NEW DELHI: The Agriculture Ministry has asked Dow Chemicals' Indian subsidiary to explain why the registration certificates granted to four chemicals produced by it should not be cancelled. This is a follow-up to the government's decision to blacklist Dow Agro Sciences India for five years, for bribing government officials to fast-track the process of registering three pesticides.



The show-cause notices were issued by the department of agriculture and cooperation on Wednesday, with the company given 15 days to file its reply.



" Dow Agro Sciences India Pvt Ltd., Mumbai (formerly known as De-Nocil Crop Protection Ltd), is hereby required to show cause within 15 days of receipt of this notice why the Certificates of Registration issued to the company under section 9(3) of the Insecticides Act, 1968, for the above mentioned products (Acetamiprid Technical-Pride, Acetampirid 20% SP Formulation, Chlorpyriphos 10 Granules (Dursban 10G) and Nurelle/Nurelle D/Nurelle D-505) should not be cancelled by the central Government in exercise of powers under section 27(2) of the Insecticides Act, 1968,'' the notice said.



A senior company official, when contacted, declined to comment, saying that they had not yet received the show-cause notice. "We have not received show-cause notice or any other communication from the Ministry of Agriculture. Hence it may not be possible to comment," Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Rakesh Chitkara said.



The show-cause notice give a brief background of the case, and then proceeds to highlight the factors which prompted the ministry to go in for such a step.



The ministry had on September 16 last year blacklisted Dow Agro Sciences for five years for bribing government officials to expedite registration of three pesticides in the country. The bribery case had earlier been investigated by the CBI, which had then forwarded the outcome of its probe to the ministry for necessary action. CBI, after undertaking a thorough probe in the case, held the Mumbai-based Indian arm of Dow Chemicals guilty of bribing a senior Government employee and his aides, and had recommended that the firm be blacklisted for pursuing corrupt practices.



Taking cognisance of the CBI recommendation, the ministry had on June 22 last year served a notice on the company asking it to show-cause as to why it should not be blacklisted for indulging in unethical practices. The three pesticides were identified as Dursban 10G, Nurelle-D and Pride.



The details of the bribes paid by Dow Agro Sciences have been mentioned in the chargesheet filed by CBI in the case. The charge sheet was filed on the basis of information furnished by the US authorities to the Indian Government in response to a letter rogatory, a formal request from a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance.



"An investigation conducted by the CBI has established that Dow Agro Sciences paid illegal gratification and extended pecuniary advantages for expediting registration of its products Acetamiprid Technical (Pride) and its 20% SP Formulations, Chlorpyriphos 50% + Cypermethrin 5% EC (Nurelle) and Chlorpyriphos 10% Granules (Dursban 10G) under the Insecticides Act, 1968," the show-cause notice issued by the ministry on Wednesday said.







"Agro Pack, a product formulator of the company facilitated the payment of illegal gratification by accumulating funds in their books by loading bogus incidental charges in their bills placed on De-Nocil and raised fund for bribing the officials of the Registration Committee by mutual agreement with the company with the approval of the managing director. A charge sheet has been filed in the court of Secial Judge, at Ambala by the CBI against RL Rajak, former Plant Protection Adviser to the government of India and Satybro to Banerjee, consultant appointed by De-Nocil under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the court had taken cognisance of the offences," the notice added.



The CBI had also informed that investigation against Kevin Eden, the then managing director of De-Nocil,is continuing.

Dehra Dun, May 29 (PTI) To address the widespread wastage of horticulture crops, Union Minister of State for Food Processing and Agriculture Harish Rawat today said the Centre would soon launch ''food processing national mission''.
"For addressing the issues related to widespread wastages and losses of horticulture crops, we will now launch the food processing national mission," Rawat said at a national seminar on Horti Business Linking Farmers with Market at ONGC''s auditorium here.
Expressing concern that the growth of processing of the fruits is hovering around 3-3.5 per cent only in the country, Rawat said under the mission 2025, the centre would increase its growth to 25 percent. He also expressed concern over the 30 to 40 per cent of losses and wastages of horticulture crops in this regard.
On the national policy for farmers, he said the stress is being given on the convergence so that farmers can get better price and there is value addition to the crop.
He also expressed concern over the fast dwindling sizes of the farm holdings saying big infrastructure projects were responsible for it. In this regard, he called for following the Nehruvian model where the late Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had said "everything can wait but not agriculture."
He said in the next 12th plan efforts are being made to spend more on agriculture research programmes where the country is currently spending only 0.5 per cent of the GDP.
Rawat also stressed the need to bring the research works from laboratories to land in order to boost the agriculture sector.

Ranchi: A team of experts from the Planning Commission is in the city to study the ground realities and prepare a report on improvement of agriculture in Maoist-hit and tribal areas of the country.


The committee, headed by former deputy director general of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) C Prasad, will be in the city for two days beginning Sunday. During the stay, the panel members interact with farmers and representatives of Ramakrishna Mission and other NGOs that have been working for improvement of farming techniques in drought-prone areas which have climatic and geographical condition similar to Jharkhand.


"We have been assigned the task of preparing an action plan for improvement of agriculture in the country. Over the next two months, we will visit coastal regions, northeast and Jammu & Kashmir," said Prasad. Everywhere, the team will interact with the farmers and the NGOs to get inputs to prepare the report.


Prasad, who visited almost every state of the country and interacted with farmers and experts, said the main problem behind agricultural backwardness was mismanagement.


"If one goes through the report, it becomes clear that more than 50 per cent of the funds are not spent. We will try to make a report that will deal with the mismanagement for desired growth," said Prasad.


The team will also give emphasis on development of those 150 districts of the state which have been categorized as difficult.


"These 150 districts have peculiar problems because of social and geographical problems. We will give special emphasis on development of these districts," Prasad added.

Inquiry Finds Diversion May Have Happened For Decades
Chennai: The CBI is investigating the involvement of some state agriculture department officials and the management of Indian Potash Limited (IPL) in the multicrore fertilizer scam,which came to light in Karaikal in 2009.

The agriculture department exposed the large-scale diversion of heavily subsidised potassium chloride to match and fire-cracker industries in Tamil Nadu in September 2009.The case was subsequently handed over to the CBIs Economic Offences Wing (EOW).The EOW has found that some of the industries using the illegally procured potash were more than 20 years old,suggesting that diversion had been happening for decades.

Potassium chloride is imported from countries like Israel by the IPL,a private company designated by the Union agriculture ministry.It is supplied at a subsided rate to marginal farmers.The ministry had been supplying the fertilizer to farmers at a rate of Rs 4,500 per metric tonne,even when the price in the international market was more than Rs 30,000 per metric tonne.The IPL claimed the subsidy from the government after getting a certificate from the agriculture department,saying that the fertilizer had been supplied to farmers.

Unscrupulous elements found a business opportunity and started diverting the fertilizer to matches and fireworks industries.Agriculture

department officials at the block level place the fertilizer requirement order for each block and the chemical is imported as per this requirement.When we checked the supply list of certified fertilizer dealers,we found that many farmers names were fake, a senior CBI officer said.

The inflated fertilizer requirement indicates the involvement of some agriculture department officials,the CBI said.The role of the IPL is also under the scanner as many procedures in import and stock management were allegedly violated.The nexus was so strong that in some cases the fertilizer was sent straight to the industries from Tuticorin.None of these companies had ever purchased the raw material legally.We have records of their purchases for more than 10 years.When a company wants to set up an industry that needs a licence for explosives,its application to the collector must mention where they are going to source their raw materials from.We do not know what these companies had mentioned in their application.All these industries were procuring diverted fertilizer, the official added.

The CBI had arrested four persons,including directors of some industries and dealers in relation to this case.Many got anticipatory bail.In 2008,the state had unearthed a similar scam after they found 3,153 tonnes of potash missing from Chennai port.The potash was diverted to industries in Chennai.This case is being investigated by CB-CID.



Manure Mafia


The government has designated Indian Potash Limited,to import potash and distribute it to farmers at a highly subsidised rate There are no factories manufacturing potassium chloride in India,a key ingredient in matches and fireworks factories The CBI found that none of the factories,caught for diversion of the fertilizers had imported the chemical or bought it from licensed importers This is the third fertilizer scam to hit the state.Smuggling of Chinese fertilizer to Tamil Nadu was detected earlier
 
-K Praveen Kumar TNN



 
Thanks: Times of india .

The mystery of sugar trade has got more intriguing. London sugar prices were down from the high of $767 to $500 in less than 45 days. Initial estimates of import demand of nearly 7 million tonnes (mt) from India in 2009-10 and then its downward revision by 3.5 mt surprised both domestic and international players. So has the sudden surge in sugar available domestically. The Indian wholesale price of sugar have fallen 34% from Rs 39 a kg to Rs 26 a kg in less than two months.




The stakeholders are now wondering if there are still more unknowns. Is it a magic or a miracle or a manipulation or a mirage or a material change of ground realities of supply demand matrix? Barring the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, all others have been proven wrong. She had maintained that there would be enough sugarcane in the state, and actually prohibited entry of imported raw sugar till end of cane-crushing season.



It must be remembered that the world takes a serious note of government statements. If any government declares that production is low, global prices will rise and vice versa. Indian sugar production was 14.7 mt in 2008-09.



In 2009-10, India projected production of 16 mt (October ‘09-September ‘10) against demand of 23 mt, with carry-in stocks of three million tonnes. Since February ‘09, sensing severe shortages from October ‘09, the Centre allowed duty free import of whites and raws both by the mills and traders, banned futures, increased levy quota from 10% to 20%, enforced stock limits on bulk consumers, enhanced fair and remunerative prices (FRP), proclaimed that farmers needed higher prices for lower sugarcane output, enforced weekly release quota, raided the premises of brokers and stockist, monitored closely the importers, and extended imports till Jan ‘11.



These actions reflect the panic among policymakers. The Opposition and ruling party urged the Centre to arrange bulk imports through public sector undertakings and to extend subsidy. The food ministry convened numerous meetings with trade to push for higher imports. These actions sent very bullish signals to the international trade, and white sugar the prices climbed from $350 to $767 between April ‘09 and February ‘10, while raw sugar values traded in range of 13-30 cent a pound.



In March ‘10, state sugar federations from UP, Maharashtra and south India reported large cane yields and improved sucrose recovery — a jump 3-3.5 mt in production. Thus, sugar production estimates were revised up from 16 mt to 18 mt and carry-in was revised from 3 mt to 4.5 mt. This forced local and international prices to correct.



Even carry in stocks, which can be easily and physically verified, were misreported by more than a million tonne. Will total supply still exceed 18-19 mt? Neither the government nor the cane commissioners know what is happening on the ground.



The November ‘09 US Department of Agriculture report — indicating production at 17.3 mt (including 0.4 mt of gur), carry-in of 3.7 mt and demand at 23.5 mt — conforms more to the local realities than the current projections of India. However, India continued to hammer its own pessimistic output estimates.
 
he government, farmers and funds are the major beneficiaries of the revised estimates, while millers, sellers, buyers and all others who are involved in physical distribution channels are on the losing side. Millers had agreed to pay as much as Rs 260-280 per quintal to farmers for sugarcane and now wholesale prices have declined to unremunerative levels of Rs 26-27 a kg.




Stock prices of all major sugar producers have dipped — indicating potential fall in profits. Millers could default in payment to farmers if pushed beyond a limit. International sellers who sold white sugar above $600 plus cost & freight (c&f) and raws above $500 plus c&f fear default/deferments by buyers, if domestic price average Rs 34-35 a kg in the April-May ‘10.



At the end of March, when price of whites were hovering around $560-570 (c&f) for whites and $450-460 for raws, there were no buyers. At domestic price of Rs 26-27 a kg, the contracted 3 mt of sugar is unlikely to arrive. Since international prices have tanked, industry is bound to seek the protection of import duty. A crisis like situation might re-emerge in June-November ‘10.



Indian demand has a long way to go after crushing mills down their shutters in April/May ‘10. Such a violent volatility caused by erroneous estimates need immediate actions such as abolition of weekly quota and removal of limits on bulk consumers on storage period. This should stabilise the wholesale price at Rs 34/35 kg.



If the prices continue to tumble below Rs 27/28 kg, millers will be forced to book huge losses, which will jeopardise the interest of farmers and the financial institutions. Importers will shun taking any forward positions even at lower values. Their outstanding contracts could face default/litigation /compensation.



It will then be too late for the government to wake up for controlling the imminent rise of sugar prices again during the festival season. It is time to take a call for the gross mismanagement of forecasting the supply side and balance equitably the interests all involved in the sugar tangle. The key lesson out of this episode is that accurate forecasting of crop numbers is very critical or else it can be economically and politically a disaster.

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. exporters sold 115,000 metric tons of corn to China, its first major sale of the grain to the world’s most-populous nation since 2001, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.




The corn is for delivery in the year that ends on Aug. 31, the USDA said today in a statement. The department, which discloses all export-sales activity involving more than 100,000 tons of a commodity in a single day, last reported a major Chinese corn sale on Dec. 11, 2001, a purchase that was later canceled.



Snow and cold weather has delayed corn planting in parts of northeast China, the agriculture ministry said yesterday. The China National Grain and Oils Information Center last week said the Asian nation may increase imports should international prices remain below domestic levels.



“China’s weather has been a little cool, so they’re behind on planting,” said Jerod Leman, a broker at Wellington Commodities in Carmel, Indiana. The sale is “a big story” for corn prices, he said.



Corn futures for July delivery rose 10.50 cents, or 3 percent, to $3.6425 a bushel at 11:19 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Before today, the price was down 15 percent this year, partly because of rising stockpiles in the U.S.



China, the second-largest corn producer, will harvest 155 million tons of the grain, down from a record 165.9 million a year ago, the USDA said in a report April 9. Inventories before this year’s harvest will reach 49.12 million tons, down from 53.17 million a year earlier, the USDA said.



The U.S. is the world’s biggest grower and exporter of corn.



--With assistance from Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago.



--Editors: Daniel Enoch, Michael Arndt.



To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Bjerga in Washington at abjerga@bloomberg.net.



To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

The state’s annual credit plan (ACP) prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabad) for the current fiscal would be Rs 37,000 crore.

Compared to the last fiscal’s ACP worth Rs 21,127 crore, the increase is tremendous around 75 per cent, which tantamount to saying that the state’s credit absorption capacity has substantially increased.
While the average achievement on the credit-giving front under ACP in the last few fiscals has been around 70 per cent, the sheer increase in the volume of ACP for the current fiscal by itself would help in pumping in a substantial chunk of money in the priority sector.

The priority sector consists of loaning activities by the Nabard, and itaccounts for credit worth Rs 22,159 crore during the current fiscal — Rs 11,968 crore for crop loan, Rs 3,899 crore for term credit in agriculture and allied activities, besides Rs 6,290 crore for non-farm sector, agro and food processing, as well as other priority sector activities, including micro-financing for the self-help groups (SHGs).

The remaining Rs 15,000 crore would be disbursed by commercial banks.

Nabard chairman U C Sarnagi, through video conferencing from the bank’s headquarters in Mumbai, said on Friday that Nabard has prioritized agriculture loan, micro-financing to promote income generation activities through SHGs, and infrastructure development through its rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF) schemes for the state. “The focus is on increasing road connectivity in the state’s flood-prone zones covering health centres, schools and bridges,” Sarangi said.

The bank’s Patna regional chief general manager (CGM) M M Mishra said that Nabard estimated increased “potential for credit deployment under priority sector since cooperatives have become functional.” The elections to the Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) have already been completed.

According to him, Nabard has sanctioned Rs 877 crore for RIDF during the last fiscal and managed to utilize Rs 542 crore. He said that 1.36 lakh SHGs had credit linkages through the promotional assistance of Nabard, while 18,354 new SHGs were added in the last fiscal. Besides, clubs of small farmers, including of sharecroppers, and other groups of landless people were being formed to facilitate and provide credit linkages to them.

Thanks: The Times Of india

(The author is Chief Economist, CRISIL)

The forecast of normal rainfall is the first of the two long-range forecast for the south-west monsoon. The next update will be issued in June. The rainfall during June-September is expected to be 98% of the long-period average. This undoubtedly is the first bit of good news on the monsoon front.

An expectation of normal monsoon will help tame inflationary pressures that are currently rife. If monsoons turn out to be normal as predicted, agricultural output should go up by around 5.5% in 2010-11. This will further boost overall growth as well. Moreover it will be critical for recharging the depleted ground water.

Normal monsoons will be good news for the nation as a whole but states with low irrigation coverage like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa will benefit the most. Many of these states not only have low irrigation cover but are also vulnerable as they have larger share of agriculture in the state GDP (Maharashtra is an exception) and high levels of rural poverty. It needs not emphasis that a normal monsoon is critical in 2009-10.
Beyond that, one should not read too much into the forecast of normal monsoon.

And this cannot be a cause for complacency. Last year too, in April 2009, the monsoons were predicted to be normal at 96 per cent of the long-period average. The cheer that this brought was short lived as towards the end of July and August many parts of the country witnessed deficient to scanty rainfall. The monsoon season in 2009-10 ended with a cumulative deficiency of 23 per cent. This led to a sharp dip in agricultural output and flare up of food prices. Food inflation continues to be persistently high at a level of over 17 per cent.

Even if the overall monsoons remain normal, what matter for agricultural production is its geographical distribution and timeliness which is difficult to predict at this juncture. From an agricultural perspective what is worrying is the increasing frequency of monsoon failures/droughts and increasing volatility in agricultural output in the last few years.

Monsoons are more of a risk to inflation and not so much to growth. There is increasing evidence that non-agricultural GDP growth is getting de-linked from agricultural performance. In 2004-05 and 2008-09 despite poor agricultural performance, non-agricultural GDP growth remained healthy at 9.5 and 7.8 per cent respectively.

In 2009-10, despite a drop in agricultural GDP, industrial GDP surged to over 9%. One major offset against the reduced employment opportunities in rural areas in drought years has been job creation through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. But a normal monsoon is extremely critical from taming the inflationary bout which started with food items and gradually spread & became generalised. All we can do at this juncture is to hope that IMD prediction comes true.

BELLARY: The Farmers contact centres in Bellary district are in disarray. There are around 25 centres in the district, among which, 20 centres do not have their own building. The government pays a rent of Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 each month. These centres act as a link between farmer and government, but besides the distribution of seeds and fertilizers, there is nothing else going the farmers' way. These contact centres provide information to the farmers about new agricultural policies, crop protection and new agricultural methods. There are 17 touch screens in the district, of which six are malfunctioned and some unused.




Annually, the Centre grants Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 for the development of centres, but the amount is good enough only to clear electricity bills, phone and other bills. In Hampasagara of Hagaribommanhalli taluk, the construction of the centres at a cost of Rs 4.50 lakhs, have come to a standstill due to contract problems. Rupangudi, Thambralli villages still await the inauguration of the centres.
 
Thanks: The Times Of India

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), in a bid to step up its focus on the farm sector, plans to bring together about 10 lakh small and marginal farmers across the country in 2010-11 along the lines of the self-help group (SHG) model.





This will help farmers harness their collective bargaining power to access credit at competitive rates, improve productivity using quality inputs, and realise better price for their produce in the market, said Mr Umesh Chandra Sarangi, Chairman of Nabard.



The development bank, whose primary objective is to facilitate flow of credit for agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural development, and supervision of rural financial intermediaries, will organise joint liability groups (JLGs) comprising 7-10 farmers in the small and marginal category, he said.



"We have set a target of forming one lakh joint liability groups in the current financial year. About 10 lakh farmers will benefit by becoming members of the groups," said Mr Sarangi.



In the last couple of years, Nabard had organised around 30,000 JLGs across the country.



Pointing out that most of the farmers in India owned less than 2 acres of land, the Nabard chief said that by becoming a member of the JLG, small and marginal farmers who generally depend on informal sources of financing at usurious interest rates, can get credit from banks on competitive terms.







Ever since the SHG-Bank linkage programme was conceptualised and launched by Nabard in 1992, about 47 lakh self-help groups (as of March-end 2009), predominantly comprising poor women, have been able to access the formal banking sector in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.



By handling savings and internal lending, the SHGs have matured, acquired creditworthiness for themselves and earned the confidence of banks. As of March-end 2009, banks had an outstanding exposure of Rs 22680 crore to 42 lakh odd members of SHGs.



Nabard is not averse to setting up a bank provided this does not interfere with its primary mandate of facilitating flow of credit for agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural development, said Mr Sarangi.



In his reply to a question on whether Nabard would leverage its long-standing experience in rural lending to get a banking license from RBI, the Nabard chief said, "Without compromising our primary mandate, which is refinancing and supporting the needs of the agriculture sector in the country, we will not be averse to any new ideas."



Recently, Nabard appointed global management consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to prepare a report to restructure and diversify its operations to leverage its expertise in refinancing. The development bank is also seeking to implement a core banking solution.
 
Thanks: The Hindu Business Line

Lucknow:


The Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Subodh Kant Sahay, on Friday pointed out that Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act (APMC) in its present form is acting as a hurdle in agriculture investment across the state.




“Mandi Parishads in UP have become a hub of thieves. The Act is restricting private investment. Thus the government (state) should amend the Act and allow contract farming,” said Sahay, who was in Lucknow on Friday.



According to him, the Centre wants to usher in investment in the agriculture sector in the state but the Act does not allow the same.



In Uttar Pradesh, the agriculture produce is governed by Uttar Pradesh Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964. This Act does not allow direct sale or purchase from the farmer’s field by private players. There is also no provision for any kind of institutional support for contract farming. Farmers are allowed to sell their produce only through the Mandi Parishad.
“We have been trying to convince private sectors to invest in UP. While as such there is no infrastructure to attract investment, the APMC Act adds to the woes,” said Sahay, adding, “There is no administrative culture and no policy for investment in UP.”




He also blamed the poor post-harvest management in the state for lack of investment. Farmers have to sell their produce in haste, as there is no proper supply chain or cold chain, he said.



Criticising the state on lack of management and planning regarding agriculture produce, Sahay said the Centre is ready to pay Rs 50 crore for developing food parks and Rs 10 crore for cold chain but the state government has always failed to present a proper proposal for the same. “For the last six years, there has not been a proper proposal from the state to make use of the funds from by the Centre,” he added.


Speaking about the Maoist menace, the minister from Jharkhand, said incidents like Dantewada have occurred due to the apathy of the state governments, who are adopting a casual attitude towards tackling this menace.




“States have to be on the frontline while tackling the issue and Centre can only give back up support. The Centre sends money for development of the area but states are not bothered to utilise them. It is for this reason that youths are attracted towards the Maoists to earn a living,” said Sahay.
 
Thanks: indianexpress.com

India needs an investment of almost Rs 1 lakh crore in the food processing industry to raise its percentage to 25 per cent of the total agricultural produce annually.

The second green revolution will not be successful unless the imperatives of post harvest management and value addition mechanism in agriculture are adopted in right earnest,” Union Minister for Food Processing Subodhkant Sahai told Business Standard here.




He said the percentage of food processing industry was as high as 80-85 per cent in developed economies vis-à-vis under 10 per cent in India.



“Even the developing countries in Asia like Thailand and Philippines have brought about a transformation in their economies by developing robust food processing infrastructure,” he added.



Sahai further suggested that the state governments should encourage contract farming on the lines of sugarcane to boost agriculture and allied industries.



“The contract farming would allow the market to invest in agriculture, water management and food processing. This way, the farmers would not shoulder any economic risk and will have the liberty to fix prices for their produce,” he said.



He said rural prosperity and industrialisation was the only solution to check migration to bigger towns.



He, however, lamented the Northern states in general were lax in adopting and investing in food processing industry.



Besides, he claimed that in the last 6 years, not a single demand had come to his department from the Uttar Pradesh government regarding food processing sector.



“We have given a lot of support to the private entrepreneurs in UP, but the state government has not sought our help,” he added.



The minister exhorted the state governments to frame separate policies for food processing industry, keep tax regime benign at 0-4 per cent and amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act.“The respective state governments should create conducive environment for private investment in food processing, which would not only lead to higher agriculture production, but better prices to farmers,” he noted. Sahai was here as chief guest at inaugural function of the national conference on Managing Agri-food Supply Chain organised by IIM Lucknow in association with Indian Society of Agribusiness Management.

Thanks: Business Standard

NAGPUR: Most farmers with good quality produce or organic products received an overwhelming response on the first day of the threeday ‘Mahapeek grain festival cum fair' of grains, spices and vegetables by farmers from Nagpur district.




Most other farmers, specially rice farmers, saw a mild response. The festival was inaugurated by district collector Pravin Darade and Zilla Parishad president Suresh Bhoyar at the Kadimbagh nursery premises in Civil Lines near CP Club. It is an effort by the Nagpur district agriculture department to help farmers market their produce better. The fair would remain open till Sunday from 10am to 9pm and has stalls by 102 farmers with 802 quintal stock.



However, even as the fair saw more visitors on the first day, as compared to the last fair, many farmers said they did not sell much. Farmers with organic produce, like Virendra Barbate and Manoj Jawanjal, said they had already sold a lot of their and got a good price for it. Jawanjal, from Kalmeshwar, sold almost four quintals of his organic ‘Bansi' wheat and tur dal on Friday.



He observed that proper grading and packaging matter to people. Kalmeshwar Kadu from Deshmukh Pardi village also sold his entire stock of organic wheat due to the good quality. Shankar Bobde, who grows organic Bansi wheat and most vegetables, also managed to sell most of his stock. However, farmers like Lalit Kalbandhe, Chandrashekhar Kamble and Arvind Sawai from village Veghwadi in Umrer taluka, with spices, jowar and hybrid wheat were unhappy with the response.



So was Surendra Kharpar from Narkhed with wheat, Taresh Shinde with Chawalkata rice and Amitabh Pawde from Yerla Pawde village. “Many people asked for rates but promised to come the next day,” they said. There were others like Nataji Tajne with desi jowar from village Salai in Saoner taluka, Bhuhan Miraj and Dinkar Dhoble from Kamptee taluka, who got a slightly better response but were unsatisfied. Amrut Balbudhe of village Baramba in Kamptee said, “It is already three months since the rice harvest. Most consumers have already bought their annual stock.” Some farmers like Arun Kawale from village Asali and Nan Wagh admitted that low quality grains were not selling.



A retired couple, PD Barade (former assistant registrar) and his wife Geeta from Mallarpur village in Bhiwapur taulka said they got good response for homemade desi products like garam masala and jawas chatni. The happiest lot were the women from the self help groups as they got an extremely good response for their papad, moong wadi, sewai, sandge, spices, pickles etc. Maya Bagde from Dawalmeti village on Amravati Road, who runs the Janjagruti Mahila Bachat Gat sold almost all her products.
 
Thanks: The Times Of India