technologies, in the next 3-4 years for launching an interactive tech platform and for setting up a manufacturing unit.
Agrochemicals maker Safex Chemicals Ltd on Tuesday said it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in its new agri-tech arm, AgCare Technologies, in the next 3-4 years for launching an interactive tech platform and for setting up a manufacturing unit. Speaking to PTI, the company’s Group Director Piyush Jindal said, “We are investing Rs 100 crore from our own kitty. We are not raising any funds. The investment is planned for the next 3-4 years.”
The plan is to launch an interactive technology platform to integrate the entire value chain in the agri-economy. Key stakeholders, especially farmers, can buy quality crop protection products and get services like weather updates, experts’ help and mandi rates on this platform, he said.
“A pilot study of this interactive tech platform will be conducted in January-March. We plan to go live in the next fiscal year,” Jindal said, adding that the platform will be expanded in a phased manner.
Jindal further said a new manufacturing unit will also be set up to meet the demand of existing and new products like cattle feed solutions that will arise from the proposed platform.
Safex Chemicals will be leveraging its existing domain expertise for setting up the tech platform. The company has already made some investment in technology and plans to expand the team gradually, he added.
The company’s revenue is expected to increase to Rs 1,220-1,250 crore by end of 2022-23 fiscal with the recent acquisition of UK-based Briar Chemicals, from Rs 783 crore in the previous fiscal.
Currently, Safex Chemicals has six manufacturing units in India, one in the UK.
If farm laws were the reason for the sector to hog headlines in 2021, this year, a raft of factors dotted the agriculture-food firmament. While rain deficit and heatwaves in winter hit production of a few major crops, Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed higher the prices of many commodities and fertilisers.
Wheat and paddy crops withered, and retail prices surged this year as vagaries of the weather clouded the country’s agriculture sector growth, triggering various policy measures, including export curbs, to efficiently manage foodgrain supplies in the recovering economy.
If farm laws were the reason for the sector to hog headlines in 2021, this year, a raft of factors dotted the agriculture-food firmament. While rain deficit and heatwaves in winter hit production of a few major crops, Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed higher the prices of many commodities and fertilisers.
Amid high inflation, the government provided additional five kilograms of foodgrains free to more than 80 crore people through 2022 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), which is ending on Saturday.
The government has now decided to make free the regular monthly 5 kg per person quota under the National Food Security Act for one year till December 31, 2023.
Government officials and farm experts hope that the New Year will be better as the area under coverage in the ongoing rabi season is higher as farmers were encouraged mainly by the hike in Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Against the backdrop of prices of some essential food items remaining high, the challenge to balance the interest of farmers and consumers will remain in 2023 also.
“Overall, the agriculture sector performed well in 2022 but for weather aberrations that affected some crops. We are hopeful the next year will be better and as of now wheat crop prospects seem to be bright,” National Rainfed Area Authority CEO Ashok Dalwai told PTI.
The production loss due to abnormal weather events is difficult to check but the loss to farmers is being neutralised through the PM-KISAN and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), he said.
India achieved a record foodgrain production of 315.72 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June), beating the previous high of 310.74 million tonnes in 2020-21, as per the government data.
However, the achievement of back-to-back record foodgrain production was partly overshadowed by concerns over production and prices of wheat, rice and edible oils.
“Overall, it was a challenging year but then the proactive measures paid dividends,” Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh told PTI.
According to him, managing buffer stock coupled with stable import policy has helped keep the supply of key commodities and their prices stable throughout the year.
“The moral of the story is that prices are not just a function of supply and demand as traditional economists believe. It is also a question of managing the sentiments in the market,” Singh said.
The agriculture sector’s reliance on weather was on stark display as sudden heatwaves in few states led to a shortfall in domestic production of wheat while deficit rains in eastern parts of the country affected paddy crops.
Wheat production declined to 106.84 million tonnes in 2022 from 109.59 million tonnes in the previous year but trade experts said that the production fall was more steep at around 95 million tonnes.
The Centre’s wheat procurement dropped by around 50 per cent this year, putting stress on the buffer stock.
With hardening of retail prices of wheat and wheat flour (atta), the government swung into action to ban wheat export from May 13, 2022 to check the retail price rise. It also started supplying more rice and less wheat through ration shops.
The story of rice is no different as deficit rains, mainly in the eastern states, pulled down the output during the kharif season. Rice production is pegged lower at 104.99 million tonnes during 2022 kharif season as against 111.76 million tonnes in the same season previous year.
The government banned export of broken rice and slapped a 20 per cent customs duty on non-basmati rice export. This helped in arresting a sharp rise in rice prices. The average retail price of rice is now ruling at Rs 38.43 per kg.
However, All India Exporters Association Former President Vijay Setia said rice exports rose 7 per cent to 126.97 lakh tonnes during the April-October period of 2022 from over the year-ago period.
In the case of edible oils, import duties were reduced on multiple occasions to boost domestic availability and control local prices.
Meanwhile, the fertiliser subsidy bill could touch Rs 2.5 lakh crore this fiscal as the government kept retail prices unchanged despite a sharp rise in global fertiliser prices.
In another major development during the year, the government set up a committee to look into ways to strengthen the MSP mechanism.
With the United Nations declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets following a suggestion from India, the government is taking steps to increase consumption of millets.
Dalwai observed that the extreme weather faced this year was one of the erratic events of nature. Right now, PM-KISAN and PMFBY are the only financial risk mitigating tools available right now.
If erratic weather events continue for next five years, then crop diversification is a solution, he added.
For the year 2022-23, an export target of $23.56 billion has been fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket.
India’s agricultural and processed food products exports rose by 16 per cent in the first eight months (April-November) of the current financial year 2022-23 on a yearly basis.
The agricultural exports has managed to attain 74 per cent of its annual export target, latest data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed.
An export target of $23.56 billion has been fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket for the year 2022-23.
According to the provisional data, the overall export of agricultural and processed food products increased to $17.43 billion from $15.07 billion over the same period of the last fiscal.
Processed fruits and vegetables recorded a growth of 32.60 per cent (April-November 2022), while fresh fruits registered a four per cent growth in comparison to corresponding months of the previous year, data showed.
Also, processed food products like cereals and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 28.29 per cent in comparison to the first eight months of the previous year.
The export of pulses, basmati rice, poultry products, dairy products, and wheat from India has increased by 90.49 , 39.26 , 88.45 , 33.77 , and 29.29 per cent, respectively.
“We have been working with all the stakeholders such as farmers, exporters, and processors to ensure that quality agricultural and processed food products are exported from the country,” said M Angamuthu, Chairman, of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), on the overall export achievements.
The ministry said that Basmati rice exports too increased by 39.26 per cent to USD 2.87 billion during April-November 2022, while that of non-basmati rice registered a growth of 5 per to USD 4.2 billion in the same period. “Wheat export has registered an increase of 29.29 per cent in eight months of the current fiscal as its export rose to USD 1508 million in April-November 2022 from USD 1,166 million in April-November 2021,” it added.
Wheat exports rose 29.29 per cent to USD 1.50 billion during April-November this fiscal from USD 1.17 billion in the same period the previous year, the commerce ministry said on Friday. Though the government banned wheat exports in May, some shipments are allowed to meet the food security needs of the countries that request it.
The ministry said that Basmati rice exports too increased by 39.26 per cent to USD 2.87 billion during April-November 2022, while that of non-basmati rice registered a growth of 5 per to USD 4.2 billion in the same period.
“Wheat export has registered an increase of 29.29 per cent in eight months of the current fiscal as its export rose to USD 1508 million in April-November 2022 from USD 1,166 million in April-November 2021,” it added.
The outbound shipments of agricultural and processed food products rose by 16 per cent in the eight months of the current fiscal to USD 17.43 billion.
“For 2022-23, an export target of USD 23.56 billion has been fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket and an export of USD 17.435 billion has already been achieved in eight months of the current fiscal,” the ministry said.
In April-November 2022, fresh fruits were exported to the tune of USD 991 million against USD 954 million in the corresponding months of the previous fiscal.
The export of pulses increased by 90.49 per cent in eight months of the current fiscal to USD 392 million, it added.
Similarly, dairy products recorded a growth of 33.77 per cent as its export rose to USD 421 million in April-November 2022 from USD 315 million in the year-ago period.
