Month: April 2018
Consumers would welcome anything that helps keep the weekly grocery prices under control as food prices continue to rise while incomes stagnate.
Farmers, also, have come under increasing pressure from volatile prices for their crops, the efforts of suppliers to keep prices low in the shops and the increasingly uncertain global weather.
At the same time they are asked to farm sustainably to protect the environment, produce more natural, chemical free food and equally to improve the yield from their land to meet the food needs of a larger global population.
In the UK, some East Anglian organic grain farmers have recently joined together in a contract with a company that needed a regular supply of food for its organically-reared pigs.
As one farmer said, it is very difficult to assess the market supply and demand particularly in the organic market and the arrangement they reached had several benefits.
It meant both buyer and sellers were no longer susceptible to the vagaries of the market and to stablise the prices right through to the retailer and share the costs. It also made it possible to make the whole supply chain from land to pig meat traceable and to reduce the carbon footprint by supplying to a local buyer.
It worked because all those involved knew each other and were in the same area, but there is no reason why the model could not be used by other farmers both in the UK and overseas.
Research in East Agnlia is also being carried out to identify the different genetic characteristics in various grain seeds. The aim is to find those that are better for growing in an area of increasing drought and are better protected against the new plant diseases that might arise. Cross breeding, for example, could then be used to produce a resilient variety suited to the local climate.
Other research that has been going on, mainly in the USA has been in providing better crop and land protection in a more natural way, as a substitute for the many now-discredited older generation of chemical fertilisers.
The range of innovations includes biopesticides, biofungicides and yield enhancers that are developed from natural sources and leave minimal residues in the land and in the crop. They will also help farmers to meet the growing demand for natural foods with less waste and less loss of the nutrition in their land
These new low-chem agricultural products are subject to careful testing and licensing before they are allowed onto the market and this can be an expensive and lengthy process, taking up to eight years in some cases because regulation is not yet standardised across individual countries, so they may need to be licensed separately in several places.
There are signs, however, that more effort is being put into innovation in the various aspects of food production to respond to the concerns of consumers on both price and food quality.
Copyright (c) 2011 Alison Withers
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CII today organized a Seminar on Reforms in the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) Act , and its impact in the Southern States. This is an initiative of the Agri Business Sub-Committee, CII-Southern Region. Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Shankarlal Guru, Chairman-International Society for Agricultural Marketing said Agricultural sector is in urgent need of reforms by the respective State governments to help drive the economy to a higher growth rate that is expected by the policy makers, but a comprehensive agenda for reforms in this crucial sector is yet to emerge. Hence, the need for Agriculture to be made a central subject and not a state subject, thus alienating it from politics, said Mr. Guru. Contract farming should be encouraged as it will help bring technology and modern practices into the agriculture sector – opined Mr. Guru.
The APMC Act in each state of India requires all agricultural products to be sold only in government – regulated markets. These markets impose substantial taxes on buyers, in addition to commissions and fees taken by middlemen, but typically provide little service in areas such as price discovery, grading or inspection. A key impact of this regulation is the inability of private sector processors and retailers to integrate their enterprises directly with farmers or other sellers, eliminating middlemen in the process. Farmers also are unable to legally enter into contracts with buyers. This leaves no incentives for farmers to upgrade, and inhibits private and foreign investments in the food process sector.
Also addressing the audience was Mr. Sivakumar, Chairman Agri Business Sub-Committee, CII-Southern Region and Chief Executive – Agri, ITC Ltd. Said that Agri business in India is at a transition point. Having sailed through the shortage economy to an economy with surplus in grains, it is important that Governments at the Centre and State recognize the need for inclusive growth to take agriculture forward in India. Setting the context for the day’s discussion, Mr. Sivakumar emphasized that in spite of employing about 57% of the population of the country, agriculture on contributes 27% to the GDP of India. This distortion makes agriculture not a lucrative employment generator and hence, keeping with the global view, India needs to carve out opportunities in agri-exports sector. Contract farming and direct marketing to retail chains and processing units are the need of the hour he said.
Regulations to keep pace with these needs are required, which need alternative marketing mechanisms. Hence, reforms in the APMC Act are recommended in various fields, he added.
Making a presentation on “Aligning State Policies with emerging new marketing models”, Prof. S Raghunath from the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, emphasized the need for an effective and efficient distribution system for agri-produce and provision for supply-demand transparency. Since the main objective of the APMC Act was to prevent exploitation of farmers by various intermediaries, reforms were required in the Act, with changing face of agriculture and the agricultural supply chain, opined Prof Raghunath. India is the largest producer of vegetable in the world, with a total share of 15% of global produce. 8% of world’s fruits are produced in India, ranking it second in the world market. In spite of this, there is a high cumulative wastage of 40% in India, informed Prof. Raghunath. Inadequate infrastructure and lack of organized supply chain were the main cause for such a disparity, he said. Thus, reforms in this sector need to catch up with the pace of development in the economy and dis-intermediation and participation of organized players in the sector will remove the lacunae, opined Prof. Raghunath.
Centre asks states to amend APMC Act
In a move to allow farmers to directly sell their produce to industry, contract farming and setting up of competitive markets in private and cooperative sector, the Centre has asked the state government to amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing Act.
Under the present Act, the processing industry cannot buy directly from farmers. The farmer is also restricted from entering into direct contract with any manufacturer because the produce is required to be canalised through regulated markets. These restrictions are acting as a disincentive to farmers, trade and industries.
The government has recently approved a central sector scheme titled Development/strengthening of agricultural marketing infrastructure, grading and standardisation.
Under the scheme, credit linked investment subsidy shall be provided on the capital cost of general or commodity specific infrastructure for marketing of agricultural commodities and for strengthening and modernisation of existing agricultural markets, wholesale, rural periodic or in tribal areas.
The scheme is linked to reforms in state law dealing with agricultural markets (APMC Act). Assistance under the new scheme will be provided in those states that amend the APMC Act.
The Centre has asked the state governments to inform as to whether necessary amendments to the APMC Act have been carried out, in order to notify the reforming states for applicability of the scheme.
Along with the Centre, the industry is also interested in the amendment to the APMC Act as it restricts the growth of trade in agricultural commodities.
The policy regime pertaining to internal trade is particularly restrictive. The agricultural sector continues to be hamstrung by a plethora of controls, which were introduced during the era of shortages, said the PHDCCI.
Meanwhile, a decentralised system of procuring wheat and rice would make the Public Distribution System more cost effective, the government has said.
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Elets – A platform for disseminating creative ideas on ICT
Elets Technomedia is a technology media and research company that focuses on ICT in government, education, healthcare, agriculture and rural development sectors. Our mandate is to provide effective information on latest development in different ICT tools, techniques and their applications across our verticals through premier print publications, online portals and premier events, seminars, conferences and summits. Elets has created a name for itself as a technology media and research vendor of choice.
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Elets provides an unmatched versatility for working with multiple partners and consultants to mutually share knowledge. With a vision to provide effective information on latest development in different ICT tools, techniques and their applications across various verticals with focused reference to governance, education and health, we
a) bring niche monthly publications;
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c) conduct research projects, primarily through Events & Conferences.
A U.N. agency says 11 million people in Africas Sahel region still face severe food insecurity. At the same time, an emergency appeal for 113 million dollars has gone largely unmet.
De Capua report on Sahel food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization says the Sahel has faced food insecurity crises in 2005, 2008 and again in 2012. Those crises, it says, have eroded the capacity of the poor to maintain or restore their livelihoods.
In Dakar, Patrick David, FAOs deputy coordinator for food security analysis for West Africa and the Sahel, said, There is still a lot of people in food insecurity. The people more and more find some difficulty to recover from the past crisis even if there is a good harvest because there have been pretty good harvests in 2012.
David said many people in the Sahel depend on a few cattle and a small piece of land for survival. So, its hard for them to stock up any reserve food or agricultural supplies in the event of drought, conflict or bad harvest.
While before it would take one or two years to recover, now its longer for those people to recover. Its difficult to restock cattle, for example. Its difficult for them to access agricultural credit to have good input[s] and to have fertilizer. And in some places in the Sahel, like in Burkina Faso and Niger, there [are] some dense populated area[s] where there is degradation of land and the loss of soil fertility. That means their agricultural
yield[s] are decreasing year by year, he said.
That compounds the problems they already face as the price for grains, such as sorghum, millet and maize, continues to rise.
David said, The poor and the very poor households, as soon as theyve exhausted their little harvest, totally depend [on] the market. So they have to buy the grain at higher and higher prices. So their purchasing power is decreasing every year.
Insecurity, such as the recent conflict in northern Mali, can also boost prices because agricultural products cannot get to market.
The FAO has appealed for $113 million for its programs in the Sahel. However, its only received less that $19.5 million so far.
The intervention of FAO strengthens the resilience of the affected households. But when the affected households cannot receive the good seeds and the good fertilizer or cannot recapitalize their livestock, they stay very vulnerable and its a problem for the next year. So we definitely need additional support for the farmers and agriculture in order to decrease the impact of the forthcoming crisis, he said.
Building resilience includes improving the storage, processing and transportation of goods as well as livestock food supplements, animal health campaigns and herd restocking. The Food and Agriculture Organization programs also include fixing irrigation systems.
The FAO said it would like these programs to be in place and making a difference during the next growing season which runs from October through April