Agrinews – 03-05-08

HEADLINES:

Mint

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Thailand moots five-nation rice cartel in Asia

Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej said on Wednesday that his government would try to create a cartel of rice-producing countries in partnership with Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. We dont aspire to be like Opec, but we hope to be just a group of five to help each other in trading rice on the world market, Samak was quoted as saying in The Nation newspaper. Governments in Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, have for many years toyed with the idea of using their dominant market position to influence the price of rice in the same way that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or Opec, tries to set crude oil prices. The plan appears to be in a nascent stage. I think its time to do it, probably within the term of this administration, Noppadon Pattama, Thailands foreign minister, said on Wednesday. But, if successful, a cartel could have far-reaching consequences on the rice market, sustaining prices at their current historic highs and worsening a food crisis that is hurting Asias poorest consumers. The price of Thai B-grade rice, a benchmark variety, has nearly tripled in recent months and is now hovering at about $1,000 (Rs40,500) a tonne. Maintaining rice prices would please large-scale rice farmers and traders in countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, but it would anger places such as the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong, which rely heavily on imported rice. Plans for the cartel were front page news in the Philippines on Thursday. The current ruling coalition in Thailand received the backbone of its support from rural areas, and Samak appears eager to capitalize on the rice price increase. Thai rice farmers now have an opportunity, he said in a recent interview. Unlike corn, wheat and other grains that are widely traded globally, only a small number of countries export rice. The largest rice producers, China, India and Indonesia, consume most of their rice crop domestically. Thanks to a vast, fertile delta, which allows farmers to harvest three or four times a year, Thailand exports about 10 million tonnes annually, twice as much as Vietnam, the second largest rice exporter, and three times what the US exports. Rice prices rose sharply in March and April after many exporting countries, including Brazil, Egypt, India and Vietnam, announced that they were restricting exports to ensure domestic supplies.

DNA

Mumbai, 2 May 2008

Small tea planters ally to face up to competition

It has been a hard work for Dhananjoy Chowdhury, Madhav Nanadi, Binayak Sil, Nimchand Mitruka and Horen Sarkar all these years proving to be successful small tea planters. Today the group of tea planters from North Bengal is a happy lot. Being continuously under the scanner by the biggies in tea trade for production of quality teas, all of them have decided to form a self-help group (SHG) within themselves. They are not the only ones to do so. As many as 200 SHGs, covering almost 10,000 small tea growers across tea-growing states, are being formed. DNA had first reported on the lives of tea growers a year back. Since then and now, the entire population of small tea growers, particularly in north India, has grown manifold. Estimates suggest that there are almost 70,000 small growers in south India and 50,000 in Assam and West Bengal. They are a formidable lot, who grow teas on less than 25 acres of land producing almost 250 million kg of tea. The Tea Board is lending a helping hand to this fast-growing segment of tea planters. In a unique exercise with the help of government assistance, 200 SHGs are being created to help tea planters tide competition, establish good agricultural practices and produce good quality teas. The funds earmarked under the 11th Five Year Plan have provided special assistance to small grower category. Apart from providing subsidies, the Tea Board through its schemes would provide larger support, Basudeb Banerjee, chairman Tea Board told DNA Money. We are starting with 200 SHGs and once we get a good response, we could increase the number and get back to the Planning Commission for more funds during the Plan period, he said. Kamal Jana, a small grower based in Dooars, said, We do face a lot of difficulties on logistics. For example, at times small growers do not have the money to set up a small shed or even processing facilities of their own. Forming a SHG would be of immense help in the long run. It has been successful in non-tea activities in a big way. The SHGs would pick one-person from each group and provide training on better agricultural practices. We would address the problem of quality levelled against small growers. Moreover, providing impetus to small growers would enable India to be a low-cost producer of tea in global markets. Kenya and Sri Lanka, the largest tea growing countries, have much lower cost of production, Banerjee said. Although the small growers do not fit in the real planter category like the Magors, Goodrickes, Duncans or Warrens, they are a force to reckon with given the fact that they contribute to almost 25% of the total tea production in the country.

Business Line

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Rice cultivation: Drip irrigation trials promising

The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is attempting to standardise the raised bed with furrow irrigation technique for rice cultivation, which has enough potential to give increased yield and at the same time save water. Disclosing this in the two-day annual research meet on rice, held at the TNAU on Wednesday, Dr C. Ramasamy, the university Vice-Chancellor, said adoption of drip fertigation technology for rice would be futuristic and have great impact on rice production. The technology trials are quite promising, with high level of water use efficiency and saving of water. Dr Ramasamy wanted the scientists to standardise the package of practices for these new technologies, so that the farmers would have technology choices. The demand for rice is increasing globally due to various reasons like income growth, especially in countries like China and India, and this has raised concerns from the World Bank and Food and Agricultural Organisation over impending food shortage threats. He indicated that thrust areas in rice research would be on evolving new varieties and hybrids with superior yield qualities with higher drought resistance. The biotech tools application will focus on varieties having resistance to pests such as those against stem borer or leaf-folder. The Vice-Chancellor indicated that marker-assisted selection work will be strengthened in TNAU. Introgression of yield enhancing genes from wild rice will be intensified and the system of rice intensification technique will be aggressively promoted, he added. According to Dr T.S. Raveedran, Director, Centre for plant breeding and genetics, TNAU, two rice cultures with high-yield characters were recommended for release during 2008-09.

Business Line

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Nepal ban on foodgrains export

The Nepal Government has decided to ban exports of rice, wheat and paddy in a bid to tackle the soaring food prices in the country. The ban on export of foodgrains comes on the heels of similar restrictions imposed by other South Asian nations, including India. The ban became effective from Wednesday, a government notice said. The problem became acute in Nepal as Bangladesh cut down the export of rice to Kathmandu following an international rise in the prices of staple food. Nepal has been importing foodgrains from India and third countries for the past few years to meet its growing demands at home.

Business Line

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Higher pay mooted for plantation research scientists

In a major bid to boost production and productivity in the plantation sector, the Department of Commerce has initiated a serious exercise to confer higher salaries on scientists working in plantation research bodies. This is to ensure the efficacy of commercialisation of laboratory ideas into practice and cash in on the current global boom in commodity prices. Official sources told Business Line here that the department has drawn up a Cabinet note spelling out in great detail how the various research institutes of the Commodity Boards could be put on par with the research institutes currently working under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), veritably in every respect. The proposal is to declare the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) under the Rubber Board, Kottayam; Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI), Balehanur under the Coffee Board, Bangalore; Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI), Myladumpara; Biotechnology Laboratory and Quality Evaluation Laboratory of the Spices Board, Cochin; and Research Division of Tea Board, Kolkata on par with ICAR Research Institutes in every respect. The idea is to make the research outfit a hub for integrated development of the plantation sector by providing the requisite pay and perks to scientists involved in the task. The sources point out that a single clone of rubber, viz., RRII 105 of the RRII, remains the highest yielding clone in the world. Largescale cultivation of this flagship clone has rendered India number one in the world in so far as productivity of natural rubber goes, despite adverse agro-climatic conditions in comparison to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The recent clones, namely RRII 414 and RRII 430, have 20 per cent more production potential than RRII 105. The success of the Indian natural rubber plantation industry was no way less significant than the green revolution, they said. Similarly, the sources said, the CCRI had been in the vanguard in adopting various eco-friendly integrated pest management and integrated disease management strategies for coffee production. A new variety released on December 18, 2007, viz Chandragiri, which has been evolved from original stock of Sarchimor by CCRI, shows about 95 per cent resistance to the disease in the field. The move to beef up the various Commodity Board research institutes through better salary and other perks stems from the initiative of the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, soon after he took charge a couple of years ago, the sources said, adding that the Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS) applicable to the scientists of the Commodity Boards had not brought the desired results. When contacted, Mr. Ramesh said: In the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG), it has been seen that the young scientists are leaving government jobs due to better opportunities in the private sector. Hence it is crucial to attract and retain brilliant young scientists in the R&D institutes of the Commodity Boards for scaling new peaks in the plantation sector. This is also part of our effort to make the plantation sector research-driven rather than subsidy-driven. We need to strengthen science and technology for tea, coffee, spices and cashew. One good success story we have is rubber but this needs to be replicated in other commercial crops too. Mr. Ramesh said he got overwhelming support from scientists Dr M.S. Swaminathan and Dr C.N.R. Rao, Chairman, Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, for the move to upgrade the payscale of scientists in the plantation industry. There was anomaly in the salary and service conditions of scientists working in plantation crops compared with those working in institutes under ICAR and CSIR, the sources said. Therefore, the department was seeking through a note to the Cabinet the need to adopt four-tier pay scale for the scientists of the Commodity Boards and also to adopt the Recruitment Rules of the scientists of the ICAR research institutes in the various plantation research institutes.

The Economic Times

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Farm interests to be taken care of at WTO talks: Nath

WITH a ministerial meet of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) likely during the month-end, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath has assured that safeguarding the interests of Indias poor agricultural producers was of paramount importance to the country. This would not be traded off against any gains elsewhere in the negotiations, he added. At a meeting of the Parliamentary consultative committee of the ministry on Wednesday on the status of Doha round of negotiations, he said that Indias defensive concerns in agriculture was mainly in the market access pillar of the negotiations which deals with tariff cuts. We are clear that we will not take an overall cut of more that 36% in our bound rates, he said. On the issue of domestic support to agriculture, Mr. Nath said the G-20, of which India is a member, has been demanding substantial and effective cuts in overall trade-distorting domestic support by the developed countries. The minister informed members that the WTO negotiations had reached a critical stage. The chairs of the negotiations groups on agriculture and non-agriculture market access (Nama) are expected to bring out revised texts in early May. A ministerial level meeting is likely to be held towards the end of May, he said. If the ministerial meeting planned this month-end is successful, it could pave the way for completion of the on-going Doha round while US president George Bush is in office. On Nama, the minister said that India has made it clear that the mandate of less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments by developing countries must be respected. This means that there would be lower percentage reduction from bound rates by developing countries vis-à-vis the commitments by developed countries. Flexibilities available only to developing countries for protecting sensitive tariff lines from the impact of tariff reductions or bindings are an inviolable part of the mandate and crucial for safeguarding livelihood and employment concerns, he said. On services, Mr. Nath said the negotiations were underway and India was very keen to take the services negotiations forward.

Business Line

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

CCEA allows higher fertilizer prices

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday allowed fertilizer manufacturers to charge up to a maximum of 5 per cent over and above the notified selling prices for all the fortified/coated-subsidised fertilizers that are approved under the Fertilizer Control Order except for zincated urea and boronated SSP. In case of zincated urea and boronated SSP, the manufacturers will be allowed to sell at prices higher by up to 10 per cent above maximum retail price, Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram said here. The CCEA also decided that the manufacturers will be allowed to produce fortified/coated fertilizers up to a maximum of 20 per cent of their total production of respective subsidised fertilizers. The percentage will be reviewed by the Departments of Fertilizers and Agriculture & Cooperation from time to time to take into account the demand and availability of such fertilizers in the country, he said. The move will help in increasing higher agricultural productivity and ensure adequate availability of non-fortified / coated fertilizers and would also provide the farmers with wider choice, the Minister said.

The Financial Express

New Delhi, 2 May 2008

Banks to swap moneylenders loans to farmers

In a bid to bring farmers out of their dependence on local usurious moneylenders, in step with its stated intent of financial inclusion, the government on Thursday mandated all public sector banks to take over loans given by moneylenders to farmers through a novel debt swap arrangement, extend more concessional loans to poor artisans and focus on lending to the organic farming sector. After a three-hour long meeting with heads of state-run banks, finance minister P Chidambaram told reporters that the banks must try and extinguish the advances given by moneylenders by structuring a debt swap arrangement with them. To ensure that PSBs bring more farmers under the banking net through such an arrangement and simultaneously free them from the clutches of moneylenders, the government also wants them to capture more accurately the number of such moneylenders loans that are swapped for bank loans. Though it will be a difficult task, we will make all efforts to bring more farmers into the banking net. However, since the bank is taking on the farmers liability, we will have to look into the prevalent practices, the purpose of the loan and whether the farmer has a stable stream of income to repay the loan, said Punjab National Bank CMD KC Chakrabarty. With the minister not elaborating on how these debt swaps could work, the onus is on banks to evolve suitable products. Bank of Indias executive director KR Kamath said, Our debt swap products will be very simple. If it is a production credit, we will replace it with a crop loan. If it is any other kind of debt, we will structure it in a way that the repayment will be phased out in easy installments suiting the farmers income. The interest rate we charge will be much lesser than that is being charged by money lenders. Union Bank of India CMD MV Nair said the bank will structure a product for debt swap from money lenders for such loans up to Rs 50,000 and free the farmers from money lenders. We expect that it will benefit many farmers as most of such loans fall under this loan amount bracket, he said. On low interest loans (with interest rate of 4%) to poor artisans, Chidambaram said banks should realise that though these are loss-making loans, those that come under it like barbers, washermen, cobblers, blacksmiths and goldsmiths form an integral part of the urban and rural economies. Therefore, banks must lend more to such artisans, he said. In a bid to encourage organic farming, Chidambaram said the banks must lend more to farmers in the sector and also to the producers of inputs for such farming.