We Indians somehow end up competing with cattle. No, I am not talking in terms of the growth in cattle and human population over the years but we even compete for the same food. Well, first let us look at the numbers. In India, the human population has crossed 1.1 billion whereas the cattle numbers are fast catching up, now exceeds 600 million. Even if we don't realise it, we certainly have competition on our hands.
In the days to come, the competition is going to be much tougher. And when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. So obviously the pressure would be to eliminate competition, and I can see that trend clearly visible now. Slaughter-houses are increasing, and export of red meat is picking up from India. For religious reasons, we will trun a blind eye to the torture the cattle is often inflicted as they are made to walk hundreds of kilometers before being sold off to slaughter houses across the national border. Comes a drought, and there are more economic reasons to part with cattle.
Neverthess, the point I am trying to drive is that we are not only competing for the same natural resource base that the cattle too requires, but now we have begun to encroach on their feed also. We have over the years encroached by acquiring the land that was normally kept exclusive for cattle for grazing or to grow fodder. The pasture lands have disappeared, much of these going under real estate or defunct industries. The village ponds or the natural water sources have either dried up or have again been taken over by real estate and housing for the growing urban population. Even in the villages, the village commons have been up for grabs. No wonder, stall feeding is now becoming a norm.
In one of my articles: Surplus wheat for export, and animal feed for the hungry (The Hindu Business Line, June 17, 1999) and available at http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap/archives/ricex.htm you will find how India was trying to convert rice bran, traditionally used as cattle feed, for human consumption. This article had generated a lot of controversy, and ultimately the project was dropped. However, I still continue to receive hate mail from American consultants who feel that I did the great disservice to hungry Indians.
There have been several other instances where we have encroached upon the feed of the cattle. The latest example is the import of yellow peas, imported from Canada. In the light of the price rise in pulses that India is presently witnessing and living with, cheaper dried peas is fast replacing the traditional tur or arhar, which has gone beyond the means of an average household. This import substitution for tur has picked up fast, growing by 8 per cent last year. Nidhi Nath Srinivas of the Economic Times tells us: From the besan in our pakora to the dal in the restaurant, yellow peas are ubiquitous albeit invisible.
How right. I never realised why the restaurants are not unnerved when a customer orders yellow dal. Normally, they would say that the yellow dal is not available or politely tell that the price is too high, but the fact they are happy serving the dish is because they are substituting the tur with imported yellow peas, which is much cheaper. Nidhi tells us that yellow peas are grown in Canada for animal feed and that's the reason why it so cheap. The landing price for imported yellow peas is Rs 15/kg compared to Rs 40/kg for imported tur.
I am sure the cattle in Canada must be cursing us for snatching their nutritious feed.
Aug 29, 2009
Aug 27, 2009
Guess what is coming to your dinner? Deep-fried Cockroaches, Scorpian Vodka and crunchy Crickets
Some of the edible insect-filled foods
I am not sure how many of you will be able to digest this.
Aware that agricultural scientists have failed to make any breakthrough in food production, and expecting world to face food crisis in the days to come, some scientists (and industry) have begun to see insects as a possible source of protein.
Now don't be startled. What you probably don't know is that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already allows insects to be an essential component of some of the processed foods. I also was caught unaware when I learnt that FDA has allowed upto 75 pieces of insects in 55 mm of hot chocolate and a maximum of 60 aphids in a portion of frozen broccoli. Yuck !
Now if you want to know how many rodent hairs and insect parts are in your food, read this list approved by the FDA. Accordingly, a typical food contains about 10 per cent of what has been approved, but some may contain as much as 40 per cent (http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/06/29/how_many_insect_parts_and_rodent_hairs_are_allowed_in_your_food.htm)
The FDA's action level for peanut butter is 30 or more insect fragments or one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams.
CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR
Insect filth: Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined OR any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments
Rodent filth: Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs
CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, CANNED
Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml
RED FISH AND OCEAN PERCH
Parasites: 3% of the fillets examined contain 1 or more parasites accompanied by pus pockets
MACARONI AND NOODLE PRODUCTS
Insect filth: Average of 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples
Rodent filth: Average of 4.5 rodent hairs or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples
PEANUT BUTTER
Insect filth: Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams
POPCORN
Rodent filth: 1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples OR 2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples OR 20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples
WHEAT FLOUR
Insect filth: Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams
Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams
Can these things be avoided? To avoid all unsavory food components, it seems, would be to stop eating all together. And perhaps we're just being too squeamish. After all, as Dr. Manfred Kroger, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, says, "Let's face it, much of our food comes from nature, and nature is not perfect."
How disgusting, you would say. More so when we think that FDA's approval ensures food is safe. I wonder what would be the situation in a developing country like India. Will the newly formed Food Safety and Standards Authority look into this?
An article Deep-fried locust, anyone? Insect may be the answer to our looming food crisis in The Guardian (Aug 19, 2009) first opened my eyes to the new 'sunrise' industry. The article says: In south-east Asia, insects are an important part of the daily diet for millions of people. Crickets, cockroaches and other bugs and grubs are sold across the region by roadside vendors and in smart restaurants. They are harvested commercially and by home producers, providing vital income for struggling farmers. Often, insects are the only source of income for women earners, who rig polythene awnings above a fluorescent tube-light to trap flying insects after dark.
Well, I was aware of this. Often in my travels through Southeast Asia I have seen insects being sold by roadside vendors. But what I didn't know for sure was that Entomophagy (insect eating) is a growing industry with more than 1,400 insect species being gobbled in 90 countries. The FAO says there are 1462 recorded species of edible insects. I did a quick search and found some interesting details. One of the sunrise industries is called Sunrise Land Shrimp (SLS), founded in March 2005. David Gracer describes some of the new projects his company is undertaking. And I reproduce portions from one of his letters to a web portal:
The Montana Project:
I have started plans with Mr. Mark Rehder, an organic farm in Montana who reports that grasshopper harvests of 100 pounds per hour are possible. While gathering this largesse is intriguing, the prospect of cultivation makes even more sense. We are currently seeking capital and other resources that would allow us to best make use of a huge amount of grasshoppers.
Grasshoppers (and orthopterans in general) are probably the single most utilized food-insect worldwide. There is a particularly robust tradition of this practice in Pre-Columbian Mexican cuisine, and grasshoppers are enthusiastically consumed in Mexico to this day. The owner of a Mexican restaurant in Providence, RI, has told me that if I can secure a reliable supply of grasshoppers, he would put them on the menu. This is an exciting prospect, and might attract the attention of that specific restaurant industry. I am also interested in processing the grasshoppers into insect flour for high-protein baked goods. It could possibly be a model for a new paradigm in locust-related famine response.
Human consumption itself is hardly the only option. Other markets include: pet and zoo animal; fish, poultry, and possibly hog feed, and even fish bait and fertilizer.
Rhynchophorus in Peru:
The so-called "Sago grub" (the larva of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, a species of weevil) is one of the most renowned edible insects; some people have traveled all the way to Papua New Guinea in order to sample it. Slightly less well known is the fact that this species (and several others in the genus) are both cherished as food items and despised as agricultural pests. These include R. phoenicis in Africa, and R. palmarum and R. cruentatus in the Americas.
I've been in touch with Mr. Manuel Miranda of Amazon Insects regarding "suris" the local name for R. palmurum larva. Mr. Miranda has discovered live suris sold as food in the marketplace in Lima. We have been in discussion regarding the best way to process, package, and export this food product. In the meantime he reports that he's been keeping them in his apartment, the better to observe their feeding habits and metamorphosis.
From China:
In early September 2005 I received a package mailed by an American teaching English in Yantai, China. The pre-packaged food consisted of vacuum-packed silkworm pupae. There were also jars of caterpillars (of a Sphigind species, probably Clanis bilineata); scorpions (probably Buthnus martensii); and cicada nymphs. These were purchased fresh in the marketplace, the caterpillars and scorpions were cooked and preserved in honey, while the cicadas were sent dry.
My contact reports that these products, though seasonal, are readily available in the marketplace. He urged me to learn about the process by which they could be officially brought into the U.S. as the delicacies they are considered to be in China.
The Mopane quest [and a proposed safari to Southern African countries]:
The consumption of caterpillars is common throughout much of the world, particularly in Africa. Many species are consumed there, but few approach the ubiquity of the Mopane [or Mopani] worm, the larvae of Gonimbrasia belina, a Saturnid moth, which is harvested in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and probably other countries.
I have been most interested in obtaining dried or possibly canned mopane worms; to this end I've sent several hundred emails, to no avail. I've learned that considerable amounts of mopane are exported to France and Belgium (from which country[ies] I have not been able to determine) but there is no exportation to the U.S., and this should change.
Oh dear ! Where are we heading towards !! The human civilisation seems to be fast returning to square one. We probably are going back to the jungle lifestyle once again and that too in the name of modernity.
If you want to know some nutritional and economic aspects of insects as food, you can see this research paper: Insects as human food http://www.food-insects.com/Insects%20as%20Human%20Food.htm
and The Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/aug/19/insects-food-crisis
Aug 26, 2009
'Water Recklessness Worsening Drought'
NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (IPS) - India’s current dry spell, brought on by an errant annual monsoon, is rapidly turning into a full-fledged drought as a result of reckless exploitation of groundwater resources for farming, experts say.
According to information available from the agriculture ministry, 246 of India’s 626 districts have now been officially declared as facing a "drought-like" situation. Monsoon rains account for 75 percent of India’s annual rainfall. Officials at the Indian Meteorological Department say this year has seen the scantiest season in the last seven years.
Government data shows that water levels in the country’s 81 major reservoirs are now down to about 38 percent of normal levels and offering no margin for comfort.
"India’s vulnerability to droughts whenever there is a slight deviation in the monsoon pattern has grown over the years because of excessive groundwater withdrawal to support intensive farming, particularly in the north-western states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan," says Devinder Sharma, internationally known agriculture and food security expert. "At present rates of withdrawal, by 2025 all groundwater will have been exhausted."
Sharma, who chairs the independent New Delhi-based collective, Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, says the situation is especially grim in the state of Punjab, where groundwater mining has for years exceeded natural replenishment. "Punjab, which provides nearly 50 percent of the country’s food surplus, is paying a price for playing the role of granary to the nation," he adds in an interview with IPS.
Of Punjab’s 138 administrative blocks 108 have been officially categorised as ‘dark zones’, where 98 percent of underground water has been overexploited.
Satellite images released in August by the National Aerospace and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States show massive depletion of groundwater storage in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana during the 2002-2008 period.
NASA’s images indicated an average drop in groundwater levels by four centimetres a year, with about 110 cubic kilometres of groundwater having been lost during the six-year period that was studied.
If the current level of unsustainable over-consumption, mainly for agriculture, continues, India could face severe water shortages, NASA scientists have cautioned.
"Groundwater is extremely valuable as a resource which stores water during the wet years and makes it available in the dry years, so that people and farmers can survive droughts, whether part of the natural variability or related to climate change," says Matthew Rodell, a NASA hydrologist and lead author of the study, in the SciDev.Net portal. "However, groundwater must be managed sustainably, or in time this capability could be lost."
Rodell says 95 percent of groundwater withdrawal from the region was for irrigation, mainly for rice, wheat and barley. "If farmers shift away from water intensive crops, such as rice, and also implement more efficient irrigation methods, that would help," SciDev quotes him as saying.
NASA’s projections based on tracking by twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites show that 54 cubic kilometres of groundwater are lost every year in the Indo-Gangetic plains, the world’s most densely populated and heavily irrigated region.
Read the full IPS report by Ranjit Devraj at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48217
According to information available from the agriculture ministry, 246 of India’s 626 districts have now been officially declared as facing a "drought-like" situation. Monsoon rains account for 75 percent of India’s annual rainfall. Officials at the Indian Meteorological Department say this year has seen the scantiest season in the last seven years.
Government data shows that water levels in the country’s 81 major reservoirs are now down to about 38 percent of normal levels and offering no margin for comfort.
"India’s vulnerability to droughts whenever there is a slight deviation in the monsoon pattern has grown over the years because of excessive groundwater withdrawal to support intensive farming, particularly in the north-western states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan," says Devinder Sharma, internationally known agriculture and food security expert. "At present rates of withdrawal, by 2025 all groundwater will have been exhausted."
Sharma, who chairs the independent New Delhi-based collective, Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, says the situation is especially grim in the state of Punjab, where groundwater mining has for years exceeded natural replenishment. "Punjab, which provides nearly 50 percent of the country’s food surplus, is paying a price for playing the role of granary to the nation," he adds in an interview with IPS.
Of Punjab’s 138 administrative blocks 108 have been officially categorised as ‘dark zones’, where 98 percent of underground water has been overexploited.
Satellite images released in August by the National Aerospace and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States show massive depletion of groundwater storage in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana during the 2002-2008 period.
NASA’s images indicated an average drop in groundwater levels by four centimetres a year, with about 110 cubic kilometres of groundwater having been lost during the six-year period that was studied.
If the current level of unsustainable over-consumption, mainly for agriculture, continues, India could face severe water shortages, NASA scientists have cautioned.
"Groundwater is extremely valuable as a resource which stores water during the wet years and makes it available in the dry years, so that people and farmers can survive droughts, whether part of the natural variability or related to climate change," says Matthew Rodell, a NASA hydrologist and lead author of the study, in the SciDev.Net portal. "However, groundwater must be managed sustainably, or in time this capability could be lost."
Rodell says 95 percent of groundwater withdrawal from the region was for irrigation, mainly for rice, wheat and barley. "If farmers shift away from water intensive crops, such as rice, and also implement more efficient irrigation methods, that would help," SciDev quotes him as saying.
NASA’s projections based on tracking by twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites show that 54 cubic kilometres of groundwater are lost every year in the Indo-Gangetic plains, the world’s most densely populated and heavily irrigated region.
Read the full IPS report by Ranjit Devraj at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48217
Aug 25, 2009
Jhabua: Another Vidharba in the making
A farmer sprays pesticide, Larvaene, in a soybean field without any protection gear -- photo: Mahim P Singh/Hindu
Nowadays, you see a number of columnists with the English dailies commenting on the prevailing drought situation. Since they have been provided space by a newspaper, they feel it is their moral right to comment on anything that is topical and therefore they end up suggesting a way out of the continuing agrarian distress. I am not only amazed but shocked to read their analysis, much of it bordering on stupidity. I don't know why do people have to give their views on something they don't know anything about. By doing so, they actually compound the problem. Their views, howsoever idiotic they are, actually go on to build popular notions, which is dangerous indeed for the nation.
Having said that, I came across a very interesting and meaningful report in The Hindu today entitled: Jhabua on its way to becoming Vidharba-II. It is probably for the first time (as long as I can remember) that a journalist has actually produced a report which goes beyond the usual rhetoric. Mahim Pratap Singh, the reporter deserves all the compliments for understanding the complexities of the agrarian crisis, and based on his clear grasp of the political economy, brought before us a true picture of the Jhabua region in Madhya Pradesh. Probably the report is outstanding because it appears Mahim Pratap Singh is not an arm-chair columnist, and has made the effort to travel and spend time in the villages of Jhabua region.
This report needs to be read by all columnists and editors. Then only they can understand as to what is going wrong with agriculture. Notwithstanding the contingency plans that the government talks about (more at times of a drought), the fact remains that the agrarian crisis in India is permanent. The basic reason for the continuing distress on the farm is very aptly described by the reporter in the blurb itself: With shift to a high-input cash cropping system, the debt process bears an uncanny resemblence to the 'catastrophe'.
This is very true. Farmer suicides are happening in places where cash crops have picked up in recent years. They have been deliberately pushed into a chakravyuah (a vicious trap) laid out in the name of intensive farming. Instead of pulling them out of the chakravyuah, agricultural scientists and the agribusiness industry is busy pushing them still deeper and deeper into the death trap by asking them to shift to hybrids and GM crops like Bt cotton. The agribusiness industry, and that includes seed, fertiliser and pesticides companies in addition to the tractor manufacturers -- are busy fleecing farmers in name of higher productivity.
As a child I remember I used to go to religious places, and would spend some time listening to the song: Ram naam ki loot hai loot sake to loot. While no one sings it anymore, I find the agribusiness industry (including the biotech companies) putting it to practical use: Kisan naam ki loot hai loot sake to loot...
Meanwhile here are some excerpts from the news report: The agricultural apparatus in Jhabua is choking under the same processes that led to the ‘Vidarbha catastrophe.’
These include a shift from pulses, coarse grain and oilseed dominated organic and semi-organic farming to a high-input cash cropping system, a vicious debt-cycle with a simultaneous decline in cattle population and an agricultural landscape dotted with Bt cotton crop.
Add to this, “a good drought” looming large and the result will mean small and marginal farmers running short of options in the event of a crop failure.
Read the full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/25/stories/2009082554841400.htm
Aug 24, 2009
Sweetly poisoning the masses
India’s middle class and affluent are steadfast in one respect: they love sugar. Over the years, crave for anything sweet is growing enormously. Sweets to carbonated soft drinks to breakfast cereals and even health products like chaywanprash come loaded with sugar. And we devour it.
No wonder, India is the world’s largest consumer of sugar, and the second-largest producer of sugar.
When Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in Parliament the other day that he was worried at the drastic slump in sugar production, falling by more than 40 per cent this year, and was therefore considering duty free imports, I wasn’t surprised. Rising prices of sugar, more so at a time when the festival season is fast approaching, can have political repercussions.
Sharad Pawar, as we all know, represents the sugar industry lobby. His interest therefore is to increase sugar consumption which in turn benefits the industry. Obviously the stakes are high for him. But I wonder why the electronic and print media is also backing over-consumption of sugar. I have been asked a number of times whether the government’s decision to allow duty free imports auger well for the domestic sugar industry.
In my reply, I have often said that the present crisis in sugar production should serve as an opportunity to educate the consumers against their growing preference for sugar. Instead of allowing duty free imports, India should let the prices go up to a reasonable level so that consumption can come down. What the nation needs to be told is that sugar is harmful for health, and therefore its use should be restricted and phased-out. The taste bud has to change.
In a country which has now become the diabetic capital of the world, with some 70 million people expected to be suffering from diabetes by the year 2050, the situation is truly alarming. You might say that diabetes is more to do with the changing life-style, but the fact of the matter is that processed food and carbonated soft drink intake is multiplying, and is increasingly becoming part of the neorich lifestyle. Sugar has no vitamins and minerals for digestion and weakens the immune system.
In her book Sugar: Pleasure or Poison, Dr Carolyn Dean says that as sugar consumption increases, more people suffer from diabetes, hypoglycemia, heart disease and hyperactivity. In another study in Norway, higher intake of sugar has been found to be linked with mental problems in the young. Much of the increased intake of sugar in the young people is from soft drinks. Incidentally, China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries are the major markets for the soft drink industry.
Dr Dean illustrates how the sugar intake is increasing. It is interesting to know that some brands of ketchup have more sugar per ounce than ice cream. Many salad dressings, she says have three times the sugar content of cola drinks. If you are a diabetic, be careful. Some non-dairy creamers have more sugar than a chocolate bar. The next time you go to a fast food joint and order milk shake, be warned. There are 20 teaspoons of sugar in a milk shake and about eight teaspoons in most desserts.
She quotes an interesting study conducted by two nutritionists Schoenthaler and Schausswas on one million school children from 800 New York schools. Sugar was withheld from these students over a 7-year period. The researchers found a 15.7 per cent increase in learning ability compared with other schools. Of 124,000 children who were unable to learn grammar and math, 75,000 could perform these skills after dietary changes alone were introduced. In another study, 68 juvenile criminals' anti-social acts diminished by 80 per cent within seven months. In a follow-up study with 276 children, one group stayed on the junk food diet while the other group received healthy foods. And the difference in anti-social acts between the two groups was almost 50 per cent.
It is primarily for these reasons that the sugar industry has been able to force the World Health Organisation (WHO) not to make public one its damming studies on the health impacts of sugar. This is what exactly had happened with tobacco consumption. It has taken the United States 50 years to recognise that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. The industry knew it all along, but did not let the government issue the warning. Sugar is no different.
In India, sugar consumption is growing unabated. From an average of 5.3 kg per annum in the early 1960s, it has grown to 18 kgs per capita per year in 2006. I am sure in 2008 when production was its peak, sugar consumption must be around 20 kgs per year. Since averages in a country like India do not mean much, let us look at the consumption pattern in the urban areas. And this is where the nation needs to be worried.
In Punjab, the per capita consumption of sugar exceeds 72 kg, closely followed by Haryana at 70 kg. Both these predominantly agricultural States are far ahead of the rest of the country. My worry is the damage such high intake of sugar is causing in the food bowl of the country. Among the rest of the country, Maharashtra and Kerala lead with 42 kgs; Gujarat with 41 kgs; Uttar Pradesh with 36 kgs; Tamil Nadu with 30 kgs against an average for urban India at 32 kgs.
Ideally, sugar consumption should be kept in the range of 25 kg per year.
I think what is more important is that instead of waiting for the government to educate us about the inherent dangers from increased sugar consumption; we need to take steps that are in the healthy direction. First, try to replace white sugar with organic jaggery (gur). Even in Ayurveda, gur is used as medicine – as blood purifier and prevents disorders of bile. No wonder, workers in polluted industries are given a daily dose of gur.
Try to discourage children and others in the family from consuming more of processed foods and carbonated drinks. Replace these with fresh fruits and vegetables. Like the movement against plastic bags and crackers, school children should be encouraged to launch a similar movement against sugar. For the government, we need to build pressure to bring in adequate safety provisions under the newly constituted Food Safety Authority. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has a bigger responsibility to create a nationwide awareness. But I am not hopeful knowing that the IMA is more interested in generating income from endorsing processed food products. #
No wonder, India is the world’s largest consumer of sugar, and the second-largest producer of sugar.
When Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in Parliament the other day that he was worried at the drastic slump in sugar production, falling by more than 40 per cent this year, and was therefore considering duty free imports, I wasn’t surprised. Rising prices of sugar, more so at a time when the festival season is fast approaching, can have political repercussions.
Sharad Pawar, as we all know, represents the sugar industry lobby. His interest therefore is to increase sugar consumption which in turn benefits the industry. Obviously the stakes are high for him. But I wonder why the electronic and print media is also backing over-consumption of sugar. I have been asked a number of times whether the government’s decision to allow duty free imports auger well for the domestic sugar industry.
In my reply, I have often said that the present crisis in sugar production should serve as an opportunity to educate the consumers against their growing preference for sugar. Instead of allowing duty free imports, India should let the prices go up to a reasonable level so that consumption can come down. What the nation needs to be told is that sugar is harmful for health, and therefore its use should be restricted and phased-out. The taste bud has to change.
In a country which has now become the diabetic capital of the world, with some 70 million people expected to be suffering from diabetes by the year 2050, the situation is truly alarming. You might say that diabetes is more to do with the changing life-style, but the fact of the matter is that processed food and carbonated soft drink intake is multiplying, and is increasingly becoming part of the neorich lifestyle. Sugar has no vitamins and minerals for digestion and weakens the immune system.
In her book Sugar: Pleasure or Poison, Dr Carolyn Dean says that as sugar consumption increases, more people suffer from diabetes, hypoglycemia, heart disease and hyperactivity. In another study in Norway, higher intake of sugar has been found to be linked with mental problems in the young. Much of the increased intake of sugar in the young people is from soft drinks. Incidentally, China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries are the major markets for the soft drink industry.
Dr Dean illustrates how the sugar intake is increasing. It is interesting to know that some brands of ketchup have more sugar per ounce than ice cream. Many salad dressings, she says have three times the sugar content of cola drinks. If you are a diabetic, be careful. Some non-dairy creamers have more sugar than a chocolate bar. The next time you go to a fast food joint and order milk shake, be warned. There are 20 teaspoons of sugar in a milk shake and about eight teaspoons in most desserts.
She quotes an interesting study conducted by two nutritionists Schoenthaler and Schausswas on one million school children from 800 New York schools. Sugar was withheld from these students over a 7-year period. The researchers found a 15.7 per cent increase in learning ability compared with other schools. Of 124,000 children who were unable to learn grammar and math, 75,000 could perform these skills after dietary changes alone were introduced. In another study, 68 juvenile criminals' anti-social acts diminished by 80 per cent within seven months. In a follow-up study with 276 children, one group stayed on the junk food diet while the other group received healthy foods. And the difference in anti-social acts between the two groups was almost 50 per cent.
It is primarily for these reasons that the sugar industry has been able to force the World Health Organisation (WHO) not to make public one its damming studies on the health impacts of sugar. This is what exactly had happened with tobacco consumption. It has taken the United States 50 years to recognise that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. The industry knew it all along, but did not let the government issue the warning. Sugar is no different.
In India, sugar consumption is growing unabated. From an average of 5.3 kg per annum in the early 1960s, it has grown to 18 kgs per capita per year in 2006. I am sure in 2008 when production was its peak, sugar consumption must be around 20 kgs per year. Since averages in a country like India do not mean much, let us look at the consumption pattern in the urban areas. And this is where the nation needs to be worried.
In Punjab, the per capita consumption of sugar exceeds 72 kg, closely followed by Haryana at 70 kg. Both these predominantly agricultural States are far ahead of the rest of the country. My worry is the damage such high intake of sugar is causing in the food bowl of the country. Among the rest of the country, Maharashtra and Kerala lead with 42 kgs; Gujarat with 41 kgs; Uttar Pradesh with 36 kgs; Tamil Nadu with 30 kgs against an average for urban India at 32 kgs.
Ideally, sugar consumption should be kept in the range of 25 kg per year.
I think what is more important is that instead of waiting for the government to educate us about the inherent dangers from increased sugar consumption; we need to take steps that are in the healthy direction. First, try to replace white sugar with organic jaggery (gur). Even in Ayurveda, gur is used as medicine – as blood purifier and prevents disorders of bile. No wonder, workers in polluted industries are given a daily dose of gur.
Try to discourage children and others in the family from consuming more of processed foods and carbonated drinks. Replace these with fresh fruits and vegetables. Like the movement against plastic bags and crackers, school children should be encouraged to launch a similar movement against sugar. For the government, we need to build pressure to bring in adequate safety provisions under the newly constituted Food Safety Authority. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has a bigger responsibility to create a nationwide awareness. But I am not hopeful knowing that the IMA is more interested in generating income from endorsing processed food products. #
Aug 22, 2009
Who cares for vanishing ground water?
In another 15 years, the food bowl of the country -- Punjab and Haryana -- will go dry. A 2007 report of the Central Ground Water Board had projected that groundwater availability for irrigation in 2025, quotes a report in The Times of India, is negative. Already Punjab, for instance is over-exploiting the underground water at the rate of 45 per cent more withdrawals every year than the natural recharge.
This study assumes importance in the light of the recent NASA report which has used the data provided by twin satellites GRACE. Accordingly, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are consuming 109 cubic kms of water in six years. With a paddy coverage of 38,061 sq kms, the north-western parts of the country is losing groundwater at the rate of a foot each year. In another study of the Indo-Gangetic plains, NASA finds that the groundwater withdrawal is 70 per cent more in this decade than in the 1990s.
The bad monsoon this year has compounded the crisis. I have always been saying that blame for the prevailing drought is 30 per cent on the truant monsoon, and the remaining 70 per cent is man-made. We are primarily responsible for accentuating drought conditions because of the relentless water mining that we have indulged in merrily over the years. But have we learnt any lessons? Are we willing to make necessary corrections howsoever radical they may be? The answer is NO.
I have been pleading for changing the cropping pattern. In an article Change Cropping Pattern (Deccan Herald, June 2, 2005) I wrote: It makes no sense to grow water guzzling crops in dry lands. Such crops would only turn lands barren. I see no justification in growing water guzzling sugarcane in the semi-arid tracts of Rajasthan. Or for that matter, cultivate mentha, which requires 1.25 lakh litres of water for every kilo of oil, in the dry lands of Bundelkhand. Common sense tells us that we should be cultivating crops which require less water in the dry lands. You will be shocked to know that we actually promote and cultivate in the drylands hybrid crops -- hybrid rice, hybrid sorghum, hybrid maize, hybrid cotton and hybrid vegetables -- which require almost 1.5 times to 2 times more water than the high-yielding varieties.
On top of it the government is now busy pushing GM crops. First it promoted (and is still doing) Bt cotton, whose water requirement is 10-20 per cent more than even the hybrids. The GEAC is now waiting to accord commercial approval for Bt brinjal. I am not sure how much water does Bt Brinjal consume, but going by the experience of Bt cotton it appears that Bt brinjal too would require about 20 per cent more water. Is that the way we should allow the seed companies to exploit the underground water resources?
The alarm bells have been ringing for quite sometime. I find the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making the right kind of statements, but acting just the opposite way. On the Independence Day, Aug 15, I was surprised when in his speech he mentioned that the control over the natural resources should be with the people. My surprise was because it is he who has been actually pushing for private control over the natural resources, including land resources. He had sometimes back told a conference organised by The Economic Times that the time has come for the Special Economic Zones. How can the resources belong to people when you aggressively promote SEZ and land acquisitions?
While you contemplate the veracity of PM's statements, I suggest you read the excellent news analysis Driving Water Under Ground:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Driving-water-under-ground/articleshow/4917122.cms
Aug 21, 2009
Ever had rice tea, barley tea or bajra-rabbri? You are missing something
When Umendra Dutt of Kheti Virasat Mission in Punjab informed me of the upcoming festival of traditional foods being organised in two villages -- Jida in Bathinda district and Chaina in Faridkot district -- on Aug 23 and Aug 30, respectively; I really felt enthused. Reviving our traditional foods, bringing back the nutritionally rich and locally adaptable food recipes, not only renews our romance with food but also brings into fore the lost biodiversity and teaches us the principles of healthy living in connosance with nature and surroundings.
I am keenly looking forward to a taste of bajra-rabbri. I must confess that I had never heard of it. I am as ignorant about traditional foods as the rest of the country is.
In fact, after hearing from Umendra Dutt I realised that I had kept an article for later reading. I spent some time digging it out, and I feel like sharing with you all what columnist Vikram Doctor says. It was just by sheer chance that I stumbled upon his article (that appears in one of the glossy supplements accompanying The Economic Times, which I rarely open). Perhaps what made me pause and look at it was its headline: Against the Grain.
The writer asks in the opening blurb: Never had barley, rice or mugwort in your tea? You are missing something. Since I had never heard of barley or rice tea, what to talk of having it, my curiousity drew me to read the article in one go. I found it very interesting and useful, and I think such articles should be widely circulated.
Vikram Doctor talks about Mahatma Gandhi's love for cereal coffee. To his followers in South Africa, he promoted both civil disobedience and cereal coffee, he says. I didn't know about it, although I have been a keen follower of his struggles in South Africa. Neither did Richard Attenborough disclose Mahatma's love for cereal coffee in his epic film Gandhi. Nevertheless, this is what the article says:
Many coffee lovers cannot distinguish it from coffee, he (Gandhi) wrote in his publication Indian Opinion. Wheat should be well cleaned and roasted in a pan... till it becomes red and is about to turn black. It should then be taken off the fire and ground rough in a coffee-mill . A teaspoon of this powder should be put in a cup and boiling water poured over it. Boiling for a minute improves the flavour. He advocated this drink through his life even in April 1947, with Independence near, he took time off to write a note for the naturopathy centre he set up in Uruli-Kanchan near Mumbai, where he said that rather than serve tea wheat coffee will do.
Perhaps there are Gandhians who still drink it, but I cant help feeling this strong health promotion is counter-productive ; we dont like things we are told are good for us. In any case, the health benefits are questionable: if roast grains have little caffeine, which was yesterdays demon food chemical, they have lots of acrylamide, the effects of which are currently under investigation. But a few cups wont hurt and I'm not hooked up on this health angle anyway. I made the drink as per Gandhis recipe and the result wasnt remotely like coffee, but it was nice, murky looking, but with a pleasantly lingering toasted taste that had distinct sweet notes.
Vikram also introduces us to genmicha, the popcorn tea from Japan. He thinks green tea with grains of roasted brown rice makes for a really nice drink. And of course takes the readers into a wide array of infused drinks. We have forgotten these drinks, our taste buds have been so dominated by the modern tea industry that whatever they market is what we like to drink. Marketing has surely narrowed down the choices of food and drinks we have. This is a heavy price that the society has unknowingly paid for.
Instead of waiting for the tea companies to start manufacturing rice tea or ragi tea, I would go by what the author suggests. He says that grain teas are very easy to try and experiment with at home. You can take any grain and roast them and then steep or boil them, and get many variations on the same pleasantly toasted tasting tea. Leaving the wheat grains whole gives a clear drink and a crisper taste. Red rice (or ragi ) is earthier, and can be combined with green tea for an easy home version of that Korean drink. Quinoa, the Andean grain that I had written about in this column, roasts to a sensational smoky taste. You can also add spices a single star anise flower goes very well with roasted wheat. And like Korean barley tea in restaurants, they are all refreshing to drink cold.
He agrees that none of them is coffee or tea, both of which I will keep drinking, but as grain teas they are very much worth trying in their own right.
You too can make the effort.
I am keenly looking forward to a taste of bajra-rabbri. I must confess that I had never heard of it. I am as ignorant about traditional foods as the rest of the country is.
In fact, after hearing from Umendra Dutt I realised that I had kept an article for later reading. I spent some time digging it out, and I feel like sharing with you all what columnist Vikram Doctor says. It was just by sheer chance that I stumbled upon his article (that appears in one of the glossy supplements accompanying The Economic Times, which I rarely open). Perhaps what made me pause and look at it was its headline: Against the Grain.
The writer asks in the opening blurb: Never had barley, rice or mugwort in your tea? You are missing something. Since I had never heard of barley or rice tea, what to talk of having it, my curiousity drew me to read the article in one go. I found it very interesting and useful, and I think such articles should be widely circulated.
Vikram Doctor talks about Mahatma Gandhi's love for cereal coffee. To his followers in South Africa, he promoted both civil disobedience and cereal coffee, he says. I didn't know about it, although I have been a keen follower of his struggles in South Africa. Neither did Richard Attenborough disclose Mahatma's love for cereal coffee in his epic film Gandhi. Nevertheless, this is what the article says:
Many coffee lovers cannot distinguish it from coffee, he (Gandhi) wrote in his publication Indian Opinion. Wheat should be well cleaned and roasted in a pan... till it becomes red and is about to turn black. It should then be taken off the fire and ground rough in a coffee-mill . A teaspoon of this powder should be put in a cup and boiling water poured over it. Boiling for a minute improves the flavour. He advocated this drink through his life even in April 1947, with Independence near, he took time off to write a note for the naturopathy centre he set up in Uruli-Kanchan near Mumbai, where he said that rather than serve tea wheat coffee will do.
Perhaps there are Gandhians who still drink it, but I cant help feeling this strong health promotion is counter-productive ; we dont like things we are told are good for us. In any case, the health benefits are questionable: if roast grains have little caffeine, which was yesterdays demon food chemical, they have lots of acrylamide, the effects of which are currently under investigation. But a few cups wont hurt and I'm not hooked up on this health angle anyway. I made the drink as per Gandhis recipe and the result wasnt remotely like coffee, but it was nice, murky looking, but with a pleasantly lingering toasted taste that had distinct sweet notes.
Vikram also introduces us to genmicha, the popcorn tea from Japan. He thinks green tea with grains of roasted brown rice makes for a really nice drink. And of course takes the readers into a wide array of infused drinks. We have forgotten these drinks, our taste buds have been so dominated by the modern tea industry that whatever they market is what we like to drink. Marketing has surely narrowed down the choices of food and drinks we have. This is a heavy price that the society has unknowingly paid for.
Instead of waiting for the tea companies to start manufacturing rice tea or ragi tea, I would go by what the author suggests. He says that grain teas are very easy to try and experiment with at home. You can take any grain and roast them and then steep or boil them, and get many variations on the same pleasantly toasted tasting tea. Leaving the wheat grains whole gives a clear drink and a crisper taste. Red rice (or ragi ) is earthier, and can be combined with green tea for an easy home version of that Korean drink. Quinoa, the Andean grain that I had written about in this column, roasts to a sensational smoky taste. You can also add spices a single star anise flower goes very well with roasted wheat. And like Korean barley tea in restaurants, they are all refreshing to drink cold.
He agrees that none of them is coffee or tea, both of which I will keep drinking, but as grain teas they are very much worth trying in their own right.
You too can make the effort.
Aug 20, 2009
Why are the food prices going up?
I have been asked this question umpteen number of times. For the past three months I have repeatedly asserted that the price rise in food commodities has nothing to do with supply constaints. Then why are the prices of pulses for instance sky rocketing? I have been often asked by the media.
My answer has been simple and straight. It is because of massive hoarding, black market and speculation by the trade. I had always been pleading for a crackdown against the trade which is holding the country to ransom. I don't know why the government took refuge behind the economic parlance of markets driven by sentiments and in this case the delayed monsoon was the sentiment that the markets exploited. This is completely a flawed assumption, an euphemism that economists use to justify speculation and hoarding.
Take the case of pulses. Prices of arhar dal have hit the roof. Prices of other pulses too have sky rocketed. And the impression we carry is that there was a shortfall in production, and of course many would link the fall in production with the delayed monsoons. Let us try to understand what went wrong with pulses. Compared to 2008, the market prices of pulses have increased by 52 per cent in Chennai to 89 per cent in Delhi. I am sure you would agree that such a stupendous rise in prices of pulses should be a reflection of the slump in production.
No, it is not true. There was hardly any difference in the production of pulses. In 2008, pulses production was 14.76 million tonnes. In 2009, it fell to 14.66 million tonnes, a drop of 0.1 million tonnes. In other words, production of pulses had remained almost static. The other arguement is that demand has outstripped its production. Some economists have projected the demand (I don't know what is the basis) to be around 17 million tonnes. Interestingly, it gives me an impression that suddenly in 2009 people had started consuming more of pulses. After all, if the demand was growing, 2008 should have also been a bad year as far as the prices are concerned.
Even if you buy this arguement, we are told that India has imported 2.5 million tonnes of pulses this year. Add this to the production figures, and you arrive at a figure of 17.16 million tonnes of pulses available in the market. Which means we have made up for that gap between demand and supply. Then please tell me why are the prices going up? Some will say that the imports were at a higher price. But still the import quantity is only a fraction of the total (and still much of it is held up at the ports) not significant to make an impact on retail prices.
Before we talk of the main cause behind the price rise, let me share with you one of reasons for the rise in price of arhar dal which has somehow gone unnoticed. At the time of processing arhar dal, the processor takes out to outer coating (chilka) of lentil to be used as cattle feed. This year, the demand for cattle feed was depressed because of the easy availability of foodgrains. The processing industry therefore passed on their loss (around Rs 20 a kg) to the retail. The retail added their own profit margin to exploit the gullible consumer.
Well, to the question why are the prices shooting up, the anwer is simple. The trade has been holding up the supplies, wanting to exploit the sentiment. And the government has been simply turning a blind eye. It is only after three months of hammering and driving home this point that I find the government has finally woken up the real threat. It has been talking in tough terms against hoarders now. Some State governments have swung into action. And look at the results. In just a few days of a crackdown against hoarders throughout the state, Madhya Pradesh has been able to recover sugar worth Rs 10,000 crores. Just in Malanpur and Bhind godowns, 14,364 quintals of sugar beyond the permissible limit was seized. Raids have been widespread, and are still continuing. In three days time, the State has found 34,000 quintal of sugar kept illegally. Market price of sugar has come down by Rs 3 a kg just in two days time.
In Punjab, the State has raided the premises of 559 traders in the past two days and yet have not found any excess stocking. But if the newspaper reports are to be believed, the raids are merely a public relation exercise. The government agencies are deliberately trying not to look at the places where the excess stocks are lying. In Haryana, the government evoked the Haryana Prevention of Hoarding and Maintainance of Quality Order 1977 on Aug 12. The next three days were holidays, good enough for the traders to move the stocks out of the state limits. Most of these illegal stocks are kept at places around the state borders. The idea being that if one State government becomes hyperactive, the stocks can be conveniently moved across the border.
Many State governments have now swung into action. As a result, the price of sugar in the wholesale market has come down by Rs 140 per quintal. In Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the prices of pulses has come down by Rs 250 to Rs 400 per quintal. And let me assure you, if the government becomes really tough against the trade there is no reason why your monthly budget should go beyond your limits.
My answer has been simple and straight. It is because of massive hoarding, black market and speculation by the trade. I had always been pleading for a crackdown against the trade which is holding the country to ransom. I don't know why the government took refuge behind the economic parlance of markets driven by sentiments and in this case the delayed monsoon was the sentiment that the markets exploited. This is completely a flawed assumption, an euphemism that economists use to justify speculation and hoarding.
Take the case of pulses. Prices of arhar dal have hit the roof. Prices of other pulses too have sky rocketed. And the impression we carry is that there was a shortfall in production, and of course many would link the fall in production with the delayed monsoons. Let us try to understand what went wrong with pulses. Compared to 2008, the market prices of pulses have increased by 52 per cent in Chennai to 89 per cent in Delhi. I am sure you would agree that such a stupendous rise in prices of pulses should be a reflection of the slump in production.
No, it is not true. There was hardly any difference in the production of pulses. In 2008, pulses production was 14.76 million tonnes. In 2009, it fell to 14.66 million tonnes, a drop of 0.1 million tonnes. In other words, production of pulses had remained almost static. The other arguement is that demand has outstripped its production. Some economists have projected the demand (I don't know what is the basis) to be around 17 million tonnes. Interestingly, it gives me an impression that suddenly in 2009 people had started consuming more of pulses. After all, if the demand was growing, 2008 should have also been a bad year as far as the prices are concerned.
Even if you buy this arguement, we are told that India has imported 2.5 million tonnes of pulses this year. Add this to the production figures, and you arrive at a figure of 17.16 million tonnes of pulses available in the market. Which means we have made up for that gap between demand and supply. Then please tell me why are the prices going up? Some will say that the imports were at a higher price. But still the import quantity is only a fraction of the total (and still much of it is held up at the ports) not significant to make an impact on retail prices.
Before we talk of the main cause behind the price rise, let me share with you one of reasons for the rise in price of arhar dal which has somehow gone unnoticed. At the time of processing arhar dal, the processor takes out to outer coating (chilka) of lentil to be used as cattle feed. This year, the demand for cattle feed was depressed because of the easy availability of foodgrains. The processing industry therefore passed on their loss (around Rs 20 a kg) to the retail. The retail added their own profit margin to exploit the gullible consumer.
Well, to the question why are the prices shooting up, the anwer is simple. The trade has been holding up the supplies, wanting to exploit the sentiment. And the government has been simply turning a blind eye. It is only after three months of hammering and driving home this point that I find the government has finally woken up the real threat. It has been talking in tough terms against hoarders now. Some State governments have swung into action. And look at the results. In just a few days of a crackdown against hoarders throughout the state, Madhya Pradesh has been able to recover sugar worth Rs 10,000 crores. Just in Malanpur and Bhind godowns, 14,364 quintals of sugar beyond the permissible limit was seized. Raids have been widespread, and are still continuing. In three days time, the State has found 34,000 quintal of sugar kept illegally. Market price of sugar has come down by Rs 3 a kg just in two days time.
In Punjab, the State has raided the premises of 559 traders in the past two days and yet have not found any excess stocking. But if the newspaper reports are to be believed, the raids are merely a public relation exercise. The government agencies are deliberately trying not to look at the places where the excess stocks are lying. In Haryana, the government evoked the Haryana Prevention of Hoarding and Maintainance of Quality Order 1977 on Aug 12. The next three days were holidays, good enough for the traders to move the stocks out of the state limits. Most of these illegal stocks are kept at places around the state borders. The idea being that if one State government becomes hyperactive, the stocks can be conveniently moved across the border.
Many State governments have now swung into action. As a result, the price of sugar in the wholesale market has come down by Rs 140 per quintal. In Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the prices of pulses has come down by Rs 250 to Rs 400 per quintal. And let me assure you, if the government becomes really tough against the trade there is no reason why your monthly budget should go beyond your limits.
Aug 18, 2009
Gathering drought: do-or-die situation for farmers
Sometimes back, a former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was commenting on the credibility of weather forecasts. He said: "I too am an optimist. But I still like to carry my umbrella with me."
Things haven't changed since then. Even in this age of technology, and I am talking of times when we all talk of rocket science, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) weather forecasts continue to be unreliable. Remember, a month back the Science Minister Prithvi Raj Chauhan, had in a press conference said that the IMD forecast was for a 19 per cent deficit in monsoon rainfall in the northwestern parts of the country. Their calculations have gone awry since then.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's vital monsoon rains have been 29 per cent below normal since the beginning of the June-september season. I am sure the IMD would appreciate that there is a huge difference between 19 per cent and 29 per cent in the deficiency of rainfall. I don't think the nation should pardon the IMD for such flawed projections. India cannot be held for ransom by a bunch of meteorological experts who do not know what they are talking about. I think some heads in IMD must roll. There is an urgent need to bring in merit and professionalism in the working of the IMD.
Anyway, the gathering drought has compounded the water crisis. Not only for drinking, availability of water is becoming a big problem for farmers to protect their standing crop. While it may be relatively easy for farmers in Punjab and Haryana to provide life-saving irrigation to the standing crop, in several other parts of the country farmers are in terrible hardship. Saving the standing crop has become a big challenge.
Far from the madding crowd, farmers are now battling literally for water with guns. Well, don't be surprised. I am quoting from a news report datelined Aurangabad in The Hindustan Times today. The report says: As the coverage of paddy has so far been only 18.82 per cent and maize a little over 15 per cent, it is a do-or-die situation for the farmers, who are forced to guard their water resources with guns. They go to the fields with farm implements and guns so that others do not share whatever little water is available in irrigation canals. You can read the full report at: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=18_08_2009_013_004&mode=1
In another detailed report from far away Andhra Pradesh in Indian Express: In a village in Mahabubnagar district of AP, farmers are adding to their debt by spending about Rs 2,000 per month to buy water for their fields. It quotes a farmer Shivanarayana who is struggling to save the crop. His two borewells in his and neighbouring field have dried up. Now he is borrowing money to buy water from a private borewell to water his crop. The report entitled "We may have to forgo one meal today, but we have to buy water for the crop" can be read at: http://epaper.indianexpress.com/IE/IEH/2009/08/18/index.shtml
Reading these two news reports, I recall with disgust a popular perception among the economists and the business analysts who say that NREGA should be able to provide farmers with an economic cushion at times of such calamities. What a shame that a section of our elite and opinion makers should be so indifferent and callous towards human suffering.
Things haven't changed since then. Even in this age of technology, and I am talking of times when we all talk of rocket science, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) weather forecasts continue to be unreliable. Remember, a month back the Science Minister Prithvi Raj Chauhan, had in a press conference said that the IMD forecast was for a 19 per cent deficit in monsoon rainfall in the northwestern parts of the country. Their calculations have gone awry since then.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's vital monsoon rains have been 29 per cent below normal since the beginning of the June-september season. I am sure the IMD would appreciate that there is a huge difference between 19 per cent and 29 per cent in the deficiency of rainfall. I don't think the nation should pardon the IMD for such flawed projections. India cannot be held for ransom by a bunch of meteorological experts who do not know what they are talking about. I think some heads in IMD must roll. There is an urgent need to bring in merit and professionalism in the working of the IMD.
Anyway, the gathering drought has compounded the water crisis. Not only for drinking, availability of water is becoming a big problem for farmers to protect their standing crop. While it may be relatively easy for farmers in Punjab and Haryana to provide life-saving irrigation to the standing crop, in several other parts of the country farmers are in terrible hardship. Saving the standing crop has become a big challenge.
Far from the madding crowd, farmers are now battling literally for water with guns. Well, don't be surprised. I am quoting from a news report datelined Aurangabad in The Hindustan Times today. The report says: As the coverage of paddy has so far been only 18.82 per cent and maize a little over 15 per cent, it is a do-or-die situation for the farmers, who are forced to guard their water resources with guns. They go to the fields with farm implements and guns so that others do not share whatever little water is available in irrigation canals. You can read the full report at: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=18_08_2009_013_004&mode=1
In another detailed report from far away Andhra Pradesh in Indian Express: In a village in Mahabubnagar district of AP, farmers are adding to their debt by spending about Rs 2,000 per month to buy water for their fields. It quotes a farmer Shivanarayana who is struggling to save the crop. His two borewells in his and neighbouring field have dried up. Now he is borrowing money to buy water from a private borewell to water his crop. The report entitled "We may have to forgo one meal today, but we have to buy water for the crop" can be read at: http://epaper.indianexpress.com/IE/IEH/2009/08/18/index.shtml
Reading these two news reports, I recall with disgust a popular perception among the economists and the business analysts who say that NREGA should be able to provide farmers with an economic cushion at times of such calamities. What a shame that a section of our elite and opinion makers should be so indifferent and callous towards human suffering.
Aug 16, 2009
A musical tribute to the dying farmer
Every time I listen to Lata Mangeshkar's Aey mere watan ke logo jara aankh main bhar lo paani I get so drawn that I invariably find tears rolling down. I am sure this happens to most of us. The lyrics and the song is so powerful and heart rendering that it becomes difficult to control your emotions. The song, a tribute to the valour of the Indian soldier, will always be cherished.
I had always wondered why someone could not compose a similar tribute to the Indian farmer. The annadata of the country is now living in hunger and penury, and no one is even remotely concerned at his plight. It is because of these toiling farmers that India can now sit comfortably on top of a growth trajectory. It is because of our farmers that we are not only food secure but also can breathe free. Freedom for hunger is the first and foremost of the freedoms that any nation can dream of, and our farmers have delivered it for us. This ungrateful nation has however forgotten their role, and treats them as a burden.
These thoughts were crossing my mind when the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was delivering his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi yesterday. I was sitting in the studio of a TV channel listening to the Prime Minister who was busy reading his government's report card. Much of the focus of his address however was on the gathering drought, and I thought here was an opportunity for him to tell the nation that his government would do all possible to pull the country's real heroes from the clutches of poverty and despair.
Nevertheless, while the Prime Minister was delivering his address I told a co-panelist Shankar Sahney, a young Bollywood pop-singer, who was present with his guitar and played and sang a few enchanting and patriotic tunes in between, that why doesn't he compose a few lines in memory of thousands of farmers who have committed suicide. After all, their contribution to country's national security is no less than anyone. That is why the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri gave the nation the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan !
Shankar was so carried away that he asked me a few details and while we were chatting during one of the commercial breaks, he composed four lines and sang. I can tell you I was greatly moved by what he conveyed in those four lines, and we actually made him sing this newly composed song a couple of times in the live show. Shankar has now promised to give me a complete song in a few days time. Thank you Shankar. You probably don't know what it would mean for the toiling masses, the forgotten heroes of our country.
I will bring the song to you whenever Shankar's composition is ready.
Meanwhile, if you feel like listening to some of his spiritual compositions, you may like to visit his web site http://www.mahamritunjaya.com/
I had always wondered why someone could not compose a similar tribute to the Indian farmer. The annadata of the country is now living in hunger and penury, and no one is even remotely concerned at his plight. It is because of these toiling farmers that India can now sit comfortably on top of a growth trajectory. It is because of our farmers that we are not only food secure but also can breathe free. Freedom for hunger is the first and foremost of the freedoms that any nation can dream of, and our farmers have delivered it for us. This ungrateful nation has however forgotten their role, and treats them as a burden.
These thoughts were crossing my mind when the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was delivering his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi yesterday. I was sitting in the studio of a TV channel listening to the Prime Minister who was busy reading his government's report card. Much of the focus of his address however was on the gathering drought, and I thought here was an opportunity for him to tell the nation that his government would do all possible to pull the country's real heroes from the clutches of poverty and despair.
Nevertheless, while the Prime Minister was delivering his address I told a co-panelist Shankar Sahney, a young Bollywood pop-singer, who was present with his guitar and played and sang a few enchanting and patriotic tunes in between, that why doesn't he compose a few lines in memory of thousands of farmers who have committed suicide. After all, their contribution to country's national security is no less than anyone. That is why the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri gave the nation the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan !
Shankar was so carried away that he asked me a few details and while we were chatting during one of the commercial breaks, he composed four lines and sang. I can tell you I was greatly moved by what he conveyed in those four lines, and we actually made him sing this newly composed song a couple of times in the live show. Shankar has now promised to give me a complete song in a few days time. Thank you Shankar. You probably don't know what it would mean for the toiling masses, the forgotten heroes of our country.
I will bring the song to you whenever Shankar's composition is ready.
Meanwhile, if you feel like listening to some of his spiritual compositions, you may like to visit his web site http://www.mahamritunjaya.com/
Aug 13, 2009
Now, Egypt says no to trade in GM foods
There is good news on the GM front. Finally, Egypt has shown the door to controversial GM foods. And if you recall some years back some African countries had refused to buckle under the US pressure to import GM corn despite the fake threat of an impending famine. The World Food Programme had collaborated with the USAID to exert pressure on these poor countries.
That was in 2002. And after six long years, Egypt has shown the political courage to say no GM food imports and exports.
To take you back to the issue, let me print the relevant portion from my article Famine as Commerce (Aug 2002 http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twe286f.htm):
But what is arguably one of the most blatantly anti-humanitarian act, seen as morally repugnant, is the decision of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to offer US $50 million in food aid to famine-stricken Zimbabwe provided that it is used to purchase genetically modified maize. Food aid therefore is no longer an instrument of foreign policy. It has now become a major commercial activity, even if it means exploiting the famine victims and starving millions.
That is the official line at the USAID about the corn it has offered to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi, where an estimated 13 million people face severe hunger and possibly live under the spectre of an impending famine after two years of drought and floods.
For the genetically modified food industry, reeling under a growing rejection of its untested and harmful food products, there is money in hunger, starvation and death. Spearheaded by USAID, the industry has made it abundantly clear that it has only genetically modified maize to offer and was not willing to segregate. The WFP, which over the past few decades has for all practical purposes become an extension of USAID, was quick to put its rubber stamp. It had earlier helped the United States to reduce its grain surpluses by taking the genetically modified food for a mid-day meal programme for school children in Africa.
President Mogabe may not be able to hold for long. He had earlier told Zimbabwe's Parliament on July 23: "We fight the present drought with our eyes clearly set on the future of the agricultural sector, which is the mainstay of our economy. We dare not endanger its future through misplaced decisions based on acts of either desperation or expediency." But then, the biotechnology industry is using all its financial power to break down the African resistance. Once the GM food is accepted as humanitarian aid, it will be politically difficult for the African governments to oppose the corporate take-over of Africa's agricultural economy. For the industry, Africa provides a huge market.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa too has said that his people would rather die than eat toxic food. While Malawi says it has no choice but to accept GM maize, newspaper reports cite Mozambique, from where Malawi's food aid has to pass through, asking the WFP to cover it with plastic sheeting to avoid spillage while in transit.
Malawi incidentally is faced with famine after it was forced to sell maize to earn dollars for debt servicing. Explains Ann Pettifor of the New Economics Foundation: Just three months before the food crisis hit, Malawi was encouraged by the World Bank "to keep foreign exchange instead of storing grain" Why? Because foreign exchange is needed to repay debts. Creditors will not accept debt repayments in Malawian Kwachas. Or indeed in bags of maize. Only "greenbacks" or other hard currencies will do.
One of Malawi's key commercial creditors needed to have their debt repaid, according to Malawi's president, who in a BBC interview said the government "had been forced (to sell maize) in order to repay commercial loans taken out to buy surplus maize in previous years". President Muluzi said the IMF and the World Bank "insisted that, since Malawi had a surplus and the (government's) National Food Reserve Agency had this huge loan, they had to sell the maize to repay the commercial banks." So Malawi duly sold 28,000 tonnes of maize to Kenya. Under pressure from her creditors, led by the World Bank and the IMF, Malawi exchanged maize -- her people's staple diet -- for dollars.
And now, it is getting another loan to purchase genetically modified from the United States. Sure the USAID has been working overtime to create a market for its genetically modified food industry!
I am not sure how long will Egypt be able to hold on to this ban. But still it is a very significant development. It isn't easy to stand up to the US (read biotech companies) pressure. Take the example of Poland. Julian Rose says: Now, working in Poland with Jadwiga Lopata (The International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside) we are preoccupied with attempting to keep GM crops off the thousands of richly biodiverse small peasant farms that still cling on to survival in this Country. We managed - between 2004 and 2006 to get every Province (there are 16) to make a 'GMO Free' self declaration and then purswaded them to write to the government demanding national legislation banning GM seeds and crops.
To our great surprise the government responded by banning all GM seeds and plants in 2006. But such is the fickleness of politics that the next government decided to reverse this situation - and is now trying to satisfy the dictats of Brussles (the EU) which says that it is illegal to ban GM seeds and plants that have been approved by them.
India is another country which is buckling under the biotech pressure. But in India, it is not only the political pressure that works. Public-Private partnership in agricultural research also plays an equally important role. Agricultural scientists have mortagged the public interest for the sake of their own livelihoods.
EGYPT BANS TRADE IN GM FOOD
AFP, via France 24, 12 August 2009:
http://www.france24.com/en/20090812-egypt-bans-trade-gm-food
Egypt is banning food imports and exports that are not certified free of genetically modified products, state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday.
Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza "gave instructions... against the entry of any imports, especially wheat, corn and soya beans until samples of the cargo have been examined...in the absence of a certificate," it added.
The agency gave no further details.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country and one of the world's largest wheat importers.
GM crops are widely grown in North America, South America and China. Egypt approved the cultivation of genetically modified corn last year.
That was in 2002. And after six long years, Egypt has shown the political courage to say no GM food imports and exports.
To take you back to the issue, let me print the relevant portion from my article Famine as Commerce (Aug 2002 http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twe286f.htm):
But what is arguably one of the most blatantly anti-humanitarian act, seen as morally repugnant, is the decision of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to offer US $50 million in food aid to famine-stricken Zimbabwe provided that it is used to purchase genetically modified maize. Food aid therefore is no longer an instrument of foreign policy. It has now become a major commercial activity, even if it means exploiting the famine victims and starving millions.
That is the official line at the USAID about the corn it has offered to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi, where an estimated 13 million people face severe hunger and possibly live under the spectre of an impending famine after two years of drought and floods.
For the genetically modified food industry, reeling under a growing rejection of its untested and harmful food products, there is money in hunger, starvation and death. Spearheaded by USAID, the industry has made it abundantly clear that it has only genetically modified maize to offer and was not willing to segregate. The WFP, which over the past few decades has for all practical purposes become an extension of USAID, was quick to put its rubber stamp. It had earlier helped the United States to reduce its grain surpluses by taking the genetically modified food for a mid-day meal programme for school children in Africa.
President Mogabe may not be able to hold for long. He had earlier told Zimbabwe's Parliament on July 23: "We fight the present drought with our eyes clearly set on the future of the agricultural sector, which is the mainstay of our economy. We dare not endanger its future through misplaced decisions based on acts of either desperation or expediency." But then, the biotechnology industry is using all its financial power to break down the African resistance. Once the GM food is accepted as humanitarian aid, it will be politically difficult for the African governments to oppose the corporate take-over of Africa's agricultural economy. For the industry, Africa provides a huge market.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa too has said that his people would rather die than eat toxic food. While Malawi says it has no choice but to accept GM maize, newspaper reports cite Mozambique, from where Malawi's food aid has to pass through, asking the WFP to cover it with plastic sheeting to avoid spillage while in transit.
Malawi incidentally is faced with famine after it was forced to sell maize to earn dollars for debt servicing. Explains Ann Pettifor of the New Economics Foundation: Just three months before the food crisis hit, Malawi was encouraged by the World Bank "to keep foreign exchange instead of storing grain" Why? Because foreign exchange is needed to repay debts. Creditors will not accept debt repayments in Malawian Kwachas. Or indeed in bags of maize. Only "greenbacks" or other hard currencies will do.
One of Malawi's key commercial creditors needed to have their debt repaid, according to Malawi's president, who in a BBC interview said the government "had been forced (to sell maize) in order to repay commercial loans taken out to buy surplus maize in previous years". President Muluzi said the IMF and the World Bank "insisted that, since Malawi had a surplus and the (government's) National Food Reserve Agency had this huge loan, they had to sell the maize to repay the commercial banks." So Malawi duly sold 28,000 tonnes of maize to Kenya. Under pressure from her creditors, led by the World Bank and the IMF, Malawi exchanged maize -- her people's staple diet -- for dollars.
And now, it is getting another loan to purchase genetically modified from the United States. Sure the USAID has been working overtime to create a market for its genetically modified food industry!
I am not sure how long will Egypt be able to hold on to this ban. But still it is a very significant development. It isn't easy to stand up to the US (read biotech companies) pressure. Take the example of Poland. Julian Rose says: Now, working in Poland with Jadwiga Lopata (The International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside) we are preoccupied with attempting to keep GM crops off the thousands of richly biodiverse small peasant farms that still cling on to survival in this Country. We managed - between 2004 and 2006 to get every Province (there are 16) to make a 'GMO Free' self declaration and then purswaded them to write to the government demanding national legislation banning GM seeds and crops.
To our great surprise the government responded by banning all GM seeds and plants in 2006. But such is the fickleness of politics that the next government decided to reverse this situation - and is now trying to satisfy the dictats of Brussles (the EU) which says that it is illegal to ban GM seeds and plants that have been approved by them.
India is another country which is buckling under the biotech pressure. But in India, it is not only the political pressure that works. Public-Private partnership in agricultural research also plays an equally important role. Agricultural scientists have mortagged the public interest for the sake of their own livelihoods.
EGYPT BANS TRADE IN GM FOOD
AFP, via France 24, 12 August 2009:
http://www.france24.com/en/20090812-egypt-bans-trade-gm-food
Egypt is banning food imports and exports that are not certified free of genetically modified products, state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday.
Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza "gave instructions... against the entry of any imports, especially wheat, corn and soya beans until samples of the cargo have been examined...in the absence of a certificate," it added.
The agency gave no further details.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country and one of the world's largest wheat importers.
GM crops are widely grown in North America, South America and China. Egypt approved the cultivation of genetically modified corn last year.
Aug 12, 2009
'I know now why farmers kill themselves'
It is a familar story. As drought sinks in, and the government realises the magnitude of the crisis, the focus now shifts to human suffering. For nearly three months now, the government as well as the media had measured the gathering drought only in terms of reduction in GDP, and the slump in agriculture growth. I got tired of answering questions about how much would be the fall in GDP from the impending drought. I know how difficult it was to draw the media to the bigger story (as they say in media parlance) of human suffering in the countryside.
Finally, the media has begun to talk about it. I think the media has now realised the gravity of the situation. I see the shift. I am now asked about the human impact of the grave tragedy that the farmers are faced with. Maybe it is because the media has to look for a new angle. Whatever be it, the tragedy should be measured in terms of the human suffering rather than the GDP decline or the set back to the FMCG sector which is not anymore as optimist as it used to be at the beginning of the year. In fact, the other day when I was asked a question whether the drought would not mean that the trade and industry would not be able to sustain itself at times of economic meltdown since the purchasing power of rural India is down, I replied that the plus side of drought is that the rural population have been saved from the hawks in the business sector who in any case were looking to swoop on the countryside and rob the poor of whatever they have in their pockets.
Anyway, there is a moving story in the Indian Express: 'I know now why farmers kill themselves' (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-I-know-now-why-farmers-kill-themselves-/501050). Datelined Bhagalpur in Bihar, the report brings out how the farmers in the drought-hit parts of Bihar now see and understand what makes farmers in Vidharba regions of Maharashtra take to suicide. Another report in The Times of India tells us that the farmer suicides have begun in Andhra Pradesh. The report is reproduced below.
My colleague Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in Hyderabad tells me that 60 farmers have committed suicide in the month of July. By Aug 10, another 16 had taken their lives. In Vidharba, Kishor Tiwari informs that four farmers have taken their lives in the past one week alone. That such a deadly drama continues to be enacted in the farms despite a number of committees and relief measures speaks volumes about the criminal apathy that prevails among the urban elite and the policy makers. The tragedy is that no one is keen to come to grips with the reasons that lead to this neverending saga of human suffering.
Drought fallout: Andhra farmer commits suicide
Roli Srivastava | TNN
Piskalgutta Tanda (Nizamabad), Aug 12: The dying paddy seedlings on Govind Nenawat’s farm land claimed his life last week. The 25-year-old debt-ridden Lambada tribal farmer committed suicide on August 6 by hanging from a tree that stands tall in a deceptively green stretch of this village in Gandhari mandal.
Nizamabad is among the 14 districts in Andhra Pradesh that has received ‘deficit’ rainfall and Piskalgutta tanda (meaning village) has not seen a drop this monsoon. Govind’s suicide is the first in this district. It’s never been as bad, say villagers. They could scrape through even during the bad monsoon year of 2003, when the 600-odd acres of farmland owned by this tanda’s farmers gave some yield. ‘‘But this year is different. There is no rain,’’ says Badawat Devi Singh, a local farmer. Nenawat had got married last year and was even constructing his own small house. His wife, Radha, is seven months pregnant. Over the past rainless month, Nenawat had increasingly become worried. With a debt of Rs 2 lakh on his head that he raised for seeds, pesticides and to build his house, he knew he couldn’t repay the loan this year with his crops failing. ‘‘His two-acre agricultural land would have given him a yield of anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000,’’ says Devi Singh, another farmer.
The heavily-pregnant Radha now walks for over a mile every day to see the tree her husband hung himself from after sharing with her that his debt was unmanageable. The two major crops, apart from paddy, grown by farmers here are maize and soya.
Finally, the media has begun to talk about it. I think the media has now realised the gravity of the situation. I see the shift. I am now asked about the human impact of the grave tragedy that the farmers are faced with. Maybe it is because the media has to look for a new angle. Whatever be it, the tragedy should be measured in terms of the human suffering rather than the GDP decline or the set back to the FMCG sector which is not anymore as optimist as it used to be at the beginning of the year. In fact, the other day when I was asked a question whether the drought would not mean that the trade and industry would not be able to sustain itself at times of economic meltdown since the purchasing power of rural India is down, I replied that the plus side of drought is that the rural population have been saved from the hawks in the business sector who in any case were looking to swoop on the countryside and rob the poor of whatever they have in their pockets.
Anyway, there is a moving story in the Indian Express: 'I know now why farmers kill themselves' (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-I-know-now-why-farmers-kill-themselves-/501050). Datelined Bhagalpur in Bihar, the report brings out how the farmers in the drought-hit parts of Bihar now see and understand what makes farmers in Vidharba regions of Maharashtra take to suicide. Another report in The Times of India tells us that the farmer suicides have begun in Andhra Pradesh. The report is reproduced below.
My colleague Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in Hyderabad tells me that 60 farmers have committed suicide in the month of July. By Aug 10, another 16 had taken their lives. In Vidharba, Kishor Tiwari informs that four farmers have taken their lives in the past one week alone. That such a deadly drama continues to be enacted in the farms despite a number of committees and relief measures speaks volumes about the criminal apathy that prevails among the urban elite and the policy makers. The tragedy is that no one is keen to come to grips with the reasons that lead to this neverending saga of human suffering.
Drought fallout: Andhra farmer commits suicide
Roli Srivastava | TNN
Piskalgutta Tanda (Nizamabad), Aug 12: The dying paddy seedlings on Govind Nenawat’s farm land claimed his life last week. The 25-year-old debt-ridden Lambada tribal farmer committed suicide on August 6 by hanging from a tree that stands tall in a deceptively green stretch of this village in Gandhari mandal.
Nizamabad is among the 14 districts in Andhra Pradesh that has received ‘deficit’ rainfall and Piskalgutta tanda (meaning village) has not seen a drop this monsoon. Govind’s suicide is the first in this district. It’s never been as bad, say villagers. They could scrape through even during the bad monsoon year of 2003, when the 600-odd acres of farmland owned by this tanda’s farmers gave some yield. ‘‘But this year is different. There is no rain,’’ says Badawat Devi Singh, a local farmer. Nenawat had got married last year and was even constructing his own small house. His wife, Radha, is seven months pregnant. Over the past rainless month, Nenawat had increasingly become worried. With a debt of Rs 2 lakh on his head that he raised for seeds, pesticides and to build his house, he knew he couldn’t repay the loan this year with his crops failing. ‘‘His two-acre agricultural land would have given him a yield of anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000,’’ says Devi Singh, another farmer.
The heavily-pregnant Radha now walks for over a mile every day to see the tree her husband hung himself from after sharing with her that his debt was unmanageable. The two major crops, apart from paddy, grown by farmers here are maize and soya.
Aug 10, 2009
Adulterated milk -- Why is the dairy industry and consumers silent?
There is hardly a day when you don't find news report of adulterated milk appearing from various parts of the country. The menace of milk adulteration has spread far and wide. The crime branch of Pune police had busted a gang involved in milk adulteration, the Mumbai police arrested five people selling spurious ghee, the police in Satara arrested a kingpin whose manufacturing unit for biofuels was actually producing chemical milk and selling it in bulk for the past five years.
These are only a few of the reports that I bring it to your notice.
The menace of synthetic milk is of course well known. The production of chemical milk was however news to me. I am amazed at the ingenuity of the Indian mind. They had actually prepared a chemical solution, 10 ml of which is good enough to turn into one litre of milk by adding water. In fact, the colour turns white only when water is added. In a way, this factory was acting more or less like a formulation unit, getting the technical material and formulating it into milk.
Although the UP Assembly witnessed an uproar over the supply of synthetic milk in the State on Aug 8, I do not find the consumers as well as the dairy industry rising to the occasion. The indifference on part of the consumers is shocking indeed. The deafening silence from the consumers gives me an impression that this country has lost the ability to stand up for its rights. If it can't even voice its concern over the rampant adulteration of milk, which is a crucial component the daily Indian diet, what can you expect from this society? If they are not worried about what they are drinking as milk everyday, do you think they are even remotely concerned about the health impact from genetically modified foods?
I had thought that adulterated milk should have by now become the major national issue. Average consumers should have felt outraged, and there should have been mass protests and actions. I can't even visualise how come the average Indian has not even cared to express its disgust, its anger against the inability of the government to ensure that the milk being supplied in the market is safe for human health. How can you sleep over something that is potentially a killer? What a disgrace.
And this reminds of a scene from the Bollywood blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai. At one stage Munnabhai says in the film: Yeh darra hua samaj kya badlav layega. How true?
For once, I think the media has done an excellent job in highlighting the issue. I find special programmes on adulterated milk on prime time in several TV channels. The print media too has given adequate coverage to the subject. But it is the consumers who have failed the media this time. They are more engrossed in the reality shows on the small screen, forgetting the reality show that is actually playing havoc with their own health, and the health of their families.
The dairy industry is no better. Big milk producers like Amul, Mother Dairy and Nestle (besides several other popular brands) are quiet. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the ASSOCHAM are not even asking the government to crackdown on the spurious milk trade. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) too have failed to seek appropriate action.
The reason is obvious. I have ample reasons to believe that many in the dairy industry are hand-in-glove with the spurious traders. I am not mentioning names, but there are a number of cases when we find that the dairy plants are sourcing bulk supplies of milk from a particular region/area where the milk production is far less than what is being collected. That is why the industry is keeping quiet, turning to look the other way.
These are only a few of the reports that I bring it to your notice.
The menace of synthetic milk is of course well known. The production of chemical milk was however news to me. I am amazed at the ingenuity of the Indian mind. They had actually prepared a chemical solution, 10 ml of which is good enough to turn into one litre of milk by adding water. In fact, the colour turns white only when water is added. In a way, this factory was acting more or less like a formulation unit, getting the technical material and formulating it into milk.
Although the UP Assembly witnessed an uproar over the supply of synthetic milk in the State on Aug 8, I do not find the consumers as well as the dairy industry rising to the occasion. The indifference on part of the consumers is shocking indeed. The deafening silence from the consumers gives me an impression that this country has lost the ability to stand up for its rights. If it can't even voice its concern over the rampant adulteration of milk, which is a crucial component the daily Indian diet, what can you expect from this society? If they are not worried about what they are drinking as milk everyday, do you think they are even remotely concerned about the health impact from genetically modified foods?
I had thought that adulterated milk should have by now become the major national issue. Average consumers should have felt outraged, and there should have been mass protests and actions. I can't even visualise how come the average Indian has not even cared to express its disgust, its anger against the inability of the government to ensure that the milk being supplied in the market is safe for human health. How can you sleep over something that is potentially a killer? What a disgrace.
And this reminds of a scene from the Bollywood blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai. At one stage Munnabhai says in the film: Yeh darra hua samaj kya badlav layega. How true?
For once, I think the media has done an excellent job in highlighting the issue. I find special programmes on adulterated milk on prime time in several TV channels. The print media too has given adequate coverage to the subject. But it is the consumers who have failed the media this time. They are more engrossed in the reality shows on the small screen, forgetting the reality show that is actually playing havoc with their own health, and the health of their families.
The dairy industry is no better. Big milk producers like Amul, Mother Dairy and Nestle (besides several other popular brands) are quiet. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the ASSOCHAM are not even asking the government to crackdown on the spurious milk trade. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) too have failed to seek appropriate action.
The reason is obvious. I have ample reasons to believe that many in the dairy industry are hand-in-glove with the spurious traders. I am not mentioning names, but there are a number of cases when we find that the dairy plants are sourcing bulk supplies of milk from a particular region/area where the milk production is far less than what is being collected. That is why the industry is keeping quiet, turning to look the other way.
Aug 8, 2009
PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Nestle, ITC will now decide how safe is your food
How safe is your food will now be determined by the food industry. PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Nestle, ITC and Hindustan Unilever are some of the food giants that will approve the food that you eat. Now don't be surprised. The newly constituted Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has actually packed various scientific panels with industry representatives. Jai Ho !
In a front page report in the Mail Today (Aug 7, 2009) intrepid science journalist Dinesh C Sharma says: In an apparent case of the regulated becoming the regulators themselves, the array of scientific panels is packed with industry representatives who will provide 'scientific opinion' to the food authority on a range of critical issues like labelling, food additives, pesticide residues, genetically modified food and even decide methods of sampling and analysis.
Let us first look at the list of industry representatives on various scientific committees/panels:
Functional foods, Nutraceuticals: Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo India, Marico, Food safety Solutions Internationals.
Sampling and Analysis: Coca Cola, Hindustan Unilever, Vimta laboratories, Micro Chem
Food additives and Flavourings: Marico, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Excelsior Food and Chemicals
Contaminants in Food Chain: Ranbaxy, Hind Agro Industries
Pesticides and Antibiotic Residues: Brittania, ITC, Hindustan Unilever
Labelling, Advertisements/Claims: GSK Consumer Healthcare, Britannia, Nestle, IADFAC laboratories, Hindustan Unilever, Confederation of Indian Industry.
Section 13 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 under which the Authority has been set up says: "the food authority shall establish scientific panels, which shall consist of independent scientific experts." I wonder since when has the Ministry of Food Processing began to treat industry representatives as 'independent' scientific experts. On the contrary, the Authority has, as expected, turned out to be an industry affair. Like Mahatma Gandhi's three monkeys, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has now ensured that it will see no evil, talk no evil and hear no evil. By making the regulated the new regulators, it has very conveniently pushed all consumer concerns away from public glare.
V N Gaur, an IAS officer, who doubles as the chief executive officer of the Authority unabashedly defends the inclusion of the industry in the scientific panels: "Scientific knowledge is not the prerogative of government organisations alone. Transparency, high level of scientific integrity, and rigorous conflict of interest procedures are the best safeguards for science-based food standards and food safety," he told the newspaper. I would like to ask Mr Gaur that if it was true, there is no reason why processed food (mostly produced by top ten food companies in the world) should now emerge as the biggest killer even in the United States. Junk food (as it is often called) and the sedentary lifestyle is acknowledged worldover as the main reason behind the health crisis the world is faced with today.
Scientific knowledge is not only the prerogative of the government institutions and the private industry alone Mr Gaur. There are various non-government bodies and individuals in this country whose credibility in scientific issues is much above the official and private industry domains. Why not invite them on the panels? Why are you afraid of having them sit in these committess to decide the safety parameters that the food industry must adhere to?
And this reminds me of what Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd US President, had once said: "If people let governments decide what food they eat, their bodies will soon be in a sorry state as are the soul of those who live under tyranny." If only Jefferson had visualised that in the 21st century, what food the people should eat would be decided by the private food industry, I am sure he would have reframed his statement to say that such a society would be virtually enslaved.
In a front page report in the Mail Today (Aug 7, 2009) intrepid science journalist Dinesh C Sharma says: In an apparent case of the regulated becoming the regulators themselves, the array of scientific panels is packed with industry representatives who will provide 'scientific opinion' to the food authority on a range of critical issues like labelling, food additives, pesticide residues, genetically modified food and even decide methods of sampling and analysis.
Let us first look at the list of industry representatives on various scientific committees/panels:
Functional foods, Nutraceuticals: Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo India, Marico, Food safety Solutions Internationals.
Sampling and Analysis: Coca Cola, Hindustan Unilever, Vimta laboratories, Micro Chem
Food additives and Flavourings: Marico, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Excelsior Food and Chemicals
Contaminants in Food Chain: Ranbaxy, Hind Agro Industries
Pesticides and Antibiotic Residues: Brittania, ITC, Hindustan Unilever
Labelling, Advertisements/Claims: GSK Consumer Healthcare, Britannia, Nestle, IADFAC laboratories, Hindustan Unilever, Confederation of Indian Industry.
Section 13 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 under which the Authority has been set up says: "the food authority shall establish scientific panels, which shall consist of independent scientific experts." I wonder since when has the Ministry of Food Processing began to treat industry representatives as 'independent' scientific experts. On the contrary, the Authority has, as expected, turned out to be an industry affair. Like Mahatma Gandhi's three monkeys, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has now ensured that it will see no evil, talk no evil and hear no evil. By making the regulated the new regulators, it has very conveniently pushed all consumer concerns away from public glare.
V N Gaur, an IAS officer, who doubles as the chief executive officer of the Authority unabashedly defends the inclusion of the industry in the scientific panels: "Scientific knowledge is not the prerogative of government organisations alone. Transparency, high level of scientific integrity, and rigorous conflict of interest procedures are the best safeguards for science-based food standards and food safety," he told the newspaper. I would like to ask Mr Gaur that if it was true, there is no reason why processed food (mostly produced by top ten food companies in the world) should now emerge as the biggest killer even in the United States. Junk food (as it is often called) and the sedentary lifestyle is acknowledged worldover as the main reason behind the health crisis the world is faced with today.
Scientific knowledge is not only the prerogative of the government institutions and the private industry alone Mr Gaur. There are various non-government bodies and individuals in this country whose credibility in scientific issues is much above the official and private industry domains. Why not invite them on the panels? Why are you afraid of having them sit in these committess to decide the safety parameters that the food industry must adhere to?
And this reminds me of what Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd US President, had once said: "If people let governments decide what food they eat, their bodies will soon be in a sorry state as are the soul of those who live under tyranny." If only Jefferson had visualised that in the 21st century, what food the people should eat would be decided by the private food industry, I am sure he would have reframed his statement to say that such a society would be virtually enslaved.
Aug 7, 2009
Any more FTAs to be signed, please wait for the Prime Minister to emerge from his bath
Abu Abraham's cartoon in Indian Express
At the height of the infamous Emergency period, noted cartoonist Abu Abraham drew a cartoon in the Indian Express that will never fade away from my memory. The cartoon showed the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in a bath tub with his outstretched hand returning back a signed bill, and saying: if there are any more ordinances, just ask them to wait.
Abu's cartoon said it all.
If I were an artist or could draw lines I would have surely drawn inspiration from Abu and sketched a similar cartoon to depict the undue haste with which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to sign the Free Trade Agreements. I am not sure how much time Manmohan Singh takes to emerge from his bath, but at the rate that he is signing FTAs, I wonder whose pressures he is working under. Sonia Gandhi is certainly not playing Indira Gandhi. Maybe, as someone said the other day, he has been promised an honorary doctorate by the Harvard University..
Well, while we are still struggling to understand the gains that will accrue from the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement that the Union Cabinet has cleared only a few days back, comes this report from Seoul that says South Korea and India are to sign a de facto FTA today, which will remove or reduce tariffs over the next 10 years, and also open up the two country's services and investment sector.
The news report quoted Cho Choong-jae, an associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) telling Korean Times: "Effects of the CEPA should not be evaluated merely by tariff cuts. The pact should be appreciated as having given Korea a stepping stone into the Indian market. In view of its potential, India could emerge as a leading trade destination for Korea similar to China."
The India-South Korea de facto FTA comes at a time when the country is in a tearing hurry to sign bilateral agreements. Without even understanding what these agreements would mean for the country, and without even caring to let the country know the implications of such agreements, what it means for trade, livelihoods and resulting hunger, the Prime Minister is not even waiting to emerge from his bath.
We have the India-EU FTA already on the table. Ministry of Commerce is presently in various stages of negotiations with at least a dozen countries, as far as Chile. Close to 35 FTAs are in the pipeline. And what is worse is that the nation does not know what will be the gain from signing all these agreements. If the Prime Minister knows, isn't it his moral duty to inform and educate the country?
The fast track mode the UPA-2 government has adopted to push all these bilateral agreements actually shows the arrogance of returning to power minus the left party support. Who cares now for what the nation thinks. What the PMO decides should be considered to be in country's health, I mean the economic health. After all, as the media reminds us again and again, we have a distinguished economist in the hot seat. But forgets we are also the world's biggest democracy. Let it be clear, Prime Minister is not the CEO of the country. He cannot be allowed to behave like one.
The FTAs are raining at a time when only a few years back the country's great economists were telling us that a multilateral agreement (read WTO) was in the country's interest otherwise imagine the laborious engagements in signing bilateral deals. Those economists, and their superfluous arguement, have since been silenced. They no longer talk about the multiplying number of bilateral deals that are being signed the world over. I thought they wanted only one multilateral deal to take care of international trade. Why is it that the world is now witnessing some 400 bilateral and regional trade agreements on the horizon?
The Doha Development Round is also back on the agenda. Interestingly, while the United States is not keen on ending the impasse at WTO, India is bending backwards to make that possible. It has already brought about a change in the domestic trade guard, and replaced them with a more pliable team. The underlying message to the US government is loud and clear -- India is ready to sign on the dotted line. You just have to wait for the Prime Minister to finish his bath.
Aug 6, 2009
A patent for chicken tikka, how stupid
The next time you order chicken tikka just pause and think. A Pakistani-born British MP Mohammed Sarwar is trying to seek a patent over the spicy chicken tikka claiming that it was invented in the Scottish city of Glasgow in the 1970s. He has tabled a motion in the lower House of British Parliament and wants the European Union to grant Glasgow with "Protected Designation of Origin" title for the dish.
Chicken tikka was earlier crowned as Britain's nation dish.
Surprised? Well, I am not. The entire patent game has reached absurd levels. It is not chicken tikka alone, several other popular Indian dishes have been targets of monopoly control. You have probably heard of earlier attempts by the Japanese to patent Indian curry. The patent still stands. Nestle has already drawn a patent over vegetable pulao. Meanwhile, the British city of Birmingham has applied for European protection for balti dishes.
A patent protection for balti, how stupid. I had always thought that balti (meaning a bucket) was an idea of an enterprising chef who wanted to serve something different than the usual way of serving Indian curries and other dishes in a karahi. It is only in Europe that I find Indian dishes being served in a balti. In India we still have the tradition of karahi. Now if this is the extent to which the food industry is trying to seek monopoly control, I am sure someone must be contemplating a patent application for karahi.
The IANS quotes Zaeemuddin Ahmad, a chef at Delhi’s Karim Hotel, which it says was established by the last chef of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. I am sure he knows much better than us as to the origin of the popular dish chicken tikka. Ahmad says that the recipe had been passed down through the generations in his family. "Chicken tikka masala is an authentic Mughlai recipe prepared by our forefathers who were royal chefs in the Mughal period. Mughals were avid trekkers and used to spend months altogether in jungles and far off places. They liked roasted chicken with spices,” he was quoted as saying in media reports.
I wish Zaemuddin Ahmed had earlier drawn a patent on Chicken tikka. Although I remain opposed to the patenting and IPR system, but I think a time has come when we should defeat them in their game. Only then will the patents lose their sheen and control. It is high time India woke up to the threats from patents. Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Science & Technology in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce should launch a drive to not only create awareness but urge Indians to file patents on such culinary traditions.
I only hope that India does not have to fight the Scottish patent over chicken tikka like the way it did to get the patent on the healing properties of turmeric revoked in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Later, India had to take up the case of a patent drawn on the scented basmati rice. In the case of basmati rice, India had put together some 50,000 pages to establish that it was a prior art meaning that it was known to exist earlier. Imagine if we have to repeat the exercise again, to establish that chicken tikka was a prior art and there is no novelty attached to it !!
I remember when Nestle drew a patent on vegetable pulao, I was on a TV show where ofcourse Nestle had refused to come. They sent a written statement. You will not only be surprised but shocked to learn what the company claimed. Nestle said that it had developed a new kind of vegetable pulao meaning with some new ingredients. I had challenged saying there are already some 500 kinds of vegetable pulaos so I wonder what is this 501st kind that the company has invented. Anyway, the patent was drawn for Switzerland, and still exists.
Chicken tikka was earlier crowned as Britain's nation dish.
Surprised? Well, I am not. The entire patent game has reached absurd levels. It is not chicken tikka alone, several other popular Indian dishes have been targets of monopoly control. You have probably heard of earlier attempts by the Japanese to patent Indian curry. The patent still stands. Nestle has already drawn a patent over vegetable pulao. Meanwhile, the British city of Birmingham has applied for European protection for balti dishes.
A patent protection for balti, how stupid. I had always thought that balti (meaning a bucket) was an idea of an enterprising chef who wanted to serve something different than the usual way of serving Indian curries and other dishes in a karahi. It is only in Europe that I find Indian dishes being served in a balti. In India we still have the tradition of karahi. Now if this is the extent to which the food industry is trying to seek monopoly control, I am sure someone must be contemplating a patent application for karahi.
The IANS quotes Zaeemuddin Ahmad, a chef at Delhi’s Karim Hotel, which it says was established by the last chef of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. I am sure he knows much better than us as to the origin of the popular dish chicken tikka. Ahmad says that the recipe had been passed down through the generations in his family. "Chicken tikka masala is an authentic Mughlai recipe prepared by our forefathers who were royal chefs in the Mughal period. Mughals were avid trekkers and used to spend months altogether in jungles and far off places. They liked roasted chicken with spices,” he was quoted as saying in media reports.
I wish Zaemuddin Ahmed had earlier drawn a patent on Chicken tikka. Although I remain opposed to the patenting and IPR system, but I think a time has come when we should defeat them in their game. Only then will the patents lose their sheen and control. It is high time India woke up to the threats from patents. Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Science & Technology in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce should launch a drive to not only create awareness but urge Indians to file patents on such culinary traditions.
I only hope that India does not have to fight the Scottish patent over chicken tikka like the way it did to get the patent on the healing properties of turmeric revoked in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Later, India had to take up the case of a patent drawn on the scented basmati rice. In the case of basmati rice, India had put together some 50,000 pages to establish that it was a prior art meaning that it was known to exist earlier. Imagine if we have to repeat the exercise again, to establish that chicken tikka was a prior art and there is no novelty attached to it !!
I remember when Nestle drew a patent on vegetable pulao, I was on a TV show where ofcourse Nestle had refused to come. They sent a written statement. You will not only be surprised but shocked to learn what the company claimed. Nestle said that it had developed a new kind of vegetable pulao meaning with some new ingredients. I had challenged saying there are already some 500 kinds of vegetable pulaos so I wonder what is this 501st kind that the company has invented. Anyway, the patent was drawn for Switzerland, and still exists.
Aug 4, 2009
Paddy that survives the floods
I am sure you have heard it again and again. Agricultural scientists are developing crop varieties that are resistant to drought and also resistant to floods. These varieties are being developed by transferring a gene from such naturally available varieties into the high-yielding varieties, and the scientists are giving an impression as if they have actually invented these drought-resistant or flood-resistant varieties.
I have always wondered why can't these scientists search, conserve and preserve the naturally ocurring crop varieties that are either resistant to floods or drought or for that matter can be grown successfully in saline soils. Once you have identified such varieties, it is not difficult to select the promising ones and promote them in the environment to which they belong. For instance, some of my colleagues have already identified more than a dozen rice varieties that are suitable for the flood prone regions of the northeast. Similarly, there are numerable rice varieties available that are resistant to drought, and I know a number of groups/farmers who have such varieties in the traditional gene banks or in in situ conservation.
After Tsunami had struck the coastal belt of Tamil Nadu, scientists were amazed at the performance of at least two rice varieties that resisted the intrusion of salt water.
Deep water rice, for instance, was an area of specialisation at the International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, in the Philippines. I remember how much importance IRRI gave to deep water rice (and also upland rice) in the 1980s and 1990s. But instead of conserving and developing the traditional deep water rices, I am amazed at the shift in IRRI research focus on transferring genes from these varieties into the HYVs. This only shows that scientists have little to do nowadays and are looking for such unwanted research focus so as to justify the research investment.
On such discovery is the Sub1 gene from the Indian rice accession FR13A. This gene has been transferred into some of the popular rice varieties not only in India but also in other Asian countries. The National Seed Industry Council of the Philippines has approved its 'first flood-resistant variety' (see the report: http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/first_flood_tolerant_rice_variety_approved_rp_use).
In India, the gene has been transferred into Swarna, a popular HYV. Scientists claim that Swarna can survive 10 days of complete submergence in water at the vegetative stage.
I wonder whether scientists have ever seen traditional flood-resistant varieties in the Sunderbans Delta region? Claims about production potential notwithstanding, these varieties have fared well over centuries. As far as the production claims are concerned, much of it is simply an exaggeration. I challenge agricultural scientists to show me when were they able to achieve the production figures they claim. None of the universities/agriculture institutes have been able to replicate the production potential claims. The reason is obvious. These figures are based on a small test plot, and the crop harvested is then transpolated to a hectare. You get production figures which are not based on actual yields in bigger fields.
But not all is lost. There are NGOs and farmers in India who are trying to preserve the ancient wisdom, and conserving these excellent rice varieties that nature has provided. As a nation we need to appreciate and applaud such efforts. I am so delighted to read an article in today's edition of Deccan Herald on deep water rice, and the credit must go to the writer Anitha Reddy. Not many journalists and writers nowadays are keen to write on such topics, and I therefore extend my gratitude to Anitha Reddy for bringing this to public attention. Thank you once again.
Paddy that survives the flood
Anitha Reddy
In an era when yield performance of crops is the only factor taken into consideration, Varada basin farmers are striving to conserve strains that they have inherited and retained over four decades, writes Anitha Reddy
Farmers in the Varada river belt have adapted to the fury of the river that flows in Sagar, Soraba and Sirsi taluks. The rivulet, which takes birth at Sagar, flows through Sirsi and Soraba for about 11 kms before joining the Tungabhadra. During its short journey, the Varada wreaks havoc and destroys thousands of acres of paddy fields when continuous rain swells the waterways. This puts at risk at least 30,000 people in 25 villages depending on it.
Flooding is an annual phenomenon here. However, it does not mean that farmers do not grow anything during the flood. They possess a unique wealth that enables them to grow paddy even in flooded conditions, and the varieties of rice can subsist deep standing water for a long period.
Now, while scientists are pondering over developing submergence-tolerant varieties of paddy, farmers around Sirsi, Sagar and Soraba taluks are much ahead of them when it comes to cultivating flood-resistant varieties.
“Flooding is a common phenomenon here. Every year, there is flooding and farmers have adapted to it. At a time when agriculture by itself is considered a tough occupation, farmers have found a way out by cultivating some of these rare varieties,” says Raghunandana Bhat, a resident of Banavasi.
Remarkable diversity
Over centuries, farmers in the region have carefully developed and preserved varieties that can survive when their lifeline, the river Varada, invades their fields. These flood-resistant varieties hold a significant place in the biodiversity of the area.
The Varada basin is home to deepwater rice varieties like Nereguli, Karibatha, Sannavaalya, Karijaddu, Kani Somasale, Jenugoodu, Nettibatha, Kari kantaka, Edi kuni, and Karekal Dadiga.
The most popular among these varieties is Nereguli, which has proved to be the best deepwater variety for years. It is liked for its vigour, taste and health quotient. This variety is organically grown using traditional methods and is highly nutritious and in great demand, in Kerala and Goa.
Read the full report at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/17595/paddy-survives-flood.html
I have always wondered why can't these scientists search, conserve and preserve the naturally ocurring crop varieties that are either resistant to floods or drought or for that matter can be grown successfully in saline soils. Once you have identified such varieties, it is not difficult to select the promising ones and promote them in the environment to which they belong. For instance, some of my colleagues have already identified more than a dozen rice varieties that are suitable for the flood prone regions of the northeast. Similarly, there are numerable rice varieties available that are resistant to drought, and I know a number of groups/farmers who have such varieties in the traditional gene banks or in in situ conservation.
After Tsunami had struck the coastal belt of Tamil Nadu, scientists were amazed at the performance of at least two rice varieties that resisted the intrusion of salt water.
Deep water rice, for instance, was an area of specialisation at the International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, in the Philippines. I remember how much importance IRRI gave to deep water rice (and also upland rice) in the 1980s and 1990s. But instead of conserving and developing the traditional deep water rices, I am amazed at the shift in IRRI research focus on transferring genes from these varieties into the HYVs. This only shows that scientists have little to do nowadays and are looking for such unwanted research focus so as to justify the research investment.
On such discovery is the Sub1 gene from the Indian rice accession FR13A. This gene has been transferred into some of the popular rice varieties not only in India but also in other Asian countries. The National Seed Industry Council of the Philippines has approved its 'first flood-resistant variety' (see the report: http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/first_flood_tolerant_rice_variety_approved_rp_use).
In India, the gene has been transferred into Swarna, a popular HYV. Scientists claim that Swarna can survive 10 days of complete submergence in water at the vegetative stage.
I wonder whether scientists have ever seen traditional flood-resistant varieties in the Sunderbans Delta region? Claims about production potential notwithstanding, these varieties have fared well over centuries. As far as the production claims are concerned, much of it is simply an exaggeration. I challenge agricultural scientists to show me when were they able to achieve the production figures they claim. None of the universities/agriculture institutes have been able to replicate the production potential claims. The reason is obvious. These figures are based on a small test plot, and the crop harvested is then transpolated to a hectare. You get production figures which are not based on actual yields in bigger fields.
But not all is lost. There are NGOs and farmers in India who are trying to preserve the ancient wisdom, and conserving these excellent rice varieties that nature has provided. As a nation we need to appreciate and applaud such efforts. I am so delighted to read an article in today's edition of Deccan Herald on deep water rice, and the credit must go to the writer Anitha Reddy. Not many journalists and writers nowadays are keen to write on such topics, and I therefore extend my gratitude to Anitha Reddy for bringing this to public attention. Thank you once again.
Paddy that survives the flood
Anitha Reddy
In an era when yield performance of crops is the only factor taken into consideration, Varada basin farmers are striving to conserve strains that they have inherited and retained over four decades, writes Anitha Reddy
Farmers in the Varada river belt have adapted to the fury of the river that flows in Sagar, Soraba and Sirsi taluks. The rivulet, which takes birth at Sagar, flows through Sirsi and Soraba for about 11 kms before joining the Tungabhadra. During its short journey, the Varada wreaks havoc and destroys thousands of acres of paddy fields when continuous rain swells the waterways. This puts at risk at least 30,000 people in 25 villages depending on it.
Flooding is an annual phenomenon here. However, it does not mean that farmers do not grow anything during the flood. They possess a unique wealth that enables them to grow paddy even in flooded conditions, and the varieties of rice can subsist deep standing water for a long period.
Now, while scientists are pondering over developing submergence-tolerant varieties of paddy, farmers around Sirsi, Sagar and Soraba taluks are much ahead of them when it comes to cultivating flood-resistant varieties.
“Flooding is a common phenomenon here. Every year, there is flooding and farmers have adapted to it. At a time when agriculture by itself is considered a tough occupation, farmers have found a way out by cultivating some of these rare varieties,” says Raghunandana Bhat, a resident of Banavasi.
Remarkable diversity
Over centuries, farmers in the region have carefully developed and preserved varieties that can survive when their lifeline, the river Varada, invades their fields. These flood-resistant varieties hold a significant place in the biodiversity of the area.
The Varada basin is home to deepwater rice varieties like Nereguli, Karibatha, Sannavaalya, Karijaddu, Kani Somasale, Jenugoodu, Nettibatha, Kari kantaka, Edi kuni, and Karekal Dadiga.
The most popular among these varieties is Nereguli, which has proved to be the best deepwater variety for years. It is liked for its vigour, taste and health quotient. This variety is organically grown using traditional methods and is highly nutritious and in great demand, in Kerala and Goa.
Read the full report at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/17595/paddy-survives-flood.html
Aug 3, 2009
India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement -- Finding Where It Hurts
The UPA-2 government is trying to pacify the agitated voices in Kerala over the Indo-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement. In the recent days we have seen aa concerted campaign in the media by the Congress party which is trying to convince the Kerala electorate about how 'useful' the FTA would be for the Kerala farmers in particular and the Kerala economy in general.
A number of newsreports and editorials have appeared in the newspapers telling us about the advantages of the India-ASEAN FTA. My colleague Bhaskar Goswami has been very keenly following the regional trade agreements, and thinks otherwise. He has answered some of the frequently asked questions or should I say he clears the mist over the some of the misconceptions that are being deliberately created.
Q: The main objective of the agreement is to "gain markets for newer products instead of the lost traditional markets". Which were the lost traditional markets we had in the ASEAN and how will India / Kerala gain in terms of new products and markets in the ASEAN ? What are the estimates and what is the reality as of now ?
Regarding traditional markets, India has been out-competed on spices and beverages (tea, coffee) by Vietnam and Indonesia. On gains, India has a negligible stake of 1 percent in ASEAN trade, and ASEAN countries already have very low import tariffs. Therefore India does not gain much from further tariff reductions by ASEAN members. The gains from trade creation are therefore limited while losses due to huge tariff cuts by India will outweigh these limited gains.
The present agreement on goods (including agricultural goods) is a red herring. The real gains that India will make will be from the upcoming agreement on services and investments. In order to get a favourable deal on this front concessions are being made on goods.
Q: As the discussions in the ASEAN progressed, trade also increased. In 2000-01, trade was worth 6.93 billion dollars, in 2007-08 it jumped to 39.04 billion dollars. When the agreement is materialsed, this will increase manifold. Can you clarify please? Can you tell how much of this trade did India actually gain in? And what is the scope of Indian exports gaining in future? On what products and which sectors gain and whose loss?
No doubt trade has increased. So has India's trade deficit (i.e. imports exceeding exports) with the ASEAN members. In 2001, the trade deficit was $3.5 bn which rose to $14.5 bn in 2007. In fact, 15% of overall trade deficit of India is on account of trade with ASEAN members. Between 2005-06 and 2006-07 India's exports to ASEAN grew at 20.67% while imports grew at 66%. This, when India has much higher tariff rates that ASEAN. Can anyone explain how will reducing import duties drastically by India with very marginal duty reduction by ASEAN help India's cause? How will India gain access in ASEAN markets for agriculture products when already there are major agri-exporters among Vietnam, Indinesia, Malaysia and Thailand?
In manufacturing, applied tariffs are much lower than agri tariffs in ASEAN and India will find it tough to compete. ASEAN countries are the world's lead exporters of light manufacturing products which India can never hope to displace. Plus, factor in China - it already has a head-start over India as it has an existing FTA with ASEAN. The Rules of Origin (ROO) have been diluted to 35%. This means that ASEAN members can add 35% value to products imported from non-ASEAN countries and sell it in India. On the other hand, India's FTAs with ASEAN members like Thailand and Singapore have ROO pegged at 40%. In fact, even the China-ASEAN FTA has a 40% ROO standard. Why did India agree to dilute its ROO norms? There are innumerable semi-processed products from China that may undergo 35% processing in ASEAN countries and be eligible to be traded in India.
Among India's exports to ASEAN countries, refined petro products stand at the top. Organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewelry and metal scraps follow. However, since import tariffs in ASEAN countries on these products are already quite low, there is not much scope for increasing trade.
Likely loss to be suffered in agriculture, electronics, motor car equipments, textiles, and light manufacturing goods. There are reports that India has already approached the ADB for a loan to compensate industries that are likely to be hit by the FTA. I doubt whether agriculture figures in the list.
As I mentioned earlier, it is services that gains are anticipated as India is the 10th largest services exporter in the world while ASEAN is a net importer. For the sake of comparison, the US imports $300 bn worth in services while ASEAN members import $150 bn in services! That is where India smells an opportunity and hence this sacrifice of agriculture and goods. We will have to wait for the services negotiations to be over till this comes out into the open.
Q: India stands to gain through getting markets for agri products such as oil seeds, wheat and other products such as machineries, parts, steel, steel products, meat, auto-parts, chemicals, synthetic textiles etc. How much ? What will this mean (gains / impacts) in terms of number of workers/farmers/fisherfolk etc ?
In case of wheat, Thailand imports around around 9 lakh tonnes of wheat each year which is primarily sourced from the USA. This is likely to change as Thailand has sealed an FTA with Australia, another major wheat exporter. Does the government honestly believe that India can compete with subsidised wheat exports from the USA or a low cost producer like Australia?
Another wheat importing country is Vietnam where India already controls around 42% of wheat market therefore the scope of expanding exports is limited. Philippines imports wheat for animal feed and USA dominates the supply chain. Australia meets 70% of wheat requirement of Malaysia. Given these realities, I certainly do not share the optimism especially when wheat prices in India today are ruling much higher than international prices.
On oilseeds, India does stand to gain, especially on exports of oil cakes and castor oil. But then India is already a world leader in this sector and irrespective of ASEAN it has a good market. In fact, I don't know what would be the gain stipulated by the government on oilseed be when it is the cheaper imports of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia that is known to have destroyed India's domestic edible oil production capacity, which means destroying oilseeds production.
Exports of meat, especially halal, can go up if India expands its domestic processing facilities and matches ASEAN sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
I am not so sound on non-agri goods hence would not like to comment on them. However ASEAN is a major exporter of light machinery and India does not stand a chance against them.
Q: Indian markets will also open up for ASEAN agri products, and Indian markets are prepared for that. But traditional agriculture, fish product markets will not be open, because for this the ASEAN has agreed upon a negative list. In fact, this is the first time that ASEAN countries has agreed upon on a negative list for any country, can you qualify/counter this ?
This is being economical with truth. While ASEAN does not have a negative list, it does have a sensitive and highly sensitive list. For instance, China has 400 items on the sensitive list of its FTA with ASEAN of which 160 is on the highly sensitive list. Duty on sensitive products in the China-ASEAN FTA will come down to 0-5% by 2015 and that for highly sensitive items will be slashed by 50% by 2018.
It is interesting that GoI does not talk about the sensitive list of ASEAN. While GoI has not put this list in the public domain, ASEAN's stand is well known. It wishes to maintain the sensitive/ highly sensitive list that prevails in its FTA with China. Under that, ASEAN has earmarked around 2,200 items under the sensitive/ highly sensitive category. So, who gains more from protectionism?
Q: A 'negative list' is a protective wall, and no tarif reduction is needed for it. 489 products are in this list, 302 are agri products, Copra, Coconut oil, Coconut, Rice, Rubber, some fish types like Mathi , Chemmeen, Crab, milk and milk products, honey, cashew, banana, pineapple, mangoes, orange, vanilla, jathi, coriander, jeera, ginger, turmeric, tapioca etc are in the negative list. Is this true, fully? How effective this is? And what does this mean to the Kerala farmer ?
India has 489 tariff lines under the negative list which includes 302 agricultural items, 81 items from textiles and clothing, 52 items from machinery and auto, and 32 items from chemicals and plastics. In addition, there are 22 other items from various other sectors. For products that are not on the negative list, duties will be reduced in a phased manner and the duty will be brought down to zero by 2019. On 5 items - tea, coffee, pepper, crude palm oil and refined palm oil - are on the highly sensitive list and will undergo partial duty cut in 2009. Duty on tea and coffee will be brought down to 45%, pepper to 50%, for CPO and RPO it will be brought down to 37.5% and 45% respectively.
Yes, the list does cover these items. However, coconut oil has a close substitute in palm oil. Cheap pepper meant for oleoresin extraction will find its way into the open market.
Q: Coffee, Tea, Pepper etc are in the highly sensitive list. This is a great precaution that has been provided for Kerala. What do you say? How ?
On pepper, bound tariff will be reduced to 50% by 2019. At present, India's import duty for pepper under HS 0904 is 70% plus other duty and tax as laid down by Customs. How can the govt. say that a 20% duty cuts under ASEAN for pepper will not impact Kerala farmers? Besides, the argument that inferior pepper is imported from Vietnam for manufacturing oleoresins is partly true. Back in 2005, Sri Lankan pepper flooded North Indian markets and depressed domestic prices forcing the govt. to enforce a quota regime. These imports were not for oleoresins but sourced from Indonesia and sold in markets for consumption by households. Even while the official stand is that 75% of pepper imports go into oleoresins while 25% (which too is quite high in volume terms and in turn depresses price) reach open markets, the fact remains that except EOUs engaged in oleoresin extraction, most processors leak cheap imported pepper into the domestic market. In my opinion, roughly 50% of pepper imported for oleoresin production for re-exporting finds its way out into the market. That is the primary reason for pepper prices remaining depressed despite a quota cap on Sri Lanka FTA imports. Import tariffs for both coffee and tea (presently 100%) will be brought down to 45% by 2019. Will that not hit the tea and coffee plantations? Or does the government feel that in 10 years it would be able to match productivity levels of ASEAN countries and out-compete them?
Q: The tariffs for the products in the highly sensitve list will be reduced step by step but even after 10 years it will not be reduced to zero. The protection will continue. For example for palm oil it is currently 80 % and in 2019 will only be reduced to 37.5 %, for coffee and tea its now 100% and it will come down to 45%, for pepper from 70% to 50%". How true is this ? How effective is this ?
The reason for Kerala's worry are on two fronts which I am afraid nobody is properly articulating. One is lower levels of productivity. With the exception of rubber, productivity of all plantation crops in Kerala are lower than that of ASEAN members. The second issue is that of cost of cultivation which is way higher than what prevails in ASEAN countries. In such a scenario, how will Kerala farmers compete against cheap imports?
This is being economical with the truth... a bit of political savvy-ness by GoI. What Chandi is referring to are the applied tariff rates and not the bound rates. For palm oil, the bound tariff is 300% which will now come down to 37.5%. The bound tariff for tea is 150% which will come down to 45%. Bound tariff for raw coffee (neither roasted nor decaffeinated) stands at 100% while that for all other forms of coffee is 150%, which will come down to 45%. Bound tariff for raw pepper (neither crushed nor ground) stands at 100% while that for crushed or ground is 150%, which will be brought down to 50%. At WTO negotiations, all tariff cuts are based on bound levels and not applied levels. So why is not the same yardstick applied here?
Q: This is an opportunity for a comprehensive change in the agriculture sector in Keala and India. The Indian agri products must get prepared to compete with the ASEAN countries. Intensive efforts will be taken in these 10 years to increase productivity. A massive effort is going to be taken to make the agriculture, fisheries sector competetive to any country in the world. The PM has declared that a special high-level committe will be setup for this. Kerala will be supported by the Centre with financial, technical and all sorts of support. What is all this? How will it change things? How possible is this? Any strong data-based argument for this ?
The Centre has launched a few schemes: Department has Commerce launched a Rs. 1,400 cr scheme for improving social infrastructure in tea gardens. The govt. and industry will share the cost on a 50:50 basis. Tea Gardens of Tripura, Cachar valley and Tamil Nadu have been identified under this scheme. The GoI has also announced a Rs. 4,900 cr Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) as a 15 yr productivity boosting programme. Last year the Coffee Board proposed a Rs. 105 cr scheme to replant 45,000 hectares of coffee plantations. Similar schemes are in the pipeline for coffee and pepper as well. I have no clue how these schemes are actually working on the ground.
Q: Then, what is the amount of subsidy and support that some of the competing ASEAN countries get for the crops like tea, pepper, coffee, palm oil, rubber etc ? Comparatively, what is it in India ? What is it in terms of productivity? Are we comparable and will we ever achieve it ?
Direct and indirect subsidies in ASEAN countries are way lower than what prevails in India.
Productivity of all plantation crops except rubber are much higher in ASEAN countries than India. Pepper productivity in Kerala is around 320 kg/ha, while Vietnam produces 1.2 tonnes and Indonesia 2.3 tonnes from the same area. Productivity of coffee in India stands at 765 kg/ha while Vietnam produces 1.7 tonnes/ ha.
A number of newsreports and editorials have appeared in the newspapers telling us about the advantages of the India-ASEAN FTA. My colleague Bhaskar Goswami has been very keenly following the regional trade agreements, and thinks otherwise. He has answered some of the frequently asked questions or should I say he clears the mist over the some of the misconceptions that are being deliberately created.
Q: The main objective of the agreement is to "gain markets for newer products instead of the lost traditional markets". Which were the lost traditional markets we had in the ASEAN and how will India / Kerala gain in terms of new products and markets in the ASEAN ? What are the estimates and what is the reality as of now ?
Regarding traditional markets, India has been out-competed on spices and beverages (tea, coffee) by Vietnam and Indonesia. On gains, India has a negligible stake of 1 percent in ASEAN trade, and ASEAN countries already have very low import tariffs. Therefore India does not gain much from further tariff reductions by ASEAN members. The gains from trade creation are therefore limited while losses due to huge tariff cuts by India will outweigh these limited gains.
The present agreement on goods (including agricultural goods) is a red herring. The real gains that India will make will be from the upcoming agreement on services and investments. In order to get a favourable deal on this front concessions are being made on goods.
Q: As the discussions in the ASEAN progressed, trade also increased. In 2000-01, trade was worth 6.93 billion dollars, in 2007-08 it jumped to 39.04 billion dollars. When the agreement is materialsed, this will increase manifold. Can you clarify please? Can you tell how much of this trade did India actually gain in? And what is the scope of Indian exports gaining in future? On what products and which sectors gain and whose loss?
No doubt trade has increased. So has India's trade deficit (i.e. imports exceeding exports) with the ASEAN members. In 2001, the trade deficit was $3.5 bn which rose to $14.5 bn in 2007. In fact, 15% of overall trade deficit of India is on account of trade with ASEAN members. Between 2005-06 and 2006-07 India's exports to ASEAN grew at 20.67% while imports grew at 66%. This, when India has much higher tariff rates that ASEAN. Can anyone explain how will reducing import duties drastically by India with very marginal duty reduction by ASEAN help India's cause? How will India gain access in ASEAN markets for agriculture products when already there are major agri-exporters among Vietnam, Indinesia, Malaysia and Thailand?
In manufacturing, applied tariffs are much lower than agri tariffs in ASEAN and India will find it tough to compete. ASEAN countries are the world's lead exporters of light manufacturing products which India can never hope to displace. Plus, factor in China - it already has a head-start over India as it has an existing FTA with ASEAN. The Rules of Origin (ROO) have been diluted to 35%. This means that ASEAN members can add 35% value to products imported from non-ASEAN countries and sell it in India. On the other hand, India's FTAs with ASEAN members like Thailand and Singapore have ROO pegged at 40%. In fact, even the China-ASEAN FTA has a 40% ROO standard. Why did India agree to dilute its ROO norms? There are innumerable semi-processed products from China that may undergo 35% processing in ASEAN countries and be eligible to be traded in India.
Among India's exports to ASEAN countries, refined petro products stand at the top. Organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewelry and metal scraps follow. However, since import tariffs in ASEAN countries on these products are already quite low, there is not much scope for increasing trade.
Likely loss to be suffered in agriculture, electronics, motor car equipments, textiles, and light manufacturing goods. There are reports that India has already approached the ADB for a loan to compensate industries that are likely to be hit by the FTA. I doubt whether agriculture figures in the list.
As I mentioned earlier, it is services that gains are anticipated as India is the 10th largest services exporter in the world while ASEAN is a net importer. For the sake of comparison, the US imports $300 bn worth in services while ASEAN members import $150 bn in services! That is where India smells an opportunity and hence this sacrifice of agriculture and goods. We will have to wait for the services negotiations to be over till this comes out into the open.
Q: India stands to gain through getting markets for agri products such as oil seeds, wheat and other products such as machineries, parts, steel, steel products, meat, auto-parts, chemicals, synthetic textiles etc. How much ? What will this mean (gains / impacts) in terms of number of workers/farmers/fisherfolk etc ?
In case of wheat, Thailand imports around around 9 lakh tonnes of wheat each year which is primarily sourced from the USA. This is likely to change as Thailand has sealed an FTA with Australia, another major wheat exporter. Does the government honestly believe that India can compete with subsidised wheat exports from the USA or a low cost producer like Australia?
Another wheat importing country is Vietnam where India already controls around 42% of wheat market therefore the scope of expanding exports is limited. Philippines imports wheat for animal feed and USA dominates the supply chain. Australia meets 70% of wheat requirement of Malaysia. Given these realities, I certainly do not share the optimism especially when wheat prices in India today are ruling much higher than international prices.
On oilseeds, India does stand to gain, especially on exports of oil cakes and castor oil. But then India is already a world leader in this sector and irrespective of ASEAN it has a good market. In fact, I don't know what would be the gain stipulated by the government on oilseed be when it is the cheaper imports of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia that is known to have destroyed India's domestic edible oil production capacity, which means destroying oilseeds production.
Exports of meat, especially halal, can go up if India expands its domestic processing facilities and matches ASEAN sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
I am not so sound on non-agri goods hence would not like to comment on them. However ASEAN is a major exporter of light machinery and India does not stand a chance against them.
Q: Indian markets will also open up for ASEAN agri products, and Indian markets are prepared for that. But traditional agriculture, fish product markets will not be open, because for this the ASEAN has agreed upon a negative list. In fact, this is the first time that ASEAN countries has agreed upon on a negative list for any country, can you qualify/counter this ?
This is being economical with truth. While ASEAN does not have a negative list, it does have a sensitive and highly sensitive list. For instance, China has 400 items on the sensitive list of its FTA with ASEAN of which 160 is on the highly sensitive list. Duty on sensitive products in the China-ASEAN FTA will come down to 0-5% by 2015 and that for highly sensitive items will be slashed by 50% by 2018.
It is interesting that GoI does not talk about the sensitive list of ASEAN. While GoI has not put this list in the public domain, ASEAN's stand is well known. It wishes to maintain the sensitive/ highly sensitive list that prevails in its FTA with China. Under that, ASEAN has earmarked around 2,200 items under the sensitive/ highly sensitive category. So, who gains more from protectionism?
Q: A 'negative list' is a protective wall, and no tarif reduction is needed for it. 489 products are in this list, 302 are agri products, Copra, Coconut oil, Coconut, Rice, Rubber, some fish types like Mathi , Chemmeen, Crab, milk and milk products, honey, cashew, banana, pineapple, mangoes, orange, vanilla, jathi, coriander, jeera, ginger, turmeric, tapioca etc are in the negative list. Is this true, fully? How effective this is? And what does this mean to the Kerala farmer ?
India has 489 tariff lines under the negative list which includes 302 agricultural items, 81 items from textiles and clothing, 52 items from machinery and auto, and 32 items from chemicals and plastics. In addition, there are 22 other items from various other sectors. For products that are not on the negative list, duties will be reduced in a phased manner and the duty will be brought down to zero by 2019. On 5 items - tea, coffee, pepper, crude palm oil and refined palm oil - are on the highly sensitive list and will undergo partial duty cut in 2009. Duty on tea and coffee will be brought down to 45%, pepper to 50%, for CPO and RPO it will be brought down to 37.5% and 45% respectively.
Yes, the list does cover these items. However, coconut oil has a close substitute in palm oil. Cheap pepper meant for oleoresin extraction will find its way into the open market.
Q: Coffee, Tea, Pepper etc are in the highly sensitive list. This is a great precaution that has been provided for Kerala. What do you say? How ?
On pepper, bound tariff will be reduced to 50% by 2019. At present, India's import duty for pepper under HS 0904 is 70% plus other duty and tax as laid down by Customs. How can the govt. say that a 20% duty cuts under ASEAN for pepper will not impact Kerala farmers? Besides, the argument that inferior pepper is imported from Vietnam for manufacturing oleoresins is partly true. Back in 2005, Sri Lankan pepper flooded North Indian markets and depressed domestic prices forcing the govt. to enforce a quota regime. These imports were not for oleoresins but sourced from Indonesia and sold in markets for consumption by households. Even while the official stand is that 75% of pepper imports go into oleoresins while 25% (which too is quite high in volume terms and in turn depresses price) reach open markets, the fact remains that except EOUs engaged in oleoresin extraction, most processors leak cheap imported pepper into the domestic market. In my opinion, roughly 50% of pepper imported for oleoresin production for re-exporting finds its way out into the market. That is the primary reason for pepper prices remaining depressed despite a quota cap on Sri Lanka FTA imports. Import tariffs for both coffee and tea (presently 100%) will be brought down to 45% by 2019. Will that not hit the tea and coffee plantations? Or does the government feel that in 10 years it would be able to match productivity levels of ASEAN countries and out-compete them?
Q: The tariffs for the products in the highly sensitve list will be reduced step by step but even after 10 years it will not be reduced to zero. The protection will continue. For example for palm oil it is currently 80 % and in 2019 will only be reduced to 37.5 %, for coffee and tea its now 100% and it will come down to 45%, for pepper from 70% to 50%". How true is this ? How effective is this ?
The reason for Kerala's worry are on two fronts which I am afraid nobody is properly articulating. One is lower levels of productivity. With the exception of rubber, productivity of all plantation crops in Kerala are lower than that of ASEAN members. The second issue is that of cost of cultivation which is way higher than what prevails in ASEAN countries. In such a scenario, how will Kerala farmers compete against cheap imports?
This is being economical with the truth... a bit of political savvy-ness by GoI. What Chandi is referring to are the applied tariff rates and not the bound rates. For palm oil, the bound tariff is 300% which will now come down to 37.5%. The bound tariff for tea is 150% which will come down to 45%. Bound tariff for raw coffee (neither roasted nor decaffeinated) stands at 100% while that for all other forms of coffee is 150%, which will come down to 45%. Bound tariff for raw pepper (neither crushed nor ground) stands at 100% while that for crushed or ground is 150%, which will be brought down to 50%. At WTO negotiations, all tariff cuts are based on bound levels and not applied levels. So why is not the same yardstick applied here?
Q: This is an opportunity for a comprehensive change in the agriculture sector in Keala and India. The Indian agri products must get prepared to compete with the ASEAN countries. Intensive efforts will be taken in these 10 years to increase productivity. A massive effort is going to be taken to make the agriculture, fisheries sector competetive to any country in the world. The PM has declared that a special high-level committe will be setup for this. Kerala will be supported by the Centre with financial, technical and all sorts of support. What is all this? How will it change things? How possible is this? Any strong data-based argument for this ?
The Centre has launched a few schemes: Department has Commerce launched a Rs. 1,400 cr scheme for improving social infrastructure in tea gardens. The govt. and industry will share the cost on a 50:50 basis. Tea Gardens of Tripura, Cachar valley and Tamil Nadu have been identified under this scheme. The GoI has also announced a Rs. 4,900 cr Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) as a 15 yr productivity boosting programme. Last year the Coffee Board proposed a Rs. 105 cr scheme to replant 45,000 hectares of coffee plantations. Similar schemes are in the pipeline for coffee and pepper as well. I have no clue how these schemes are actually working on the ground.
Q: Then, what is the amount of subsidy and support that some of the competing ASEAN countries get for the crops like tea, pepper, coffee, palm oil, rubber etc ? Comparatively, what is it in India ? What is it in terms of productivity? Are we comparable and will we ever achieve it ?
Direct and indirect subsidies in ASEAN countries are way lower than what prevails in India.
Productivity of all plantation crops except rubber are much higher in ASEAN countries than India. Pepper productivity in Kerala is around 320 kg/ha, while Vietnam produces 1.2 tonnes and Indonesia 2.3 tonnes from the same area. Productivity of coffee in India stands at 765 kg/ha while Vietnam produces 1.7 tonnes/ ha.
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