Complex Fertilisers get a let-up from nutrient based subsidy

The Hindu Business Line - December 19, 2010
Harish Damodaran

New Delhi, Dec. 19
The institution of a nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime from April 1 has given a huge boost to consumption of complex fertilisers.
During April-November, fertiliser firms have sold 7.07 million tonnes (mt) of complexes, containing varying proportions of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S). This represents a one-third jump over the 5.32 mt for the corresponding eight months of 2009-10.
Conventional fertilisers
On the other hand, sales of conventional fertilisers such as urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) have registered a mere 5-6 per cent increase, while being negative in muriate of potash (MOP).
“Complex sales will easily top 10 mt this fiscal,” said Dr G. Ravi Prasad, President (Fertiliser Marketing) at Coromandel International Ltd (CIL). In 2009-10, CIL manufactured around two mt of complex fertilisers, which was next to the 2.75 mt by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco).
Besides these two, the K.K. Birla Group-controlled Pradeep Phosphates and Zuari Industries (0.8 mt), Fertilisers & Chemicals Travancore (0.75 mt), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (0.5 mt), Tata Chemicals (0.4 mt), GSFC (0.3 mt), GNFC (0.2 mt) and Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation (0.1 mt) are the major producers of complexes.
According to the industry, the introduction of NBS – linking subsidy payable to the nutrient composition of individual fertilisers – has made complexes attractive to both companies as well as farmers. This is unlike the earlier regime, where subsidy was limited to specific products (urea, DAP, MOP) with little linkage to nutrient content.
Under the NBS, the Centre is now providing a per-kg concession of Rs 23.227 on nitrogen , Rs 26.276 on phosphorous , Rs 24.487 on potash and Rs 1.784 on sulphur . These translate into a respective subsidy of Rs 15,521 and Rs 15,114 a tonne on the two most popular complexes, 10:26:26:0 and 12:32:16:0, enabling them to be retailed at Rs 8,200 and Rs 8,650 a tonne. Lower prices (against Rs 9,950 for DAP) and the presence of K (DAP only contains ‘N' and ‘P', albeit at 18 and 46 per cent) makes them a value proposition.
Companies, in turn, have responded by augmenting production of complexes. Iffco's Kandla plant manufactured 0.7 mt of DAP in 2009-10, whereas this year, “we are hardly making any DAP and bulk of its 2.4-2.5 mt output will consist of 10:26:26:0 and 12:32:16:0”, informed Mr Arabinda Roy, Marketing Director, Iffco.
Apart from DAP, even potash is being increasingly sold in the form of complexes rather than as MOP. “That probably explains declining sales of MOP. Although MOP imports are higher this time (six mt against 5.3 mt in 2009-10), a significant part of it is going for manufacture of complexes,” he added.
Higher complex sales
The other reason for higher complex sales is imports, adding to the overall availability. The extension of NBS benefits to imported material has led to over 1.1 mt of complexes – mainly 10:26:26:0, 16:16:16:0, 16:20:0:13 and 20:20:0:0 – being brought in from Russia, China and Indonesia during April-November, compared with just 0.2 mt in the whole of 2009-10.
Interestingly, the import of complexes have been undertaken not just by Iffco, Zuari and Deepak Fertilisers, but even by companies such as Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals and Indian Potash Ltd that do not manufacture them domestically.
The other major fertiliser to have benefited from the NBS is single super phosphate (SSP), which, on account of its lower 16 per cent phosphorous content, has faced steady marginalisation from DAP. But with the NBS recognising the 11 per cent sulphur content in SSP, this fertiliser, too, has become a marketing proposition.
“I foresee SSP consumption to touch 3-3.5 t this year and also more production capacity being added,” said Dr Prasad.

Brand Line - Harish Bijoor column

Brand Line - The Hindu Business Line, December 16, 2010

The urban-rural debate has been on forever. Do you see this changing as we work towards inclusive marketing as the basic ethos of all marketing?

"Even I thought it was another Fevicol Ad! But they're all marketing men out to capture the rural sector, it seems."

Inclusive marketing is a faraway dream as of now. Today, exclusive marketing has hijacked all semblance of inclusiveness.
Post-Independence, India witnessed a creeping and crawling morphing of mindsets and consumption from the rural to mindsets that are more aggressively urban. The marketer has been largely responsible for this. The movement, that was a crawl, literally became a gallop in the early and mid-Eighties when television knitted the nation as one, pumping urban imagery of the modern marketing man to rural audiences. Television and all the advertising it carried fed rural markets the urban way of life. In more ways than one, India became an instant urban society.
This, I believe, is an undoing that needs to be corrected. In many ways, marketing is a hegemony in India. The urban-educated and privileged marketer markets to the rural person. Never mind that rural is three times bigger than urban. The imagery that consumers emote with in India today is the urban imagery.
Overturn this and emote with the real India. Emote with the imagery that is rural. Put a programme that is rural in your marketing mix. Go one step further and show the archetypical brand hero in your TV commercials to be the rural person. See what it does. I do believe India is ready to turn marketing imagery on its head. The bottom-of-the-pyramid market will admire this and will certainly reward this effort — with market share, and money, and more than that, consumer affection.

Agricultural fields in mechanisation mode

The Hindu, December 13, 2010

SANGAREDDY: M. Hanumantu of Nawabpet village in Hatnoora mandal in Medak district recently destroyed his paddy crop. He was one among the thousands of farmers in the district who were unable to hire labour for harvesting crop.
Mr. Hanumantu has 4.18 acres of land, out of which paddy was cultivated in three acres. He grew cotton in the remaining 1.18 acres. When the crop was ready for harvesting, he tried to hire a harvesting machine.
Though the operator brought the machine to the field, he refused to start it saying the field was wet and it would damage his machine. His efforts to hire labour did not yield result as they preferred to work for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) instead of the hard labour. Vexed with that, he lit his crop.
Time saved
Contrary to the experience of Mr. Hanumantu, many farmers in the district are preferring to hire machines to harvest the crop. According to sources in the Agriculture Department, more than 100 machines are functioning in the district.
Each machine is replacing about 1,000 mandays if it is to assume that machines are working between six to eight hours a day. While it would take five days for eight persons from harvesting to packing paddy in one acre of land, it is consuming only one-and-half hour for the machine to complete the job.
Farmers prefer these machines as it is becoming hard to find manual labour, in addition to consuming more time. The labourers are also demanding wages between Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 to work in the fields.
Cost factor
“This is benefiting farmers as the operator is charging Rs. 2,500 per acre whereas it will cost about Rs. 4,000 if labour is hired. In addition, the trader will be ready to procure the produce once it is ready in bags,” said Chandrasekhar, Joint Director of Agriculture.
According to department estimates, out of the 45,000 hectares of paddy that was cultivated in the district during the current rabi season, at least 30,000 hectares will be harvested by the machines.
Doubts are being expressed in the official circles whether the labourers would lose work in the farms in the long run as the farmer, once habituated to harvesting with machines, would only prefer machines.

Ministry drags feet on paying fertiliser firms

The Economic Times, December 10, 2010

 

NEW DELHI: The country's cash-strapped fertiliser makers are blaming the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers for the delay in compensating them for the losses they suffered on selling government bonds.

The long-tenure bonds were issued to public sector fertiliser companies in lieu of the cash subsidy they receive from the government for selling their produce below cost.

People close to the matter said the finance ministry is ready to repay the fertiliser firms but it can't do so until it receives a proposal from the ministry concerned. "We can only act if we receive a proposal," a finance ministry official told ET.

The delay is adding to the grief of fertiliser makers as they have to sign contracts for the kharif season by the end of January or early February. "Normally , it is the administrative ministry that should aggressively push for the resolution of this problem," said an industry representative. "But in this case, it is the finance ministry that is taking the initiative." The government had issued Rs 27,500-crore worth of bonds to fertiliser companies in lieu of subsidies for 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Some of these companies had sold Rs 13,611 crore worth of these bonds at a discount after they failed to find ready takers for them. This led to a loss for these firms, which was pegged at Rs 543.3 crore at the end of March 2009. They are ready to sell the remaining bonds at a loss of about Rs 1,400 crore if there is a commitment from the government that the losses will be made good. The finance ministry had in October agreed to compensate the fertiliser firms but the department of fertilisers has not yet moved a detailed note on the issue. "There is simply no market whatsoever for these 20-year bonds," said a Fertiliser Association of India official. "Should we manage to sell them, the industry will end up suffering a big loss against a backdrop of higher interest rate and a consequent drop in the value of the bonds."

The market is currently valuing these special securities at a discount of over 10% of their face value. This means that a bond holder will receive only Rs 90 for a bond worth Rs 100. The discount is highest in the bonds issued in the last two tranches because the coupon on them was 6% against the current benchmark rate of over 8%. Bond prices and interest rates move in opposite directions.

The lack of urgency is despite estimates that the annual fertiliser consumption will shoot up 20% under the new nutrient-based subsidy scheme, which means resolution of liquidity problems of fertiliser companies is critical. The worries of fertiliser companies over unpaid dues by the government do not end with the bonds.

Rallis buys majority stake in biotech firm Metahelix

The Hindu Business Line - December 10, 2010

With a view to stepping up its revenues in the seeds space, Rallis India, a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Ltd, announced on Thursday that it has acquired a majority stake in Metahelix Life Sciences Ltd.

“Over the last few years we contracted our seeds part of the business. But with this acquisition we expect an addition cumulative revenue of Rs 1,000 crore by 2015,” said Mr V. Shankar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Rallis India.

The company has picked up a stake of 53.5 per cent in Metahelix for Rs 99.5 crore and in the next five years Rallis plans to pick up 100 per cent stake progressively.

“Farmer adoption of good hybrid seeds is rapidly growing and with this newly acquired strength, Rallis will be in a firm position to provide a portfolio of seeds for the farmers,” he added.

Rallis will continue to invest in the company and subscribe to an additional equity of Rs 25 crore to increase its stake in Metahelix to 59.02 per cent soon.

“We will be investing further. In the first quarter of the next fiscal we will make a further investment. The investment will focus on R&D and if there is need we would invest in processing facilities,” said Mr Shankar.

The Indian seeds market is currently the sixth largest in the world at Rs 6,500 crore. “It is large market and growing at 12-13 per cent per annum. We expect this to grow faster in the future,” added Mr Shankar.

Metahelix has a product portfolio in rice, maize, millets and vegetable seeds along with good germplasm with many exciting products in the pipeline. It has nationwide sales presence through Dhaanya Seeds, sold through around 1,000 distributors. Metahelix is the first Indian company to have a proprietary Bt trait, cry1C approved in cotton.

He added that Rallis has no plans to change the employees or promoters of Metahelix. Sales would continue under the Dhaanya Seeds brand of Metahelix.

United Phosphorus to launch 12 hybrid vegetable seeds

The Hindu Business Line - December 8, 2010

United Phosphorus Ltd, the country's largest agro-chemical company, is betting big on the domestic hybrid seeds market, having firmed up plans to launch a clutch of new branded hybrid vegetable seeds, ranging from tomatoes to green peas, next year.

Although hybrid seeds today account for an insignificant portion of the estimated $1.1 billion Indian seeds and seedlings market, this segment is beginning to gain currency in the farming community.

“We will be launching hybrid seeds for 12 different vegetables next year, starting with a tomato variety in April 2011 which we have decided to brand as Gazanan — the USP of this variety, apart from higher yield, is that it can be sown in 10 months in a year, unlike the traditional tomato crop,” Mr Bhupen Dubey, Head-Integrated Business, UPL, told Business Line.

Un-seasonal rains

The company had initially planned to release the hybrid for sowing in 40,000 acres, but the un-seasonal rains that destroyed the pollen had impacted seed production. “We may limit our initial release (of the seed variety) for about 20,000 acres,” he said.

This will be followed by release of hybrid seeds of chillies (two varieties), green peas, French beans, okhra and a few other vegetables. “China uses 60 per cent of its total seed requirement under hybrid varieties. We see this segment growing at a faster rate in India. We are targeting to increase our turnover from seeds business from the present $160 million to $500 million in the next three to four years,” Mr Dubey said.

He was in Hyderabad in connection with a farmers meet for interaction on its Aneeta Hybrid seeds, a high yielding Ridge Gourd, produced by its group company Advanta India.

Acquisitions

UPL, which undertook a string of acquisitions in the last few years ending with buying DuPont's Mancozeb fungicide business earlier this year, is looking out for fresh acquisitions in the agro-chemical segment globally. “The global chemical industry is witnessing a consolidation and we are looking out for opportunities,” Mr Dubey said.

The company, which is having about Rs 2,100 crore cash reserves, could use almost half this amount as its war chest for the acquisitions, which are likely to be in the niche segments with registrations in developed markets, rather than big-ticket buyouts.

NABARD allocates Rs 750 cr more for crop loan refinance in AP

Business Standard, December 7,2010

NABARD has made an additional allocation of Rs 750 crore for providing refinance to Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in Andhra Pradesh keeping in view the seasonal agricultural operations (crop loans) of thee banks.

Of this fresh allocation, Rs 600 crore has been earmarked for Cooperative Banks while the remaining amount was allocated to RRBs. This is in addition to the existing limits of Rs 2550 crore including 1580 croe to Cooperative Banks and 970 crore to RRBs.

With the additional allocation , the total allocation of refinace under production credit in the state has gone upto Rs 3300 crore for the current financial year, an increase of 38 per cent over the total allocation of Rs 2397 crores druing the last year.

NABARD has increased the allocation to take care of the increased credit demand of farmers generated in the state on account of favourable monsoon this year. The credit needs of farmers affected by recent floods also would be taken care of by this additional allocation, the release said.

There is a buoyancy in the ground - level credit and banks are expecting that the credit demand will increase during the ongoing Rabi season as most of the irrigation projects are full to the brim.

As against Rs 1580 crore allocation for the current year, the Cooperative Banks have already drawn refinance Rs 1383 crore from NABARD while RRBs have availed refinance of Rs 926 crore as against allocation of Rs 970 crore .

Land diversion makes case for intensive, modern farming

The Economic Times dt.27/11/2010

NEW DELHI: The acquisition of farm land for industrial and infrastructure use is beginning to show up in substantial numbers, indicating an urgent need to get more out of declining agricultural land to moderate the price pressure on food items.

Government data shows agricultural land has declined to 182.4 million hectare in 2007-08 from 183 million hectares in 2004-05 , a drop of nearly 600 thousand hectares, slightly less than that used for jute cultivation every year.
Land acquisition has increased for various non-agricultural needs such as special economic zones, urbanisation , power projects, roads and mining. As a result, the percent share of agricultural land has declined to 59.7% in 2007-08 from 59.9% in 2004-05 , the agriculture ministry said in response to a question in Parliament.

The impact of this diversion would depend on whether the land was yielding two crops or a single one.

India is already battling a double digit food inflation, which is now beginning to be blamed on structural reasons and not just temporary demand-supply mismatch because of one off reasons such as drought or floods. "Continued stickiness in Primary Articles is possibly due to the growing dominance of structural factors (rising incomes, changing dietary patterns towards protein-rich items, and stagnant yields),” said Citi economists Rohini Malkani and Anushka Shah in a recent research note.

Inflation in food articles has dropped to 10.15% for the week ended November 13 from over 20% at the beginning of the year, but a large part of the decline is because of the base effect, or rising inflation at the same time last year. However, farm experts are not perturbed by the diversion of farm land for other use, saying that the real issue is not land, but farm productivity.

“Over the years, agricultural area will come down as there are other uses where returns are more,” said PK Joshi, director, National Academy of Agricultural Research and Management , Hyderabad.
India has more agricultural land than China, but its farm output is much less because of a sharply lower per hectare yield for most crops, thanks to outdated agricultural practices, poor use of inputs and fragmented land that makes mechanisation difficult.

Independent estimates put India’s crop land at 170 million hectare as compared to 135 million hectare for China, but the latter manages to produce more from the smaller area it has under cultivation.
In 2008, for instance, China produced 112 million tonne of wheat, but India managed only 78.6 million tonne, says Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Similar differences exist in other farm produce as well. "We need to increase the cropping intensity, plot more shorter duration crops, and also target higher productivity. These will help compensate for the decline in land,” Mr Joshi said.

Nabard may soon fund Indians setting up farms abroad

Business Line - Hyderabad, Nov 26

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is likely to extend funding to agricultural enterprises wishing to set up farming estates abroad, according to its Managing Director, Dr K.G. Karmakar.

Speaking at a seed-industry-bankers workshop, organised by the Andhra Pradesh Regional Office of Nabard here on Friday, Mr Karmakar said there are opportunities for Indian farmers to take up agriculture in countries in Africa, Georgia, Ukraine and Ethiopia, among others.

Nabard was also in the process of concluding a deal with an Israeli Fund for research and technology transfer in agriculture, he said.

“I will be travelling to Israel soon for taking this forward. The fund could also be utilised for promoting Indian agri ventures overseas,” he said.

Mr Karmakar also asked the seed industry to come up with specific research proposals especially in pulses and oil seeds and other vegetable oils as there was a definite need. Nabard was keen on furthering research in the seed-industry, he added.

Currently, it has three funds — R&D fund, rural innovation fund and farmer technology transfer fund with a combined outlay of about Rs 200 crore.

On the concerns in the seed industry, he said: “At present, the major concern is lower seed germination rate. It should not be anything less than 90 per cent. But today, 55-60 per cent is also being accepted.” The rising cost of seeds, replacement of seeds (at 15 per cent currently), lack of any break-through in oilseeds, pulses research, thinning of talent were other major concerns, he added.

Mr P. Mohaniah, Chief General Manager, Nabard, Andhra Pradesh, said the one-day workshop was being organised to draw a framework for addressing the credit needs of the seed industry and public private partnership.

“Another issue is how to make quality seeds available to farmers,” he said.

Mr Karmakar had earlier formally released a national status paper on the seed industry. The seed industry had a turnover of Rs 4,900 crore last year with a growth rate of 1.3 per cent a year. The production of seeds had grown from one lakh quintals in 1960 to 120 lakh quintals in 2009-10. About 60 per cent of the market is catered to by 600 private companies including multinationals.

Tata Chemicals launches customised fertiliser

The Hindubusinessline -New Delhi, Nov. 22

Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL), on Monday, announced the launch of ‘Paras Farmoola', the country's first ever customised fertiliser product specifically targeted at farmers in western-central Uttar Pradesh (UP).

“The first truckload has already been despatched to the trade for use by wheat farmers this rabi season. We hope this will encourage others to also come out with products customised for specific crops and regions,” Mr R. Mukundan, Managing Director, TCL, told presspersons here.

Deepak Fertilisers, Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals and Coromandel International are among those which propose to introduce customised fertiliser formulations.

TCL's first ‘Paras Farmoola' offering – designed for wheat grown in the Agra, Meerut, Bareilly, Moradabad and Kanpur commissionerates – contains 10 per cent nitrogen (N), 18 per cent phosphorus (P), 25 per cent potash (K), 3 per cent sulphur (S) and 0.5 per cent zinc.

“Wheat farmers now apply one 50 kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) costing around Rs 500, half-a-bag of muriate of potash (MOP) costing Rs 130 and 10 kg of zinc sulphate (ZnS) costing Rs 400 on every acre at the time of sowing. Besides, they use two bags of urea (Rs 265 each) while irrigating the standing crop. The total cost of fertilisers comes to roughly Rs 1,560 an acre, against which they obtain an average yield of 12 quintals,” noted Mr B.B. Singh, General Manager (Business Development), TCL.

With the customised fertiliser, the farmer can do away with DAP, MOP or ZnS and, instead, just apply four bags of ‘Paras Farmoola' (costing Rs 600 each) as a basal dose, followed by the usual two bags of urea.

“The total fertiliser cost here works out higher (at Rs 2,930). But then, the farmer will get 22 quintals an acre, with this additional 10 quintals worth over Rs 11,000,” claimed Mr Singh.

In the pipeline

TCL would be launching a similar customised product for sugarcane farmers of western-central UP next month, containing 7 per cent N, 20 per cent P, 18 per cent K, 6 per cent S and 0.5 per cent zinc. This would also be priced at Rs 600 a bag to the farmer.

“Cane growers in the region now use as many as four bags of DAP, two bags of MOP, 10 kg of ZnS and three bags of urea and get 25-26 tonnes an acre. We are recommending just four bags of Paras Farmoola and three bags of urea for obtaining 35 tonnes. In this case, the farmer not only harvests a higher yield, but also saves on fertiliser cost,” Mr Singh added.

Two more plants

For manufacturing the customised fertilisers, TCL has set up a Rs 60-crore 130,000 tonnes per annum facility at its existing urea unit at Babrala in UP, with technology sourced from A.J. Sackett of the US. The company intends to establish two more plants, involving a total outlay of Rs 110 crore, in West Bengal and UP.

Customised fertiliser manufacture basically involves mixing and crushing of urea, DAP, MOP, ZnS, bentonite sulphur and boron granules for obtaining the desired proportion of N, P, K, S and micronutrients. The mixture is subjected to steam injection, drying, sieving and cooling, so as to get a uniform product with every grain having the same nutrient composition.

Customised fertilisers are currently not covered under the Centre's nutrient based subsidy (NBS) regime. Companies, however, are entitled to claim subsidy on the urea, DAP and MOP used in their manufacture. “If the idea to deliver nutrients to crops, there is no reason why the NBS should not be extended to customised fertilisers,” noted Mr Satish Chander, Director-General, Fertiliser Association of India.

'Let's give a better deal to farmers'

The Economic Times dt/2011/10

US President Barack Obama recently spoke of India and US jointly strengthening agriculture and sparking a second evergreen revolution. A breakthrough in agricultural research and technology is imperative to raise yields across crops, give a better deal to farmers and provide food security to millions of poor. Rajju D Shroff , chairman of Delhi-based Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) and managing director of United Phosphorous, is convinced about better farm practices leading to a dramatic improvement in yields.
"In Tamil Nadu, Rallis India successfully demonstrated a 40% jump in pulses yield with proper farm practices. This was replicated by United Phosphorous for sugarcane in south Gujarat. However, we need to increase the awareness among farmers to adopt better practices. Experts from UPL guided farmers on scientific methods such as seed dressing where the seeds are dipped with fungicides before they are sown to prevent soil-borne diseases, the distance at which they should be planted, how much and when water, fertilisers, and what preventive pesticide-sprays should be used. The results made our demonstration farm alive learning example for farmers from all parts of the country," Shroff says.

CCFI plans to bring together stakeholders not just from the agrochemicals industry, but also sectors like seeds, farm machinery, irrigation and the dairy sector to brainstorm on ways to improve low farm yields. "We expect these issues to be debated well at a seminar early next month on rural prosperity through better agriculture," he says.

The production of pulses, for instance, has stagnated over the years, forcing the country to depend on imports. Prices have soared globally, too. Clearly, augmenting domestic production is the key challenge before the technology mission on pulses.

According to Shroff, a major problem bogging down farm yields is the supply of spurious agrochemical products. Duplicate pesticides, valued at Rs 1,500 crore, are sold in the domestic market annually. "Those indulging in the supply of spurious pesticides escape with minor penalty. This has encouraged even larger players to indulge in such malpractices. Recently, for instance, a publicly listed company was found to be illegally exporting herbicide glyphosate to an African country using the brand name and registration number of another listed company. The CCFI has sought a cancellation of the former's licence," he said.

Shroff says it is not easy to discover spurious products and hundreds of small offenders who go scot free. "Spurious products give insufficient pest protection. Farmers lose money buying these products and also their crops to pest attacks, leading to a vicious cycle of debt and poverty," he says.

The other problem that the CCFI wants to deal with is the poor public perception of the agrochemical industry, with reports on pesticide residues, many of which are dubious. "We have proved, many times, that the data used by researchers is faulty. Most of them are unwilling to share their raw data. So, we are using the RTI Act to obtain data, but that is a time-consuming process. Unfortunately, even the legal system today doesn't take any punitive action against claims that have been proven as false," he said.

In one case, an NGO found traces of harmful agrochemicals in vegetables in Delhi's mandi, but it was eventually proven that the data was fabricated. In another instance, pesticides were claimed to have found in vegetables that have been banned not just in India but the world over for decades. If the products have long been discontinued, how can one find its traces today?

In fact, the country's premier institute for agricultural research Indian Agricultural Research Institute conducts annual surveys of agricommodities at farm level with over 5,200 samples. "Their research shows not more than 3% of samples at the farm level have agrochemical traces. Even in a country like Germany around 5% of farmgate samples have agrochemical traces," Shroff says.

The process of negating false claims takes long. In fact, India's agrochemical consumption is abysmally low at below 600 gram per hectare as compared with between 3 kg and 10 kg in advanced countries such as the US or Japan. Raising consumption - right type of agro-chemicals at right time - holds a key to improving to farm yields. This has been demonstrated in other developed countries, he claims. Rajju D Shroff

Double kisan credit card cap, banks told

The Economic Times 20/11/10

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry has nudged banks to double the limit on short-term crop loans under collateral-free loans under the kisan credit card scheme, as it looks to increase agricultural credit, but banks are wary of an increase in bad loans.

“We are not forcing banks,” said a senior finance ministry official, admitting that the ministry has suggested banks to explore the opportunity. “They should do their due diligence as required. However, if there is a case they may ease the norms as applicable,” he said, requesting anonymity.

State Bank of India , the country’s largest lender, has already raised the limit to . 2 lakh. “We’ve increased the limit for loans under kisan credit card scheme by . 1 lakh to provide further support to both small and medium scale farmers,” said a senior official with State Bank of India.

Under the new guidelines, the bank will lend collateral-free loans up to . 2 lakh to farmers with a clean track record for the three previous years.

Under the kisan credit card scheme, banks offer short-term credit to farmers for meeting expenses on seeds, cultivation and purchase of inputs such as read fertilisers.

In 2009-10 , banks disbursed . 34,982 crore under the scheme. The total credit offered by banks to agriculture sector was . 3,66,919 crore. By the end of March 2010, . 4,17,326 crore was extended to farmers through the kisan credit card scheme. Banks are upset about coercion by the government to increase lending limit under the scheme.

“The government should look whether they are pushing farmers into a debt trap by easing norms. Already there have been issues with recovery of loans under the debt relief scheme,” said the chairman of a south-based public sector bank.

RBI data shows that the total non-performing assets of public sector banks in agriculture stood at . 8,330 crore at the end of March 2010.

Domestic banks are required to set aside 40% of their credit towards priority sectors. Within this, the target for agriculture loans is 18%.

NABARD, the apex institution for the development of farm sector, had recently suggested deeper penetration for KCCs, citing evidence that crop yield per hectare was higher for farmers holding these cards as their crops received timely inputs.

Climate change will prove a blessing for AP: Study

Times of india dt.19/11/10

‘Rising Temperature Will Increase The Productivity Of Rice, Maize And Coconut In Coastal Andhra In The Next Two Decades’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: After a series of natural calamities that wreaked havoc on the state in the last two years, a major government study has concluded that Andhra Pradesh will be a major beneficiary of the climate change that will take place in the country in the next 20 years.
Commissioned by the Union environment and forests ministry, the study titled ‘Climate Change and India: A 4x4 Assessment-A Sectoral and Regional Analysis for 2030s’ was conducted by Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment which comprised 120 institutions and over 220 scientists and the report was released by the ministry last Tuesday.
The study focused on the four climate sensitive regions of India, namely, the Himalayan, Western Ghats, Coastal and North-Eastern region. The four key sectors that were taken up were agriculture, water, natural ecosystem & biodiversity, and health. Of these, AP is slated to considerably gain in the agriculture and health sectors.
As per the study, the temperature in 2030 in comparison to the temperature in the 1970s in the eastern coastal region will increase by 1.6 degrees Celsius to 2.1 degrees Celsius. By 2030, the number of rainy days in the coastal region including AP is likely to decrease by 1-5 days, while the intensity of rainfall is likely to increase between 1 mm to 4 mm per day. With regard to increase in rainfall, the eastern coastal region is likely to see an increase of annual rainfall between 0.2 to 4.4 per cent. While the study predicted that the cyclonic disturbances in both the coasts will decrease by 2030, it cautioned that they would be more intense.
This warming of the climate and increase in precipitation over the next two decades will work to the advantage of Andhra Pradesh by increasing the productivity of rice, maize and coconut, the major crops of the state’s coastal region, the study held.According to the report, the changes in the weather are conducive to fertilization in the major crops. As for rice, the yield will increase by 10 per cent throughout the coastal region while the rise in north Andhra Pradesh will be less than 5 per cent.
As far as maize crop is concerned, the study predicts that the climate change will adversely affect most of the 9,000-km long coast of the country, but benefit most of the coastal districts in the state. While the changes will lead to a much higher projected yield loss of irrigated maize between 15 and 50 per cent, the yield loss of rain-fed maize will be about 35 per cent. “In some districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, rain-fed maize yields are likely to increase by 10 per cent,” the study said.
With regard to the coconut crop, the study predicted a 10 per cent increase in coconut yield in north-coastal Andhra but said the yield in other coastal Andhra districts, Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will be adversely affected by about 40 per cent.
For AP, an important benefit with regard to the climate change is in the health sector. According to the study, the rise in temperature over the next two decades will become unfavourable for the spread of malaria, which kills thousands of people in the state every year. “In southern coastal districts of AP, the transmission window for the malaria parasite will be only 4-6 months in 2030 in comparison to 7-9 months in the baseline scenario of 1970,” the study said, adding that this would mean that the chances of getting infected by the parasite will drastically fall in the north coastal part which bears the brunt of the disease every year

Kissan Call Centres gaining popularity among Indian farmers

Indian Express 17/11/10

With over 55 lakh calls received till October this year since its launch, Kissan Call Centres (KCC), established to provide instant farm solutions, are increasingly gaining popularity among Indian farmers.

Launched in 2004, at present 25 KCC (Kissan Call Centres) are functioning at different locations across the country.

According to official data, these centres received 55.75 lakh calls till October 2010.
The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) under the Agriculture Ministry, had launched KCC service in January 2004 to deliver extension services to the farming community. The purpose of these call centres is to instantly respond to the issues raised by farmers and provide them solution in their local language.
An evaluation study of KCC conducted by Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College, which submitted its report in July 2007, had pointed that the current level of participation of women farmers was negligible.

Global Agriculture machinery makers bullish on Indian market

The Economic Times dt 18/11/10

growing shortage of farm hands and smaller land holdings are forcing many farmers to mechanise their farms, allowing multinational agri implement companies to tap into Indian market. A 2006 study by consulting firm Zinnov said that the agri equipment market in India would grow at a compounded rate of 5% between 2006 and 2010 to touch $8 billion.

Today, a large number of Chinese, Japanese, American and Italian firms has forged alliances with Indian companies. These include Kuboto and Mitsubishi of Japan, Zhejiang Sifang of China, John Deere of the US and New Holland of Italy .

With most of these implements eligible for bank funding, financing is also not a major issue. In Punjab, for instance, the state government has been giving subsidies to farmers purchasing farm machineries like tillers and paddy transplantors through a central scheme from the Agricultural Product Pattern Adjustment Programme .

HR Ravindranath, regional manager of Kolkata-based Ganga Motors, which sells the Sifang range of tillers, says Indian farmers prefer to buy their equipment as the product is competitively priced. The market for tillers in India is placed around 45,000 units of which close to 6,000 are sold in Karnataka alone. Similarly, John Deere, which recently introduced heavy duty 89-HP tractor, is also looking at entering the tiller market.

Zhejiang Sifang, which was founded in 1961, has a number of tie-up including Souza Machinery of Bangalore and Ganga Motors. It is the growing demand for tillers which saw Bangalore-based VST Tillers partner with Mitsubishi over three decades to launch the first of its tillers in the country.

Potato farmers in Punjab have been aggressively buying a variety of imported implements. These include potato graders from New Zealand’s Wyma, potato planters from Italy’s Spedo and potato harvetser from Italy’s Titunni.

However, not all are convinced with the utility of agri implements. Vikram Ahuja of Zamindara Farm Solutions recounts how square balers and rakes (used to collect paddy straw) were found to be economically unviable by marginal and medium farmers. Farmers are often forced to undertake change in planting methodologies.

M&M to expand tractor output to 3 lakh units

Hindu Businessline dt .12/11/10

Mahindra & Mahindra plans to expand its tractor production capacity to over three lakh units in two years.

This marks a 50 per cent jump from the present level of two lakh units from the Mahindra and Swaraj brands across five plants. The company will expand capacity in its existing units by ten per cent and set up a new plant in South India, with a capacity of 75,000 to one lakh tractors.

“The new plant will be ready by financial year 2013,” said Mr Avinash Patankar, Senior Vice-President, Mahindra Farm Equipment Sector.

Yuvraj

M&M is also doubling production of its low-cost tractor Yuvraj at local partner Deepak Diesel's plant at Rajkot. Monthly sales of the Rs 1.75 lakh product are around 750 units and test marketing is underway in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

“We will sell Yuvraj in six States by the end of this year. The national launch will be next year,” said Mr Sanjeev Goyle, Senior Vice-President, Marketing.

The company has targeted annual sales of at least 25,000 units of Yuvraj in the immediate future. It has worked out a production model where the tractor will be assembled by a local partner in regional markets. Output from Rajkot is adequate to meet market demand for the next two years.

Awards

Mahindra FES has instituted the ‘Mahindra Samridhi India Agri Awards' which will recognise contributions from individuals and organisations towards development of Indian agriculture, thereby enhancing rural prosperity.

The award will also acknowledge the best farmer, lady farmer, agricultural university, non-government organisations, and individuals for their contribution to agriculture growth at regional and national levels.

AP to offer subsidy for rabi paddy seeds

Hindu Businessline dt.10/11/10

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, on Tuesday approved a proposal to provide subsidy for paddy seeds for rabi season cultivation to all the farmers affected by the recent floods.

As per preliminary estimates, about 2.93 lakh hectares of agricultural crops were affected due to heavy rains across 13 districts and over 2.85 lakh hectares of paddy crop.

ID cards

Following a review meeting with the Agricultural Department, the Chief Minister agreed to the proposal of issuing identity cards for tenant farmers for every crop or for one year so that they can get seeds and fertiliser subsidy, crop loans and crop insurance.

He approved a proposal to fill up vacancies of 561 posts of scientists in the AP Agricultural University. This will help to impart quality education, high-end research and better coordination and linkages with farming community. The Agriculture Department was directed to notify the worst flood affected mandals to facilitate rescheduling of crop loans and issue of fresh loans to farmers.

JUDICIAL PROBE

Earlier, Mr Rosaiah while expressing anguish at the charges of corruption made by the Telugu Desam President, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, said “he would order a judicial probe into the wealth owned by him and Mr Naidu, provided this proposal is agreeable.”

Reacting to some recent accusations against his Government, Mr Rosaiah said that the Government has made all necessary arrangements to provide relief and rehabilitation to those affected by floods.

DuPont eyes $1 b India sales by 2012

Hindubusinessline dt.10/11/10

DuPont is eyeing a turnover of over $1 billion from its India operations by 2012.

“Emerging markets accounted for 31 per cent of our $26.1 billion sales in 2009. We see this share rising, in which India will certainly have a part to play”, Ms Ellen Kullman, Chair and CEO of the Wilmington (Delaware)-headquartered US multinational, told select media persons here on Tuesday.

DuPont India expects do business of $700 million in the current calendar year, about 32 per cent of which would come from its crop protection chemicals (such as ‘Coragen' and ‘Avaunt' insecticides) and seeds (Pioneer Hi-Bred) operations. Another 25 per cent would be accounted for by automotives (paints, engineering polymers, ‘Kevlar' brake linings, etc), with construction (20 per cent) and others (23 per cent) making up the balance.

“Our sales growth averaged 21 per cent during 2003-08, which we anticipate at 26 per cent during 2009-12. India is currently our tenth largest geography and we aspire to take this up to No. 5”, said Mr Balvinder S Kalsi, President (South Asia), DuPont.

Ms Kullman was particularly bullish on the company's agriculture business.

“Out of the $1.4 billion that we invested in R&D in 2009, 50 per cent was dedicated for increased food production. We are working on developing traits for drought tolerance and improved nitrogen use efficiency in crops such as rice and corn that has relevance for India”, she noted.



DuPont India has three production facilities at Savli (near Vadodara, for crop protection products, performance polymers and refinish paints), Medchal (near Hyderabad, for ‘Pioneer' seeds) and Madurai (for filaments and ‘Teflon' non-stick coatings). Besides, there is a DuPont Knowledge Centre at Hyderabad, which is one of its seven global R&D centres outside the US.

“We have invested over Rs 150 crore in this facility, which has 360-plus people from material sciences, biology, chemistry and engineering backgrounds working under one roof. The Centre has generated nine patent applications in less than two years' time,” said the Centre's Director, Dr Homi Bhedwar.

Ms Kullman was evasive on the company's future manufacturing plans in India, including the prospects of producing titanium di-oxide (which it now imports for various paints and coating applications). “We are the world's largest titanium di-oxide producer. Our last plant came up in Taiwan in 1994 and we may need one more for the next decade,” she added.

Nabard sanctions Rs 58 crore

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 58 crore across the state under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

Nabard has sanctioned Rs 49.11 crore for the construction of four horticulture degree colleges and Rs 8.91 crore for four polytechnic colleges in eight districts of Andhra Pradesh. The fund will be used to construct college buildings and hostels for the students.

The infrastructure will facilitate horticulture education, research, and technology transfer to the rural economy and the academic needs of the professional diploma and graduate students of horticulture, P Mohanaiah, chief general manager, Nabard, said in a press release.

The colleges will be located in rural areas, the release stated.

AP to reschedule crop loans in rain-ravaged mandals

Hindu Businessline

Hyderabad, Nov. 8

Faced with widespread loss to the farm sector due to the recent rains, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to reschedule crop loans, facilitate new loans for sowing during Rabi season and offer additional seed subsidy to farmers in the badly impacted mandals of the State.

This decision follows a meeting at State Secretariat where several Cabinet colleagues interacted with the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, to take stock of the latest flood situation and necessary follow-up measures.

Addressing a press conference, the Agriculture Minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said more than 2.84 lakh hectares of paddy fields have been affected due to the recent rains.

This will not only impact the farmers financially but also hamper their ability to repay loans.

Rythu Pragati in guntur

Rythu Pragati is a 4 day tradeshow of agriculture inputs, equipments, technology, services, rural development and rural market.. The tradeshow is laced with seminar & conference. The event is scheduled from 6 to 9 March 2011 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh Farmers from across AP and Agri stake holders from across the country will be mobilized for the event. Over 250 private, Govt organizations will showcase during the show.


Tradeshow:
Objective of the tradeshow is to provide knowledge to farmers about latest agri equipments, technologies and services. The event will also expose them to best farming practices, government/institutional assistance, various schemes, and post harvest management. Over 200 exhibitors representing private sector, government, financial institutions and development bodies will showcase various products and services such as farm equipments, schemes, inputs, technology, best agri practices etc.

Seminar
The concurrent Agriculture seminar will be attended by personal & policy makers from Central & State Governments, Department of Agriculture & Rural developments, Agriculture extension development bodies, private & public enterprises and scientific community. Experts will steer various topics/issues. The meet will also encourage & focus on opportunities for private investment in contract farming, food processing, storage, marketing, agricultural services and agri infrastructure. The Government will be encouraged to showcase investment opportunities as well as received and give clearance to project proposals from Private sector

For more Details
vinod@blazon.co.in

Finland keen on funding small agri-biz units in developing nations

Hindu Business Line - Hyderabad, Oct. 29

The Agri-Business Incubator (ABI), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT), has joined hands with Information for Development (InfoDev) of the World Bank Group, Government of Finland, and Nokia for agri-business incubation.

The development came during the concluding day of the meeting of Community of Practices (CoP) here on Thursday. Established within the framework of the ‘Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy' project, InfoDev's agri-business CoP was launched at a kick-off meeting organised jointly by ICRISAT and InfoDev, during the three-day meet.

More for Developing Nations

“Our financing support will further increase in the coming years for agri-business through ICRISAT, as Finland is now keen on more funding for agri-business in the developing countries. Since 2002, Finland has been extending overseas assistance to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in various areas, but not substantially for agri-business, which we now intend to change,” said Mr Pekka Puustinen, Deputy Director General, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

OBJECTIVES

“The meeting brought together more than 50 participants from 15 different countries, with the objectives to understand the key challenges and opportunities for agri-business in developing countries and emerging markets, and to share successful incubator models that have supported and graduated successful agribusiness SMEs (small and medium enterprises),” said Mr Steve Giddings, Consultant, Incubator Initiative, InfoDev.

Dr William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT, informed that a Global Agri-Business Incubation Conference would be held at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, from February 7 to February 9, 2011, where CoP implementation would also be reviewed. The conference would be followed by another agri-business conference in Helsinki, Finland, during May-June 2011.

The meeting culminated in the development of InfoDev's agribusiness Community of Practice's (CoP) preliminary work plan and deliverables for 2010-2012.

Buhler to offer high-speed rice milling machines - Focusing on grain warehousing technology also

Hindu Business Line dt 30/10/2010

Swiss grains processing technology major – Buhler is eyeing a Rs 1,000 crore-plus turnover from its Indian operations by 2014.

“For the current calendar year, we expect to do business of Rs 450 crore. This, we hope to more than double and cross Rs 1,000 crore in the next four years”, Mr Dipak Mane, Managing Director, Buhler (India) Pvt Ltd, told presspersons here on Friday.

More than half of the 1.8 billion Swiss Franc (Rs 8,100 crore) company's sales in India are from supply of rice milling and colour sorting plants. The rest is accounted for by flour and feed milling, die-casting, pasta, and chocolate plants.

From 10% to over 50%


“Since starting our operations here in 1991, we have installed over 200 complete rice mills, which covers engineering and supplying the entire basic plant and machinery for cleaning, de-stoning, hulling, whitening (bran removal) and polishing. This apart, we have supplied equipment for individual sections from whitening and polishing to grading and colour sorting,” noted Mr Mane.

Around 20 years back, hardly 10 per cent of the paddy produced in the country was being processed in modern mills, capable of handling at least five tonnes an hour. That proportion, according to Mr Mane, has now crossed 50 per cent, even as the country's (actually the world's) largest rice mill at Dhuri in Punjab, belonging to KRBL Ltd, has a capacity of 150 tonnes/hour.

“When we began, the industry standard for single milling lines was five tonnes/hour. Today, it is 8-10 tonnes/hour. From next year, we will be offering 15-20 tonnes/hour lines,” he said, adding that Buhler has a 25 per cent share in the domestic market for rice milling and colour sorting equipment.

Buhler also claims to have a 50 per cent share of the country's wheat flour milling plant market, which is, however, smaller in comparison to rice mills. Of the 75 million tonnes of wheat that is produced in the country, only about 15 million tonnes is processed in roller flour mills, with 60 tonnes/day or more capacity. The bulk, 80 per cent, is milled in ordinary chakkis or stone grinders.

The other area that Buhler is focussing on — following its recent global acquisition of Schmidt-Seeger, a Germany company — is grain warehousing technology. Schmidt-Seeger supplied the entire handling, drying and storage systems for Adani Agri Logistics's 6,30,000-tonne grain terminals, set up under a BOO (Build, Own, Operate) contract with the Food Corporation of India

Ringing in a revolution

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/indicus-analytics-ringing-inrevolution/412896/

The rollout of telecom services has been phenomenal over the past few years. Tele-density has shot up from around 9 per cent in 2005 to 57 per cent in August 2010, with more than 15 million mobile phone subscribers added every month over the past year. The rise in the number of mobile or wireless subscribers has been accompanied by a decline in landline or wireline connections, since people are giving up what once used to be a much sought-after phone connection. Tele-density in the wireline and wireless segments was at similar levels of about 4 per cent coverage each in 2005; according to latest estimates for August 2010 while wireline tele-density is 3.02 per cent, wireless tele-density stands at 56.61 per cent.

There are, of course, certain caveats to celebrating this rise, e.g. in metros, many people would have multiple prepaid connections to their name. This makes comparison across states problematic, especially when we see a near-200 per cent tele-density in Delhi-NCR service area and then compare it to the lowest figure of around 32 per cent in Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand.


Rural India, of course, lags the cities. While rural tele-density has risen by 10 percentage points over the year to touch 25 per cent by June 2010, urban tele-density is up 47 percentage points over the same period year, at 120 per cent. Rural tele-density is highest in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, while Madhya Pradesh and Bihar service areas, which include Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, have the lowest rural tele-density rates of less than 20 per cent. The Universal Service Obligation Fund created in 2002 to create infrastructure in rural areas has not delivered as promised, despite telecom operators paying 5 per cent of annual revenues towards this fund.(Click here for table & graph)

Internet penetration is another measure of connectivity. The number of internet users is estimated at 81 million, according to International Telecommunications Union data; and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India sets the number of broadband subscribers at 10.08 million in August 2010. The government programme of setting up Common Service Centres (CSC), one for every six villages, was launched in 2006, to facilitate e-governance, education, health, telemedicine and other services, through a private-public partnership. The scheme is close to its target of covering all villages by March 2011; as of August 2010, 20 states have a more than 70 per cent rollout, three states have crossed the halfway mark and the remainder have more than half their target to cover. Though there are many success stories from around the country, there are also many glitches — while Haryana reports 100 per cent CSC rollout, 561 out of the 1,159 CSCs are non-operational due to termination of the service centre agency. The situation is similar in some other states, so the actual rollout is different from the number stated.

Connectivity is set to expand across the country, especially with the mobile phone enabling internet access; however, despite the telecom sector being one of the fastest-growing sectors in India, there is ample scope and urgent need for reform and transparency. It is a no-brainer that the future lies in ICT (information and communication technology), the faster and more complete the coverage, the better the prospects for inclusive growth and development.

Indian States Development Scorecard is a weekly feature by Indicus Analytics that focuses on the progress in India and the states across various socio-economic parameters.
sumita@indicus.net

Rosaiah calls for white revolution

The Hindu dt.28/10/10

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said here on Wednesday that a subsidy of Rs.15,000 would be provided to mini dairies as part of efforts to step up milk production in the State.

Addressing a convention of ‘Gopalamithras' after inaugurating a vaccine production facility of the Veterinary Biological Research Institute (VBRI), he said AP was currently in the second position in milk production and there was a need for collective effort to make it attain the first spot. Currently AP topped in egg production ( 104 lakh MTs) and in meat output ( 6.80 lakh MTs) and contributed nearly 16 per cent of the meat production in the country.

Budget increased

Emphasising the important role played by livestock in improving the rural economy, he said the State budget for Animal Husbandry sector went up from Rs.200 crore to Rs.400 crore in the last six years.

Pointing out that the milk productivity of buffaloes in advanced countries was 16 litres per animal per day, he said it was only around 3 to 4 litres in the State and called for efforts to enhance it. As part of livestock development measures, the Government had initiated special schemes like pasu kranthi, sheep and cattle insurance, mass sheep and goat de-worming and foot and mouth disease control programme.

Honorarium enhanced

Minister for Animal Husbandry K. Partha Saradhi said steps were on to enhance the milk productivity of buffaloes in the State through artificial insemination.

He said the Government had recently enhanced the honorarium of Gopalamithras from Rs.1200 to Rs.2,000.

Director of Animal Husbandry M.V. Reddy, said that currently there were 3177 Gopalamithras and their number would be enhanced to 4,500 in a week.

Bumper output may cause foodgrain glut: Rosaiah

Hindu Businessline - Hyderabad, Oct. 18
With Andhra Pradesh poised to register a record foodgrain output of about 207 lakh tonnes, potentially resulting in a glut in the market, it plans to seek the Centre's support for more storage space and free movement of rice.
The State Government will present a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, seeking Centre's assistance in ensuring that farmers do not get affected by lack of takers due to shortage of godown space.
The State is considering the prospect of allowing export of foodgrain with a cap of about 25 per cent of the produce, according to the State Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah.
The rice millers association in the State has been protesting seeking Government permission to export part of the foodgrain produce.
This was earlier banned as the prices of rice had shot up. They have refused to pick up fresh stocks from market yards.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Mr Rosaiah said the bountiful monsoon is poised to result in a record foodgrain output of 207 lakh tonnes, during kharif and rabi crop seasons. This could mean total rice output of about 148 lakh tonnes, which is significantly higher than what the storage space can potentially accommodate.
The storage space of all facilities, including that of the Food Corporation of India, Central Warehousing Corporation and other State agencies, are simply inadequate to tackle such a foodgrain output. “We have been representing with the Centre and FCI for additional godown space and have been pleading with the FCI and Railways to help evacuate more stocks,” he said.
However, all these measures are proving to be inadequate. Therefore, the State plans to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister explained.
The State Government is pursuing with the Railway authorities to see that about seven rakes are deployed which would help evacuate more foodgrain from the market yards.
Given this backdrop, the State could consider allowing export of foodgrains, particularly rice to other parts of the country. A meeting of all political parties has been convened to take this issue further, he said.

AP to introduce harvesters for groundnut

Businessline Hyderabad, Oct. 12

Andhra Pradesh will introduce mechanical harvesters to help resource-starved groundnut farmers. Mostly focussed in Anantapur district, farmers grow groundnut in 23 lakh acres.

“A Kolkata-based manufacturer has introduced a harvester for Rs 1.80 lakh. But farmers cannot afford to buy the machines at this price. We have asked the university (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University) to develop an affordable price of Rs 70,000. We will subsidise the machines when they are ready,” Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, Minister for Agriculture, said.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the district, second only to Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) in terms of poor rainfall, had suffered drought in 74 years in the last 120 years

AP Grameena Vikas Bank to add 15 more branches by fiscal end

Courtesy: HIndu Business Line
Visakhapatnam, Oct. 10

The Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank plans to add 15 more branches to the existing 539 in the State, according to the Bank's Chairman, Mr K. Lakshmana Rao.

He was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of a three-day home and vehicle loan expo organised by the bank on Sunday. He said the new branches would be opened before the end of the financial year. “A branch will be opened at Visalakshinagar here and one more at Gajuwaka,” he said.

Retail lending

Mr Lakshmana Rao said the bank wanted to increase retail lending to its customers.

At present, of the total advances of Rs 3,389 crore, retail loans amounted only to 10 per cent. “We want to focus more on the retail loans - home loans, personal loans, education loans and car loans,” he said.

He said the bank wanted to compete with commercial banks and offer all the facilities to the customers. “Our main strength is the large rural customer base. We will do our best to cater to their financial needs,” he added.

Mr V.N. Vishnu, the Commissioner of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, who was the chief guest at the valedictory ceremony, urged the bank to strive for financial inclusion and to offer more loans to women's self-help groups, both in rural and urban areas.

He suggested that no-frill accounts be opened for those below the poverty line and such families should be offered a loan of at least Rs 25,000 without any security, he said.

Self-help groups

He promised to help the bank by depositing some of the funds of the GVMC in the bank, but the bank should lend liberally to the SHGs of women within the GVMC limits.

AP Transco to give 1.5 l new power connections to agri pump sets

Courtesy: HIndu Business Line
Hyderabad, Oct. 10

AP Transco, the power distribution utility of Andhra Pradesh, will give 1.5 lakh new power connections to agricultural pump sets in 2010-11. These connections would supply power free to farmers.

With the State receiving good rains this monsoon, Mr K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister, has asked the officials of AP Transco to strengthen connectivity in rural areas keeping in mind the upcoming rabi season, when farmers would need power to draw water. The State has targeted to cover one crore acres in the rabi season.

He asked the officials to provide the new connections by March 2011, from when the demand for power increases significantly.

The officials informed him that the utility had prepared an action plan to ensure reliable power supply, because generation has improved significantly as reservoirs received good inflows in the last few weeks, a Government release said here on Sunday.

The Chief Minister held a review meeting on Sunday with Mr S. V. Prasad, Chief Secretary, Mr Suthirtha Bhattacharya (Principal Secretary, Energy), and Mr Ajay Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of AP Transco, on the power situation in the State.

The Transco officials said that the State could reduce transmission losses to 18.51 per cent in 2009-10, one of the lowest in the country. “We have reduced the transmission losses by almost 50 per cent from 35 per cent in 2000-01. We could achieve this after implementation of technologies, monitoring systems, and continuous regulation of operations of distribution companies,” they said.

The Transco had also taken up an initiative to set up 21 220-kV and ten 132-kV substations at a total cost of Rs 1,155 crore for various lift irrigation schemes being executed by the Irrigation Department.

Nabard's SMS-based advisory service

Hindu Business Line.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has launched a SMS-based crop advisory and information service to farmers, utilising the increasing penetration of mobile phone in the rural areas. Members of the watershed committees involved in the execution of projects under the Indo German Watershed Development Programme will also be covered under this service. The service will provide personalised and customised agricultural information covering crop advisory services, market prices and weather forecast to maximise the productivity and income of farmers. — Our Bureau

Why farmers don't want Bt brinjal?

SHG women use laptops for e-bookkeeping

Over 35,000 women from villages across Andhra Pradesh are now using laptops to record financial activities of their self-help groups (SHGs).

Making this possible is the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (Serp), which operates among the poor women through SHGs. The society conducted a pilot on e-bookkeeping in Bibinagar, a mandal in Nalgonda district where it trained these women in using laptops.

“The traditional book keeping is viewed as drudgery,” says Y V Raghunadha Reddy, state project manager of Serp.

The members have to enter the savings of each SGH member, their loans, repayments, revolving funds, income and expenditure for the group activities and share capital of each of the SHG in a village organisation.

The data can be uploaded to the Serp server for statewide accounting and evaluation.

The success of the pilot project at Bibinagar prompted Serp to expand it to the rest of the state. Now, women from 35,000 village organisations have received laptops and the required training. “We conducted a training session of one week for these women in different districts. They are now able to operate the device and upload the data. We have selected the women who can identify English alphabets and are aware of terms such as income, expenditure, loan and repayment,” Reddy says.

Besides, the aim is to equip women with the latest technology and knowledge to enable them to earn more money for the family, he says.

The programme is sponsored by the World Bank. The laptops are owned by Serp, but are with the women.

AP target for rabi season

Businessline dt.5/10/10

Hyderabad, Oct.4

After achieving a record cropped area in the kharif season, the Andhra Pradesh Government has estimated a cover of 1.07 crore acres in the rabi season.

“We are going to distribute 12.16 lakh quintals of groundnut, red gram, maize, sunflower and paddy seeds with a total subsidy of Rs 168 crore,” Mr N Raghuveera Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Agriculture, said.

Addressing a press conference here after a review of kharif season and preparations for rabi, he said the Department had already made 2.31 lakh quintals of seed available in various districts.

The Union Government had allocated 35 lakh tonnes of fertilisers.

This was highest allocations for the State for any rabi season so far.

Disbursal target

The bankers in the State had been given a crop loan disbursal target of Rs 8,788 crore of crop loans and Rs 3,842 crore of term loans during the rabi season.

Meanwhile, the officials had put the loss to farmers in the kharif season at Rs 128 crore due to excess rains and inundation. In all, crop in an extent of 6.87 lakh acres was damaged across the State.

Those who lost crop in 2009 would get a total compensation of Rs 699 crore by the month end, the Minister said.

Marketing a ‘traditional' edible oil — the ‘Idhayam' formula

It is worth roughly Rs 190 crore in annual revenues.

Harish Damodaranm Businessline

Virudhunagar (TN), Sept 9

The country's branded vegetable oil market is today dominated by the likes of Ruchi Soya, Adani Wilmar, Cargill, Bunge, Agro Tech Foods and KS Oils, dealing largely in imported material — palm, soyabean and sunflower — sold as refined oil or vanaspati.

The deluge of imported oils has led to the marginalisation of costlier traditional oils (mustard, groundnut, coconut, sesame), which are marketed mostly by regional and local players struggling against the onslaught of ubiquitous national brands.

There are exceptions, though, such as ‘Idhayam' — a brand synonymous with sesame (gingelly) oil, particularly in the South.

“We sell about 1,200 tonnes every month, of which, 80 per cent is within Tamil Nadu (TN) and 10 per cent in other States. The balance is exported, mainly for the Tamil diaspora in the US, Canada and Australia,” says Mr V.R. Muthu, CEO of V.V.V and Sons Edible Oils Ltd, which owns the brand.

Market share

According to him, ‘Idhayam' has a 60 per cent share of the branded sesame oil market in TN, where there are also others such as ‘VVS', ‘Anandham', ‘Sastha', ‘Anjali' and ‘Pashumark.' At an average ex-factory price of Rs 120 a litre , ‘Idhayam' rakes in roughly Rs 190 crore in annual revenues. V. V. V. and Sons also sells 300 tonnes a month of groundnut oil under the ‘Mantra' label, which is worth Rs 30 crore at Rs 80/litre.

“Our business is only in traditional oils that are expeller-pressed and filtered. We are not into solvent extracted and refined oils,” emphasises Mr Muthu.

‘Idhayam' retails upwards of Rs 130 a litre in TN, compared with RBD palmolein (Rs 45-50), refined soyabean (Rs 55-60) or sunflower (Rs 65-70) oils.

“Refined oils are a field where we cannot compete with the big names. It is better to be in a niche segment and target consumers who prefer oils having natural flavour and aroma that is lost during refining. They know the taste of oil that is physically extracted and filtered after crushing sesame-seeds along with 2 per cent palm-jaggery,” notes Mr Muthu.

Regional Popularity

Sesame oil is especially popular with Tamilians, “who, wherever they are, cannot do without it in their fish, brinjal, tomato or potato kuzhambu (gravy).”

One reason, then, why ‘Idhayam' sells predominantly in TN.

“We even source 45 per cent of our sesame-seed from the State, with 40 per cent coming from Karnataka and Andhra, and the rest from other regions,” says Mr Muthu.

In traditional oils, the manufacturer must have the patience to build volumes, while investing in one's brand and maintaining consistent quality.

For ‘Idhayam', the test came in late 2007, when a crop failure in China generated a spurt in export of sesame-seeds, pushing up domestic prices from around Rs 3,450 to Rs 4,850 for a 75-kg bag.

“As a result, our ex-factory price, which had never crossed Rs 100, soared to Rs 151/litre. But our brand's strength ensured that sale volumes fell by just 15 per cent,” recalls Mr Muthu.

Even today, the product moves fast enough so that “we keep not more than five days' stocks at our plant.”

Moreover, “nobody, including Reliance Retail, is supplied on credit.” Distributors get their delivery only after they had submitted their draft the previous morning.

CONFIDENT

Mr Muthu is confident of raising monthly sales of ‘Idhayam' by 50 per cent to 1,800 tonnes in the next two years.

“We are now promoting the use of sesame oil for improving oral health. Oil-pulling (rinsing the mouth with oil for 10-15 minutes) is a known folk remedy for preventing tooth decay and oral malodour. A Business Line article on an American Heart Association study, linking gum disease to cardiovascular problems, led me to sell Idhayam in 10 ml sachets at Rs 2 purely for oil-pulling,” he adds.

Marketing in sachets is also a way to make expensive oil more affordable.

Thus, while a one-litre ‘Idhayam' pouch costs Rs 136, a 30 ml sachet is available for Rs 4 and 100 ml for Rs 14.

Rainfall matches long-range outlook, and counting

Vinson Kurian
Businessline

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 9

Overall monsoon performance has improved to 102 per cent and counting as of Thursday, matching the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) estimate for the entire season made in its long-range forecast.Widespread rainfall has been reported from the West Coast, West Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha during the 24 hours ending on Thursday morning, the IMD said in an update the same evening.

DEFICIT IN EAST

It was fairly widespread over East Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarkhand, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. The deficit in East and Northeast India has since come down by a notch to 20 per cent, a rain-spell away from getting into the “normal” category despite nagging deficits in individual Met subdivisions in the region.

Jharkhand (-48 per cent) and Gangetic West Bengal (-35 per cent) continued to lead the pack.

Only Arunachal Pradesh showed a single-digit deficit of four per cent, which, thanks to IMD definition, is in the “normal” category (between -19 per cent and 20 per cent).

CROP UPDATE

Meanwhile, the latest agro-met advisory issued by the IMD said that the overall kharif crop condition continues to be “almost normal” except in East and Northeast India. Receipt of well-distributed rainfall in most of the States is expected to lead to a good harvest during the season.

Farmers in the East and the Northeast who could not sow during the earlier part of kharif season or lost the sowed crop due to deficient rain have been advised to make most of the recent rain and undertake sowing according to recommended contingency measures.

Crops partially affected due to less rainfall during earlier part of the season in some districts of Uttar Pradesh have now recovered due to a recent round of wet weather witnessed during the last few weeks.


Alongside, there have also been reports of adverse impact to crop from heavy rainfall in different parts of the country, the advisory said.Heavy rainfall on two days on a trot and resultant water-logging has affected soybean, groundnut, ginger and turmeric crops in low-lying areas in Imphal-West and Imphal-East districts of Manipur.

Submergence of crops, mainly kharif vegetables, has been reported from some areas of Upper Brahmaputra Valley zone of Assam.Harvest-ready green gram crop in Gulbarga and Yadgir districts in Karnataka too has been affected in this manner. Alternating bright sunshine for the last 15 days has led to pod shattering, leading to severe loss of crop.

Reports of water logging have been reported from Hyderabad, Medak, Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts in Telangana. Farmers have been advised to drain out excess water from the fields.Chilli and tomato crops have been adversely affected by heavy rainfall in Nagaland. Fruit rot in chilli and bacterial blight in tomato may have adversely affected the yield of the respective crops, the advisory said.

The East and Northeast, which witnesses annual rainfall between 1,300 mm and 2,800 mm, is passing through its second year of drought or delayed monsoon.

In contrast, the desert States in the north and west with annual rainfall of between 600 and 900 mm have seen a deluge this year.Satellite cloud imagery on Thursday afternoon showed the presence of convective (rain-bearing) clouds over parts of Gujarat, Bihar, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, the Northeastern States, West-central and South Bay of Bengal and East Arabian Sea.

A rain alert valid for the next two days said that heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at a few places over Gujarat.

Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall has been forecast over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during this period.

In Central India, isolated heavy rainfall would occur over West Madhya Pradesh, North Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa and Coastal Karnataka on Friday.

Godrej Agrovet sets up leaf, soil lab for oil palm

Hyderabad, Sept 9
New Courtesy: Businessline

Godrej Agrovet Ltd, part of the diversified Godrej group, today announced the launch of Leaf and Soil Laboratory near Vijayawada, which focuses on helping farmers in improving productivity in oil palm plantations.

More on cards

“With over 70 per cent of the country's oil palm cultivation centred in Andhra Pradesh, we have decided to locate the first such facility at Vijayawada. Based on the requirement in other States such as Mizoram where oil palm cultivation is centred, we may consider more such centres,” Mr R.R. Govindan, Vice-President, Plant Group Vertical, Godrej Agrovet, said.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Govindan said oil palm cultivation is taken up in much tougher conditions in India compared with South–East Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia that get rain for over six months in a year.

Therefore, cultivation of oil palm in the country is lot more challenging, requiring expert guidance and assistance.

“The lab set up in Andhra Pradesh will provide latest knowhow, offer soil testing services and advise on how to limit the usage of fertilisers and nutrients. Typically, about 40-50 per cent of the total cost of the plantation goes to fertilisers. The lab helps identify the shortage of specific element of the 17-odd required for the crop. This will enable farmers to add specific ingredient to address,” Dr V. Madhava Reddy, Chief Agronomist, Godrej Oil Palm Ltd, said.

The Godrej Agrovet sees its oil palm business crossing Rs 100 crore this year.

Special thrust

Mr Govindan said that the company is laying special thrust on tissue culture and it is proposed to cover several crops in the next two-three years. Referring to edible oil imports, Mr Govindan said “as an industry representative, we have suggested imposition of 30 per cent duty. “While this increases prices, the duty could be ploughed back to assist development of plantations within the country.”