Regoverning Markets South Asia Newsletter (Vol. 16, No. 31 July 14– 20, 2007)

US wheat not fit to be imported: Report Monday, July 16,2007 The Times of India

NEW
DELHI: A crucial report concluding that US wheat is not fit to be imported is
being kept under wraps by a government that doesn't want to annoy the Americans
at a time of blossoming bilateral ties despite the stalemated nuclear deal.

The report, prepared by a team of Indian officials visiting the US in May 2007,
has recorded the presence of 19 invasive weeds that Indian regulations consider
dangerous and require quarantine. Another two that India still has not verified
for their ability to cause harm have also been found to be associated with US
wheat. It has also recorded leakages in the processing of wheat that allows the
weeds to escape in the consignments.

The report, which TOI got access to from government records, makes it clear why
the US administration is putting up such a shrill campaign for lowering the
conditions that currently disqualify US wheat from import.

The finding marks a setback to US efforts to find a market for its farmers that
grow wheat on 60 million hectares and export almost half of the produce. With
India showing interest in importing 3-5 million tonnes of wheat this year, US
looks upon it as a loss of a big business opportunity. Last year too, the US
was unable to export its wheat to India because of the tight safety
regulations. This year, however, the US was expecting the tide to change in its
favour with a concerted level of lobbying. But so far India has denied any
possibility of lowering the safety measures in order to allow import from US.

The report noted that Indian regulations demand that there be less than 100
quarantine weed seeds in a 200-kg sample whereas US is demanding that India
allow 12,000 quarantined weed seeds per 200 kg of wheat. The visiting team also
found on inspection at the Columbia Grain Export Facility, US, that "a lot
of weed seeds, including those of quarantine, still remain in the final
processed product..."

Usually, India has a zero tolerance policy against any weed that is on the
quarantine list but the government modified the rules last year in order to
import wheat and allowed 100 weed seeds per 200 kg as an exception, keeping national
food security in mind.

But food-security issues are raked up by the history of contaminated imports as
well that earlier hit Indian economy and agriculture quite hard. Phalaris minor
or canary grass, which is known to cause 15-50% yield losses in Indian wheat,
was introduced in 1961 from Mexico through contaminated foodgrain.
Back-of-the-envelope estimates suggest that in Punjab and Haryana alone, the
economic losses because of the weed run into Rs 3,700 crore annually.

Another weed, Parthenium Hysteophorus, also introduced to India with import of
contaminated wheat import, is today spread over 7-8 million hectares of
non-cropped area and estimates show could take up to Rs 1,600 crore to control.

India has also suggested to US to undertake adequate cleaning as a mitigation
measure by which it can comply with Indian standards. The expert team noted
that there was considerable potential to reduce weed content in the US wheat
but the Americans have shown reluctance at the moment.

Centre to focus on farm statistics Monday, July 16,2007 Asian Age

 

NEW
DELHI: Not happy with the present crop yield estimation methodology and
infrastructure, the Centre will now focus on improving the relevance and
efficacy of farm statistics across the states by use of new technological
tools, including space technology and on-line transfer of data, for estimations
of yields in a select group of crops.

A recent national workshop on farm statistics held under the aegis of Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) reasoned: "As recent sequence of events
have proved, agricultural statistics plays a crucial role in policy decisions
ranging from export and import of farm commodities, pricing decisions, crop
diversification, settlement of insurance claims and payment of drought relief
assistance among others. It is therefore necessary that data is collected
efficiently at village, block and district levels." Inaugurating the
workshop, Union agriculture secretary P.K. Mishra said, "States must bring
their statistical departments to the mainstream of agricultural planning and
put systems in place for timely collection of estimates and checking them with
the data generated by the department of space, the meteorological department,
the National Statistics and Survey Organisation (NSSO), trade sources and other
agencies."

The Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute is on the job of
developing a remote sensing-based methodology for collection of agricultural
statistical data and a pilot project is underway in the North-Eastern state of
Meghalaya. The aim of the project is to develop a suitable methodology for
generation of data related to crop area and production through integration of
remote sensing digital data and field surveys.

While the remote sensing-based method is more appropriate for the hilly
North-Eastern states, the Centre is also exploring other available tools. Prime
among them is the Agricultural Census carried out once in five years — which is
at present mired in logistical problems as the census data becomes obsolete by
the time it is released.

Hence, in order to conduct and complete the farm census in time, the national
workshop also recommended a legislation on the lines of Population Census and
Industrial Statistics.

 

Farmers
demand adequate fertiliser Monday, July 16,2007 NEW AGE

 

RAJSHAHI: A HIGH-POWERED
team led by an additional secretary of the agriculture ministry met farmers at
Bidirpur Bazar under Godagari upazila in Rajshahi on Friday and assured them of
proper distribution of fertiliser.
They also visited the market where angry farmers attacked a fertiliser shop on
Wednesday, leaving four persons, including a policeman, injured.

During the meeting,
farmers demanded adequate supply of fertiliser and punishment for those
responsible for the incident.

The secretary said, ‘If
anyone is found guilty, he will be punished.’ He also assured the farmers of
setting up four more sales centres in the union.

The Rajshahi deputy
commissioner, Khalilur Rahman, and senior officials were also present at the
meeting.

 

 

Jackfruit
growers deprived of fair price Monday, July 16,2007 NEW AGE

 

PABNA:
A BUMPER production of jackfruit is expected in all the nine upazilas of Pabna
this year. But the jackfruit growers are worried about their expected price.

Many poor jackfruit growers cannot go to the most important market places to
sell the jackfruits in their expected price for lack of conveyance and they are
bound to sell those in the local markets at throwaway prices.

Some jackfruit growers said they are compelled to sell their produce to
middlemen at cheaper rate, as they have no scope to earn profit.

Mahirul Islam, a jackfruit grower of village Mazidpur under the district
headquarters, said there are 15 jackfruit trees in his orchard bearing 780
pieces of jackfruit in the last year. This year, the number is 971. He is a
solvent person; so he can sell his jackfruits to different districts including
Dhaka and Chittagong and earn a handsome amount of money every year. He also
said he could earn more money from the jackfruit sale if those were not
perishable.

Zahurul Islam, another jackfruit grower of village Narayanpur under the same
upazila, said he has four jackfruit trees in his courtyards that bore 256
jackfruits last year and 304 this year. But due to poverty he cannot arrange
transport for selling the jackfruits in perfect market places. He has to sell
those at cheaper price to middlemen.

Besides, the growers said the price of jackfruits has come down from the last
year. A middle-size jackfruit is now being sold at Tk 45-55 this year while the
price was Tk 55-70 in the previous year.

Almost every house in the district is blessed with a jackfruit tree on its
premises. Each tree bears at least 20 to 150 and some times more jackfruits every
season.

According to officials in the local Department of Agriculture Extension, soil
and climate are favourable for growing jackfruit in the district. There are
about 25 lakh jackfruit trees in the district. About 60 per cent of jackfruits
are sent to various districts of the country, including Dhaka and Chittagong.

Experts say age is a vital factor for production of jackfruits. Most of the
jackfruit trees in the district are 30 to 40 years old, while maximum yield
from a tree comes when it is 7 to 15 years old. The said it was important to
plant more jackfruit trees. They also said the growers should use fertiliser or
modern methods of cultivation for increasing its production.

Akhtarul Afgan, deputy director of the Pabna DAE, told New Age that the production
of jackfruit can be doubled if the government adopts modern methods of
cultivation and inspires the farmers to plant more jackfruit trees in their
courtyards. The government also should take steps to plant jackfruit trees on
the roadside fallow land, he added.

 

SL to produce sugar requirement locally Saturday, July 14,2007Daily News

 

COLOMBO: President Mahinda
Rajapaksa has given instructions to produce sugar required for the country
locally and arrangements have been made to construct five sugar factories to
achieve this objective, Supplementary Plantation Crops Development Minister Dharmadasa
Banda said at a media briefing at Seth Sevana, Kirulapona Friday.
He said the JVP has spread a misleading story saying that the Government is
planning to sell 60,000 acres of land from Wellassa but as a person born,
brought up and living in Wellassa, he would be the first to oppose such a move.

He recollected an incident in the past when the Government tried to start a
sugar manufacturing company in Pelawatta, how objections arose and the project
ended up in disaster killing four people.

He pointed out that the Government spent Rs. 23,000 million in 2006 to import
sugar. But Sri Lanka can produce sugar easily and utilise the money used for
sugar imports for development projects.

The new factories will be set up in Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Siyambalanduwa
and Moneragala districts and 12,000 acres of land belonging to people living in
those areas will be used to cultivate sugar cane which would provide a large
number of jobs to the poor.

Twenty one thousand people have already come forward to grow sugar cane on
their lands.

He said lands belonging to the Forest and Wildlife Department or lands around
Senanayake Samudraya will not be used to build the proposed factories as stated
by the JVP.

The Minister expressed surprised about the objection of JVP to this massive
development project which will eradicate poverty while saving foreign exchange.

 

Farmers’ complaint Sunday,
July 15,2007 THE HIMALAYAN TIMES

NAWALPARASI:
Local farmers of the Gandak region at Nawalparasi have been deprived of compensation
of their 111 bighas of land, which was acquired by the Nepal Gandak West Canal
Irrigation System about two and a half decades ago. The irrigation system had
acquired thousands of bighas of land from the farmers between 2040 to 2046 BS.
Although
seven million rupees was distributed so far, the distribution has stopped now.
Chief of the Irrigation Division Office Semari said Rs 2,200,000 is the
remaining sum to be distributed to the farmers.

 

Ministry
calls for report on crop damage Tuesday, July 17,2007 DAWN

ISLAMABAD,
July 16: The federal ministry for food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) has
asked the agriculture departments of Sindh and Punjab to immediately submit
assessment reports on the damage to crops due to the ongoing monsoon season and
floods.

A ministry official told Dawn here on Monday that both provinces were slow in
gathering data about the damage, especially in Sindh, where floods had played
havoc with crops disrupting normal life in several areas.

The federal government was estimating at least 10 per cent reduction in cotton
production in Sindh and Punjab due to rains and another decrease by 5 to 7 per
cent due to some rain-related virus attacks, sources said.

“It means damage to cotton is substantial and worrying,” an official source
said.

Fields in the cotton growing belts of Sindh and Punjab were inundated as downpour
was recorded in these areas till Friday last.

The federal government is expected to revise the estimate of various other
crops after getting the data. It is believed that the overall reduction in crop
production might negatively affect the Gross Domestic Product of the country.

The federal government had set a target of 14.14 million cotton bales for the
current season which is now unlikely.

Sources in Minfal said the beetle leaf (paan) crop in Thatta and rice in Badin
had been affected due to brackish seawater overflowing into nurseries and
damage from it was estimated to be as high as 20 per cent. The mango orchards
in Sindh were also reportedly hit by a virus even before the arrival of the
monsoon rains.

The provincial agriculture department believed that almost 75- 80 per cent
mango harvest was complete while half of the remaining crop was damaged by
rains. The wet season might have severely damaged dates in Khairpur and other
districts of upper Sindh, sources said. Sugarcane and rice production had also
been affected

 

Sugar
price down at wholesale market Tuesday, July 17,2007 NEW AGE

DHAKA:
Price of sugar has dipped to its lowest level in a decade in the wholesale
market as the government on Sunday lowered price for sugar at state-owned mills
by Tk 4 per kilogram to clear their unsold stocks.
Wholesale price of sugar declined to Tk 25.18 per kilogram as the sweetener
traded at Tk 940 per maund (37.34 kilogram) on Monday in the city’s
Maulavibazar commodity wholesale market. The price was Tk 960 a week ago and Tk
1,000 a month back.
Sugar price has been on the decline for the past few months as market has had
plenty of supply from local sugar refineries as well as from imports.
The latest decision of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation to
lower the price of sugar produced in 14 state-owned sugar mills has extended
the falling streak of sugar price. State-run mills
were having an unsold stock of more than 70,000 tonnes for months. The
corporation was forced to lower its price to Tk 25 per kilogram to cope with
the falling price of sugar from both local refineries and imports.
The corporation’s mills produced 166,000 tonnes of sugar in the last crushing
season that ended in April. The output was 11 per cent higher than the current
year’s projection and 25 per cent more than the last year’s production.

The state-owned mills had earlier reduced the dealer-level sugar price to Tk 29
per kg from last year’s Tk 42.

Retail price of sugar shot up to Tk 62 per kg last year and fell gradually to a
range between Tk 29 and Tk 32 after the government set specific duty on sugar
import and four local refineries went into commercial production last year.

According to official estimate, Bangladesh’s annual consumption of sugar is 1.2
million tonnes.

The falling price of sugar made refiners worried about the returns on their
huge investment in the fledgling industry in recent years. Some of the refiners
earlier said they were forced to sell out their stocks at prices much lower
than the production cost.
They also alleged that cheaper Indian sugar had flooded bordering markets,
dealing a severe blow to new generation sugar refiners.

They find that keeping import duty on finished sugar unchanged at Tk 5,000 a
tonne in the new budget, and raising tariff on raw sugar to Tk 4,000 a tonne
from Tk 2,250, the government has pushed refiners into a fresh trouble.

Ending state monopoly in the trade, sugar import was liberalised in 2003, but
consumers had benefited little as syndicates of importers used to control the
market by manipulating supply and price of the sweetener, consumer rights
groups often alleged.

 

Wheat
estimates revised upward Thursday, July 19,2007 Indian
Express

NEW
DELHI: The Government has revised its wheat estimates from about 73.7 million
tonnes to 75 million tonnes. Though the final estimates are yet to be released
officially, this is expected to add to the shrillness of those alleging that
the Government has made an error in judgment while importing at a high price.

Being the second biggest producer of wheat, even a few million here and there
affects world wheat prices. From 72.5 million tonnes quoted initially in the
first estimates put out by the Government when the wheat was just planted, it
revised it to 73.7 million tonnes in April. In the fourth advance estimates for
this cropping season, it is now closer to 75 million tonnes. This estimate is
the only one based on actual crop cutting experiments across farmers’ fields.
Reports are that both the yield and the acreage is up. The market buzz is that
it is even higher, closer to 78 million tonnes.

The Government needs 12 million tonnes of wheat for welfare programmes and has
managed to procure around 11 million tonnes of new season wheat from farmers.
The rest has been bought by private companies and millers.

Even though the procurement is enough to meet the demands of PDS, the
Government decided to import wheat. Last week, the State Trading Corporation
finalised a tender for 5.11 lakh tonnes of wheat from global suppliers, who bid
for a tender to supply 10 lakh tonnes of grain.

The Opposition parties are crying foul over the fact that STC had on May 30
cancelled a tender to import 10 lakh tonnes of wheat on grounds that the
negotiating price of $263 was very high. However, barely a month later, it
invited fresh bids till July 4. Seven companies including Cargill, Glencore and
Toepfer quoted a price in the range of $318-370 a tonne.

This means the Government would have to pay at least $55 to as much as 100 a
tonne additionally. The question that the BJP is raising is that they could
have procured more had they paid the domestic farmer this additional price over
the Rs 750 a quintal that they paid across the wheat-growing states.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has reiterated that imports are going to be a
regular feature. This time, not so much for food security but for building a
comfortable buffer. He said that another 3-5 million tonnes could be imported.
They are hoping that that in November prices would ease when the Australian
crop comes in.

Wheat prices touched a 11-year high on the Chicago Board of Trade in June and
traders expect little respite as world supplies are seen falling to a 30-year
low due to erratic weather in the United States and drought in Russia and
Ukraine. India’s under-reporting of its wheat production added to the world
wheat crisis and hence prices.

Bitter truth of sugar cooperatives Thursday, July 19,2007 Indian
Express

 

MUMBAI:
Almost all powerful politicians in Maharashtra have built up their fiefdoms on
floating cooperatives—mainly sugar cooperatives—that ensure a captive votebank
and function as political centres as well. Right from the days of Nehruvian
socialism to Manmohan Singh’s liberalisation, the sugar cooperatives have
thrived and this has helped the politicians flourish. Since sugar barons have
been ruling the state for the past 47 years, the state has always bailed out
sugar cooperatives by doling out subsidies and waiving taxes, whenever
necessary.

This year, the state is facing an unprecedented sugarcane glut. The area under
sugarcane cultivation has grown from about five lakh hectares in 2005-6 to over
8.40 lakh hectares in 2006-7. The sugar production has increased from 62 lakh
tonnes to 91 lakh tonnes, respectively. Consequently, estimated 25 lakh tonnes
of sugarcane could not be crushed.

In keeping with its policy of bailing out sugar cooperatives (163 out of the
existing 187 that crushed cane this season), the Vilasrao Deshmukh Government
has announced a series of relief measures for sugar cooperatives. These include
a waiver of purchase tax worth Rs 254 crore, transport subsidy of Rs 40 crore
and an export subsidy worth Rs 100 crore.

The state has also announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare for
uncrushed cane. However, sugar cooperatives, farmers’ organisations and a
Congress fact-finding committee have demanded that the compensation be hiked to
Rs 60,000 per hectare. The state has now approached the Centre to increase the
amount to Rs 50,000 per hectare.

Every year, the state reviews the sugarcane situation in May. It not only
failed in assessing the situation last year, but after the crisis of surplus
cane, blamed farmer agitations, claiming that they caused a delay in the
commencement of the crushing season by about a month. But the agitations were
confined in western Maharashtra, while the surplus sugarcane (which could not
be crushed) was in the Marathwada region. It is this region where several
Congress leaders like CM Deshmukh, NCP leaders like Rajesh Tope and even BJP
leader Gopinath Munde run sugar cooperatives.

The vital issue is that the area under sugarcane is increasing and next year,
according to estimates of the fact-finding committee of the Congress, there is
an overall 10 per cent increase in the area and production. It is estimated
that the sugar production next year would be between 95 lakh tonnes to 100 lakh
tonnes. Since the situation is going to worsen further, the time seems to be
ripe for introducing some kind of crop-planning. The area under sugarcane
cultivation could be curtailed to maintain the balance of demand and supply.

The state has urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to intervene and
provide relief to the sugar cooperatives. And relief is in sight for the rural
power-centres of the Congress and the NCP (and BJP too), especially as Pawar
also has high stakes in cooperatives.

 

Sindh
govt to subsidise power to growers Thursday, July 19,2007 DAWN

KHAIRPUR,
July 18: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim on Wednesday announced that
the government would give to growers about Rs3,000 each subsidy on electricity
bill of tube-wells.

He said at a public gathering at Setharja Agriculture Farm that 70 per cent
population of rural Sindh was dependent on agriculture and announced that the
government would set up agro-based industries in Khairpur for date orchards, in
Larkana for olive, in Mirpurkhas for mango and other parts of the province to
alleviate poverty.

He said that level of water in Indus River had risen and the irrigation water
had been provided even to the tail-end growers of the province.

Drip irrigation system was being introduced to avoid seepage of water and all
watercourses in the province were being brick-lined, he said.

He said that the completion of bridge over Indus River linking Khairpur with
Larkana district would give a boost to trade activities between the two
districts and benefit growers of the two districts and their adjoining areas.

He announced Rs100,000 financial assistance for the heirs of journalist Nisar
Solangi of taluka Kingri, Rs50,000 for the treatment of a sick journalist Gulab
Sehto and Rs100,000 grant for Setharja press club.

Later, Dr Arbab Rahim was briefed by managing committee of Sindh Seed
Corporation (SSC) and directed the authorities to take action against
defaulters under the land revenue act.

Revival
plan for jute sector unveiled Thursday, July 19,2007 NEW AGE | DAILY
STAR

 

DHAKA:
The jute ministry on Wednesday unveiled a slew of measures, including injection
of fresh funds, massive job cuts and closure of some state-owned jute mills
for, what adviser Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury called, revival of the jute sector.

As per the strategy, the government will infuse Tk 200 crore into Bangladesh
Jute Mills Corporation by this month to help mills buy raw jute and axe 8,000
workers of different mills by next December. A part of the fund will be spent
for paying off 6,000 workers of four mills, which will be shut down by August.

‘I declared Jihad (crusade) for the jute sector revival… We have worked hard to
map out the strategy and we hope, the jute sector will be able to regain its
golden days,’ Geeteara, adviser for jute and textiles ministry, said at a
briefing at her ministry. Jute and textiles secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar and
BJMC chairman Ataharul Islam were present, among others.

As part of the wholesale reforms programme, four mills — People’s Jute Mills in
Khulna, Karnaphuli Jute Mills and Forat-Karnaphuli Carpet Factory in Chittagong
and Qaomi Jute Mills in Sirajganj — out of 22 mills under the corporation will
just be disinvested since probability of their viable operation is considered
to be zero, jute officials said. Two more mills have already been handed over
to private operators.
The adviser described jute sector’s ailment as serious as gangrene. ‘We have to
cut a portion of physique in order to save the life,’ she said, justifying
harsh measures such as job cut and closure of mills.

She expressed determination to run the remaining 18 mills in the public sector
by making them ‘as efficient as possible, as transparent as possible’.

The adviser predicted that it would take three years to turn the mills into profitable
enterprises as a result of reforms which would cover administration, mill
management as well as financial and marketing aspects.

BJMC is also trying to draw Tk 138 crore bank loan and mobilise another fund of
about Tk 1200 crore by selling its 120 acres of land now under the possession
of different jute mils.

Asked how the government will run public sector mills despite lenders’
prescription for downsizing the public sector and unwillingness of the finance
adviser, AB Mirza Azizul, to fund jute mills, Geeteara said she had been able
to convince the adviser and also the chief adviser to sympathetically address
the problems.

‘We have not seen any interference from the World Bank and IMF. As
Bangladeshis, we have responsibility to (do something for) the people and
industry,’ Geeteara emphatically said ruling out the possibility of further
degradation of state-owned mills.
The corporation will further retrench 50 per cent of its workforce in phases
under manpower rationalisation programme which suits the prescriptions given by
international lenders. After retrenchment of 14,000 workers, the size of
employment at the corporation-run mills will stand at around 37,000.

Asked about measures against corrupt people responsible for sending the mills
in the red over the decades, the adviser mentioned that action had already been
taken against some and more people would be punished after thoroughly scanning
the allegations of corruption.

The corporation has identified delay in disbursement of money to purchase jute,
power outage, pay-hike, labour unrest and unproductive workforce as reasons
behind the losses incurred by state-owned mills. Its accumulated losses
amounted to Tk 4,770 crore in 2006.

A taskforce comprising officials of the jute ministry, BJMC and the finance
ministry has already been formed to oversee the operation of the mills,
especially their monetary status, from time to time.

This year, the corporation is expected to buy 55 lakh tonnes of raw jute.

 

Tea
exports in Ilam suffer Thursday, July 19,2007 THE HIMALAYAN TIMES

 

ILAM:
Tea produced in Ilam district is not going to be exported to European countries
owing to use of pesticides. The situation came to light when samples of tea
sent to Europe for lab test after processing in Ilam has been found with
maximum pesticides. “The exports to European countries will suffer, as the lab
test in Europe has found an enormous use of harmful pesticides,” said Punam
Bantawa, manager of Small Tea Production Pvt Ltd. The company has long been exporting
tea to the European countries. The Ilam tea started facing problems in the
international markets after Germany and European Tea Purchase-Sale Committee
fixed standards of ingredients of foodstuffs four years ago. Meanwhile, farmers
claimed that they have been producing tea abiding by the code of conduct.

Foodgrain production shows record growth Friday, July 20,2007 The Pioneer

 

NEW DELHI: After a year of
farm crisis and farmer's suicide, food production estimate has come as a silver
lining. Foodgrain production this year has touched an all time record of 216.13
million tonne. Wheat production is up by over five million tonne compared with
last year.

Significantly, the news comes at a time when Government has just placed an
order of importing 5,11,000 tonne of wheat at a much higher price than what
farmers earned as minimum support price (MSP).

Releasing the fourth advance estimate on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary PK
Mishra said that production of soybean, sugarcane, cotton and maize scaled new
production high this year. Wheat has also registered significant high growth
touching 75 million tonne as against less than 70 million tonne in 2006.
Pulses, prices of which skyrocketed last year, also registered marginal growth
mainly due to higher production of gram.

However, wheat production comes at the cost of mustard, production of which has
declined by about one million tonne compared with last year. The two crops are
taking in the same agro-climatic region and increase acreage of one lead to
proportional decline in the other. Also, increase in area under cotton
cultivation led to decline in groundnut production.

The focus on increasing wheat production seems to have paid off. Sensing a
better price after a year of shortfall, farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
and Gujarat sowed more wheat than last year.

For the same area of land, more food was produced this year than the previous
due to better quality of inputs. Yield went up from 2,619 kg/hectare to 2,671
kg/ha. Agri-scientists contend that about one-third of production could be added
due to better quality seeds, soil management, irrigation and fertilisers.

Rice also registered marginal increase at 92.76 million tonne but production of
coarse cereals like jowar and bajra declined. Poor production of oilseeds could
partly be offset by import of palm oil.

The increase in production may not immediately east the housewives budget. The
prices that went up and stayed at that level rode on the back of shortfall
speculation. Untill the Government releases vast quantities of wheat in the domestic
market, prices will not come down but are unlikely to climb any further.
Expenses incurred on buying pulses, except gram, will continue to pinch the
layman. Excess production of sugarcane is not being greeted enthusiastically.
After inflation panic and expecting a shortfall in sugarcane production, the
finance ministry banned sugar exports.

 

Hoarders
holding up 2 m tons of wheat Friday, July 20,2007 DAWN

ISLAMABAD:
Undeterred by highest ever production and government warnings, the private
sector is currently hoarding an estimated two million tons of wheat, causing a
price hike in the country, a top government official disclosed on Thursday. So
rampant is the black-marketing by ‘fly-by-night operators’ that even the space
available at petrol pumps and similar other facilities is being used for
stockpiling the commodity.

Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan, economic adviser to the prime minister, said at a news
briefing that even petrol pump owners were using their premises for wheat
hoarding and added that hoarders were holding up an estimated two million
tonnes of the commodity.

He was, however, prompt to claim that flour price, at an average of Rs14.63 per
kg, was still lowest in the region. It cost Rs24.32 per kg in New Delhi.

Without ordering criminal investigations into the matter, the Economic
Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, which met here on Thursday with
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair, constituted a six-member committee to
look into the unreasonable increase in wheat and flour prices.

Dr Khan said the meeting deliberated upon rising wheat and flour prices and
constituted a committee comprising ministers of commerce, industries, food and
agriculture, adviser to the prime minister on finance, the State Bank of
Pakistan governor and the deputy chairman, planning commission, to look into
the matter. The committee would also consult the prime minister in reaching a
conclusion.

He said the wheat stocks in the public sector on July 15 stood at 4.8 million
tonnes, including the provincial governments and the Pakistan Agricultural
Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco). He did not provide exact size of
wheat stocks at this time of last year but said they were quite higher.

Dr Khan said Pakistan produced 23.5 million tonnes of wheat this year against
total requirement of about 21.5-22 million tonnes and hence there was a
reasonable surplus. He said there were reports that the private sector was
holding up about two million tonnes of wheat.

Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan said the ECC approved providing federal guarantees to the
Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to raise Rs36 billion from the
market at a mark-up ranging between 9-11 per cent to meet its cash shortfalls.

He said that Wapda has arranged Rs24 billion short-term financing including
Rs16 billion since April this year. These loans would attract interest of 9-11
per cent. In addition, the ECC also allowed Wapda to raise up to Rs12 billion
through Islamic Sukuk bonds for the development of three hydel projects in the
NWFP of a total 323MW capacity. The projects, which include 72MW Khan Khwar,
120MW Alai Khwar and 130MW Duber Khwar, would cost Rs23.7 billion.

He said the meeting reviewed economic indicators and noted that overall
inflation during 2006-07 had increased by 7.8 per cent against a target of 6.5
per cent and preceding year’s inflation of 7.9 per cent. The food inflation
increased by an average 10.3 per cent during the year ending June 30, 2007
compared with 6.9 per cent a year before. Core inflation, however, stood at 5.9
per cent at the end of the last fiscal year compared with 7.5 per cent of
2005-06.

The economic advisor to the PM said the sensitive price indicator (SPI)
registered an increase of 7.4 per cent on the week ending on July 12 when
compared with the week ending on July 12 of last year. The prices of 19 items
increased in this period while seven items declined and 27 remained stable.

Dr Khan said the ECC meeting was informed that according to the half-yearly
labour survey unemployment rate has declined to 5.3 per cent as of December 31,
2006 as against 6.5 per cent of the same period a year before.

The ECC also allowed companies investing up to $25 million to import three
duty- and tax-free vehicles including a 1600cc car, a coaster and a truck or
cargo vehicle. This facility will, however, not be available to companies with
less than $10 million investment.

The meeting deferred a proposal offering a set of incentives for the setting up
of Export Processing Zone at Gwadar and another proposal relating to local
crude transportation.

20
acres of tseri land cultivable now Friday, July 20,2007 KUENSEL ONLINE

THIMPHU:
More than 350 farmers in Zhemgang changed the land use system of about six
acres of tseri (shifting cultivation) to chuzhing (wetland), kamzhing and
orchard land during the three day land management campaign led by the
agriculture minister, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, that ended in Zhemgang Dzongkhag on
July 13.

The minister joined the farmers and agriculture officials to plant hedgerow and
fodder trees, and also made terraces of about three acres of land in Trong,
Nangkor, and Kikhar villages in Zhemgang.

Agriculture officials said that the tseri land, which was rampantly practiced
in Zhemgang, was not sustainable as people shifted from place to place.
Nangkor Gup, Dorji Drakpa, said that he never thought tseri could be converted
into kamzhing and chuzhing.

“Chuzhings and kamzhings fare better in returns and labour required,” said Gup
Dorji

Gup Dorji said that the
coverage of tseri land were decreasing since the launch of the Sustainable Land
Management Programme in 2004. About 20 acres of tseri land were converted into
chuzhing since the launch of the programme.

Organised by the agriculture ministry in 2005, the land campaign was aimed to
create awareness among the farmers on the management of sustainable land system
- tseri to kamzhing- through the control of soil erosion and improvement of
land productivity.