Centre’s nod to include farming under NREGA
The central government has extended the ambit of employment for workers registered under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to sectors such as dairy farming, fishing, Khadi and coir industry in Kerala. “The union minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh has in principle approved Kerala’s proposal to include these sectors in MGNREGA,” state minister for rural development KC Joseph said. Currently, workers registered under MGNREGA can be employed for civic projects and clearing unwanted vegetation of private land. Kerala has been pushing for extending the scope of employment for other traditional sectors as well. TOI, in a series of reports, had probed into this issue last week, as the state has been once again facing huge labour shortage at the beginning of yet another paddy season. “The workers registered under MGNREGA can work in paddy fields like doing weeding work and preparing paddy fields for sowing,” M Nandakumar, state rural development commissioner said. The state has also topped, in terms of providing maximum number of employment for women under MGNREGA with 92.90% as compared to the national average of 48.71%. The rural development minister said the centre was satisfied with the effective implementation MGNREGA in the state. “This year, the state will be allocating Rs 1,556.67 crore for various projects under MGNREGA. There was an increase of 50 per cent in disbursal of funds in the last two years,’’ Joseph said. He said Chenkal Panchayat earned the distinction of generating the maximum number of working days under the Mahtama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). “Chenkal generated 4.216 lakh man days, employing 4,216 people in the last one year, a record not only amongst 999 gram Panchayats in Kerala, but across the country as well,” he said.v As many as 3,920 women registered their names with MGNREGA and worked along with men, doing heavy manual labour like digging ponds, cleaning water canals and planting trees in their neighbourhood

Wheat output likely to cross govt estimate despite
Despite heavy unseasonal showers over the past few days in key producing states of Punjab and Haryana, India’s wheat output is expected to cross the government’s latest estimate of a record 88.31 million tonne in the year through June. Agriculture secretary PK Basu said although there have been sporadic damages to the wheat crop in some places, the overall output for the country won’t be affected due to record planting over 29 million hectares in 2011-12. “The weather has been conducive for the most part of the year. In fact, I still believe wheat production may exceed the last estimate,” Basu said. Total grain output may even touch 255 million tonne on higher production of rice, wheat and cereals if weather conditions remain good, compared with the official estimate of 250.42 million tonne, he added. Showers over vast wheat-growing regions in northern India had stoked apprehensions that fresh pest attacks and unwanted moisture before harvesting may cut output. The production of staple winter grain has climbed at a fast pace since 2009-10 when the country harvested 80.80 million tonne. The agriculture ministry is expected to announce its third advance estimate of crop production later this month. Basu also said the government will likely announce the forecast of monsoon rains in the last week of April. Policy makers have been closely monitoring prospects of food crops in 2011-12 as well as forecast of seasonal showers this year, as the country is planning to implement a proposed food security act that will widen the government’s subsidised grain sales to the poor. This apart, recent trends suggest that although headline inflation is easing, food prices are showing sign of an increase. Prices of primary articles rose 9.62% in March, compared with 6.28% in February, as protein-based food items, vegetables and pulses turned dearer. Earlier this year, the agriculture ministry had set a wheat output target of 84 million tonne for 2011-12. India, the world’s second-largest producer, had harvested a record wheat crop of 86.87 million tonne in 2010-11. Wheat planting rose marginally from last year’s record level to reach around 29 million hectares in 2011-12, boosting hopes that the country was well on course to reaping a bumper harvest for a third straight year. Analysts have said a prolonged winter spell has helped the crop grow well and the large-scale government intervention has prevented any escalation of pest attacks, but the terminal heat in March and April will be the key indicator if production can breach the 90-million tonne milestone. Wheat harvesting has begun in some states and will pick up pace by mid-April, while procurement by state-run agencies officially started from April 1. Higher wheat and rice production will extend another year of steady grain supplies, helping the government in its battle against food inflation and ambitious plan to implement the food security law. The country needs over 60 million tonne of rice and wheat stocks a year for the Food Security Act, and an increase in output will help the government in one of its biggest populist drives. Higher wheat output will also encourage the government to maintain favourable export policies. The country had banned wheat exports since 2007 to maintain steady domestic supplies and lifted the restriction last year to ease storage space. Official grain stocks swelled by 18% to 54.52 million tonne as on March 1 from a year earlier.

Govt may Create Fund for Fertiliser Industry
Fertiliser ministry has sent a proposal to finance ministry for creating a sovereign wealth fund. This fund will help the government as well as private companies in the acquisition of mineral assets abroad. “We have sent a proposal to finance ministry for setting up this fund. The ‘size’ of the fund will be decided by the finance ministry,” said fertiliser secretary Ajay Bhattacharya. The fertiliser industry has been lobbying for a sovereign fund to support acquisition of assets overseas to bring down dependence on import. “We need fund of $20 billion to acquire fertiliser assets abroad in the wake of rising global prices and shortage of fertilisers on the domestic front,” Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) Chairman A Vellayan had said. The Planning commission has also suggested setting up of a sovereign wealth fund with an initial corpus of $10 billion, mainly to invest in energy and mining assets abroad. The fertiliser ministry is also exploring opportunities in countries like Canada and North Africa for sourcing potash. It is also open to invest in potash and fertilizer companies of these countries

Centre to help revive tea gardens in state
Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles, today declared that the Centre would set up a regional centre of the Tea Board of India at Palampur which would help revive the Kangra valley tea industry which had been passing though a crisis of late. He said the ministry was aware of the problems being faced by tea growers in the state. It had planned to extend full support to the tea industry. The minister was addressing tea growers here today. Sharma, who was on a one-day tour of the Kangra valley, said the tea industry in the entire country was in a crisis since in the past no efforts were made by tea growers to replace tea bushes which were around 100 years old. He disclosed that under a special programme launched by the tea board during the 11th Five-Year Plan, the board succeeded in the revival and reopening of 49 of the 53 major dead tea units in the country. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, more funds had been allocated for this purpose all over India and the remaining dead tea units would also be made functional. The minister said the Ministry of Commerce had also taken up this initiative in Himachal Pradesh. A base-line survey for this purpose was being conducted for the revival of all abandoned tea gardens in Kangra, Chamba and Mandi districts. He said the tea board would extend assistance to self-help groups in the Kangra valley so that their produce could be marketed at a remunerative price. Tea collection centres would also be set up. Besides, stress would be laid on the production of organic tea, which could fetch better prices to the growers. He said he had written to the state government to make land available for tea cultivation as big industrial houses had shown interest to make investment in this sector in Himachal Pradesh. He said the tea board had fixed a target to boost tea production from 9 lakh kg to 20 lakh kg in the next 10 years. This target could only be achieved if more areas were brought under tea cultivation in the state. The minister said Rs 1 crore would be spent on setting up a tea museum at Palampur. This museum would be set up by the Institute of Himalayan Bio-technology Centre, Palampur, with the help of the tea board. Earlier, Anand Sharma laid the foundation stone of a tea board complex in the town. This building will house the office of Assistant Director, Tea Board, a tea growers’ training centre and hostel, a trade centre, a tea testing lab and a guest house. Over Rs 2.5 crore will be spent on this complex. JL Butail, president, Kangra Valley Tea Growers Association, urged the minister that since Kangra tea was sold in the Kolkata market, the government should provide transport subsidy. He said the tea board should help growers switch over to the mechanisation of the tea industry.

Cotton plantation set to drop first time in 4 year
Cotton planting in India, the second-biggest producer, will decline for the first time in four years as a ban on exports may spur farmers to switch to other crops, according to the Cotton Association of India. The acreage may fall about 15 per cent in the season starting this month, president Dhiren Sheth said in a phone interview from Mumbai on Tuesday. Farmers sowed cotton to a record 12.2 million hectares (30.12 million acres) in 2011-2012, harvesting 34.5 million bales, according to cotton advisory board. Sheth's forecast is more than the 10 per cent decline estimated by the US department of agriculture. A smaller Indian harvest may potentially reduce exports next year, and stem the 53 per cent plunge in futures in New York in the past year. The South Asian country won't allow fresh exports this season as it builds reserves for the domestic textile industry, trade minister Anand Sharma said on Monday. Due to the flip-flop in export policy, we believe that the next season area might fall, and overall production may get affected, said Ajitesh Mullick, associate vice president for agriculture research at Religare commodities. The government may put in some limits for exports next year and the total exportable quantity might be lower. India's cotton crop in 20122013 may fall to 32.3 million bales of 170 kilograms each from 34.3 million bales this year, according to a USDA report on March 30. Sheth didn't give a production estimate. Chinese protests India barred all exports on March 5 to secure domestic supplies after shipments surged before the ban to about 9.5 million bales, more than the 8.4 million bale surplus the government estimated. The curbs were partially ended a week later after protests from growers, traders and China, the biggest buyer. The government is scrutinising about 2.5 million bales registered with the trade ministry prior to the ban, Sharma said on Monday. We are very disappointed and we are going to urge the government to open up fresh exports very soon, Sheth said. Mills can buy cotton and stock it if they want. Why should the government stop exports? Cotton Corp of India, a government-owned company, will buy 2.5 million bales from farmers at market prices to help domestic mills meet fibre demand, the textile ministry said on April 4. Lower domestic prices may prompt farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to switch from cotton to spices such as chilli because of higher prices, Religare's Mullick said. Farmers are likely to switch to competitively-priced alternative crops while seeking to diversify their crop mix and risk in response to India s topsyturvy cotton export policies, the USDA said. High prices for peanuts, soybeans and corn may encourage farmers to shift away from cotton in central, western and northern India, it said.

Mango exports may rebound in FY 2012-13
MANGO exports from India, the world's largest grower, could rebound to 80,000 tonnes in the 201213, the agri-promotion body Apeda said. The country's overseas shipment of mango is estimated to be lower at about 46,500 tonnes in the 201112 financial year. “The availability of export-quality mango depends on weather condition. If weather supports and the fruit supply is sufficient, then the total mango exports could touch 80,000 tonnes this year,” said an official of the agricultural and processed food products export development authority (Apeda). Traders have already started export of mango and at present shipments of Alphonso and Kesar varieties from Maharashtra and Gujarat are being undertaken, he said. India exports mango from third week of March till May to Bangladesh, Nepal, West Asia, the US, and the UK among others.

45 lt free sale sugar quota mooted for April-June
The Sugar Directorate has proposed to set the non-levy or free sale sugar quota for April-June at 45 lakh tonnes, a senior Government official said today. "The file has been sent to the minister (Food Minister K.V. Thomas for approval)...We expect to hear from him by tomorrow (Thursday)," the official said. The Government had allocated total 39 lakh tonnes non-levy sugar for sale during January-March. The allocation for the summer months is typically higher on increased demand from bulk buyers such as ice-cream and aerated drink manufacturers. The Government is planning to shift to a quarterly quota release mechanism after a gap of about three years to bring down the volatility in sugar prices. The Government now decides the quantum of sugar a mill can sell on a monthly basis. All unsold non-levy sugar for the month is converted to levy sugar in the following month. Mills have to sell levy sugar to State agencies at subsidised prices for distribution to the poor.

EGoM clears foodgrain, sugar export to Bangla
In a decision that is likely to benefit rice farmers of West Bengal, an Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday is learnt to have decided to allow foodgrain exports to Bangladesh through specified points across border. The decision is likely to benefit exporters by reducing transportation costs and also farmers from West Bengal, Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh from where private traders may source the foodgrain for export. The move holds significance in the wake of reports of farmers in these regions failing to even get the minimum support price for their produce for want of efficient public procurement systems. The EGoM is also learnt to have decided to allow export of one million tonnes of sugar. This is in addition to the earlier approval that had allowed export of one million tonnes of sugar during the 2011-12 season. The EGoM also decided to allow export of non-basmati rice up to four million tonnes. In addition, the meeting was said to have also decided to bring down the minimum export price (MEP) for basmati rice from $900 a tonne to $700 per tonne to make the Indian basmati competitive in international markets where it is facing competition from rice from Pakistan.

Farm sector growth set to plunge to 2.5%
India's farm sector is set to expand by a moderate 2.5% during 2011-12 and all hopes to sustain growth are on this year's monsoon rains. Last year the farm sector grew by 7% but that was on the previous drought year's output. A strong farm sector output is critical to bringing down food inflation. While food inflation has slumped to negative levels in recent weeks, costlier fruits and protein-based items such as milk, egg, meat and fish could jack up prices to higher levels in the coming weeks. Adequate monsoon rains are crucial for the summer kharif crop that accounts for more than half of annual food output. Economists expect farm sector output to be revised upwards when final estimates are released in May. "The details of the advance estimate indicate that agriculture output growth will likely be revised up following the final crop estimate," said Rajeev Malik, senior economist at CLSA. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that there have been some encouraging signs in the recent weeks including the possibility of a bumper rabi crop.

Govt set to further reduce subsidy on nonurea fert
The government is set to further reduce the subsidy it extends to nonurea fertilizers on account of the appreciating rupee. This reduction, when it comes, will be on top of a 17 January decision to set the pertonne subsidy on diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MoP) at Rs 15,000 each. This constituted a reduction on subsidy by Rs 4,763 on DAP and `1,054 on MoP. An official with the direct knowledge of the matter said that after the second reduction, the subsidy on DAP will stand at Rs 14,350 per tonne and at Rs 14,400 per tonne for MoP. Another official said the reduction was to reflect the recent uptrend in the value of the rupee visavis the dollar. The rupee, which had seen a steep fall in the second half of 2011, has bounced back since. Since most nonurea fertilizers are imported, the subsidy offered becomes a function of the prevailing exchange rate. Subsidy rates for fertilizers other than DAP and MoP are being worked out. AMAN MALIK

Kerala Agricon on Feb 24, 25
CII, in association with the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA), is organising a conference-cum-exhibition 'Kerala Agricon' on February 24 and 25 at Palakkad. The conference will focus on Vision 2020 for the agriculture and food processing sector in Kerala and discuss topics such as best practices in agriculture and food processing; emerging business opportunities; value addition; export markets; forward and backward linkages for the agriculture and food processing industries and financial support for setting up of units. The exhibition will showcase Kerala's competence in the agriculture and food processing sector. The objective is to facilitate information sharing on business opportunities and establish linkages with buyers, sellers and exporters. CII expects more than 300 delegates for the conference and above 5,000 visitors to the exhibition. A press statement issued here said Kerala's share in the country's total food products export is almost 20 per cent and food products constitute almost two-thirds of its entire export basket.

Registration to Start for Small Tea Growers
The Tea Board will launch a drive in the North East in May for registering tea growers of the region. Many small tea growers are yet to register, with the Tea Board. All Assam Small Tea - Growers Association (AAST GA) had a me with Tea Board officials here or Mon day to discuss the issue. Rakesh Saini, Executive Director, Tea Board, told ET "All tea growers must have prior registration with the Tea Board. However, a large number of growers is yet to register. We have enlisted the support of different organisations for this effort." Saini added that a survey done by the Tea Board and the Assam government found that at least 42 % of small tea growers in the Brahmaputra valley have some kind of land document. This large number can be registered. A large number of growers could not avail of Tea Board schemes because they did not have requisite registration. AASTGA President Ashwini Baruah said registration. Forms are being issued to growers. Once registration is over, production will, be streamlined and middlemen kept at bay. There will be bought leaf factories and along with them, there wifibe earmarked tea gardens. The Tea Board is also going to institute an award for small tea growers.

Special pulses villages to compensate for drop in
The government would be able to make up for the drop in pulses output in the 2011-12 crop year through its initiative of promoting 60,000 pulses villages, among other schemes, minister of state for agriculture Harish Rawat said . "The area sown under pulses in the country is down, which will affect its production in the current crop year, but we would be able to compensate for it through the promotion of 60,000 pulses villages, Rawat told reporters. Speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on climate change and sustainable agriculture, Rawat added that government has also allocated an additional Rs 80 crore for the states to increase the area under pulse in current rabi season. According to the second advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry last week, pulses production is expected to decline by 5% to 17.28 million tonne in the 2011-12 crop year.

With paid-up capital raised, Nabard to give direct
THE National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is getting a wider role that will let it offer direct loans to the farm sector, SMEs, state and multi-state cooperatives and credit societies. So far it has been a re-financer. For this purpose, its paid-up capital is proposed to be raised from Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore. It authorised capital is also being from Rs 5,000 crore now to Rs 20,000 crore.Nabard now operates two long-term funds: the national long-term rural credit fund and the national rural credit stabilisation fund. The bank refinances loans taken by central, state, primary cooperative banks and agriculture credit societies. In its expanded role, Nabard will be able to undertake swapping of farmers' debt. It will also accept collaterals such as fixed deposit receipts to offer additional loans. The propos al, cleared by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and sent to the Union cabinet, allows Nabard the flexibility to waive state guarantees on certain loans, provide loan combos, and undertake all operations relating to letters of credit, credit bills. In effect it will be able to do business like any nationalised bank except get into retail banking, corporate lending, or market operations. But it will be free to develop new credit products, credit linkages and new clients.Its board will restructured to have one chairman and managing director, and two deputy managing directors, as in the State Bank of India. Ownership of Nabard will be fully in the hands of the government. As of now, it is majority owned by Reserve Bank of India. The ownership change was notified in October 2010 but to give it effect, the government first needs to amend the Nabard Act, 1981.

China posts bigger farm trade deficit in 2011
China boosted imports of agricultural products last year, with the farm trade deficit rising 47.4% from 2010 as the country's own production fell short of demand in the world's second-largest economy. China imported $94.87 billion worth of farm products in the whole year of 2011, with a trade deficit of $34.12 billion, the agriculture ministry said. Imports of grain, cotton, sugar as well as livestock products all increased. Imports of sugar rose the most, or 65%, in 2011 to a record 2.92 million tonne worth $1.94 billion, the ministry said. China's rising demand after the country's move to urbanisation coupled with limited farmland could prompt the country to become the world's largest importer of farm products in coming years, a government researcher said. China has topped Canada to become the market leader for US farm products for the first time in 2011, according to the US Department of Agriculture. China's imports of livestock products, including also meat, were worth $13.4 billion, up 38.8% on year, giving a trade deficit of $7.41 billion, up 50.9% on year, according to the ministry's report. Imports of rice, corn as well as wheat have also increased in 2011 from 2010, it said. China's rising imports are largely because Beijing was building up its state reserves of sugar, corn and meat as part of efforts to cool food inflation while the world's top cotton consumer was also building up its depleted state reserves, analysts said. China has reduced imports of soyabean and rapeseed as well as edible oils in 2011, which analysts attributed to Beijing's large release of state reserves. China posted a surplus in trade of vegetables, fruit and fish products in 2011, said the ministry.

Decision on more sugar, non-basmati rice exports
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) will decide tomorrow on allowing further export of sugar and non-basmati rice as well as reviewing the onion and edible oil export situation. About eight issues related to Food and Commerce Ministries will be discussed at the meeting of the EGoM on Food, headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, sources said. They said the Food Ministry has proposed additional export of one million tonnes of sugar in the 2011-12 marketing year (October-September) to improve liquidity and help mills make timely payment to growers. The sugar industry has been demanding exports of an additional two million tonnes (mt) for this year. The Government has permitted the export of one mt this season in view of higher domestic production. The Food Ministry has so far issued export permits for about 8,53,000 tonnes. Apart from sugar exports, the EGoM will also decide on allowing enhancing the export cap of non-basmati rice up to four mt due to high stocks following a good crop, sources said. So far, 2.3 mt has been shipped since the Government lifted the ban on the commodity in September last year. Sources further said the Food Ministry has also endorsed the proposal of Commerce Ministry to either reduce or scrap the minimum export price (MEP) of basmati rice and onion.

Govt to rope in private sector to set up silos wit
The government has decided to rope in the private sector to set up silos of a total capacity of 2 million tonne (mt) to augment grain storage. The silos will be set up in the with the Planning Commission's assistance. Food minister KV Thomas told FE that besides creating additional storage capacity for the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the silos would use state-of-the-art technology. The silos would be built on the basis of a report submitted by global consultancy firm Mott MacDonald to the Planning Commission. Official sources said the silos would be set up under the build-own-operate (BOO) model. The scheme would be discussed at the meeting of an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on Tuesday. In a pilot project, FCI had entered into a BOO agreement for 20 years with Adani AgriLogistics, an arm of the of Adani Group, for setting up two silos with a capacity of more than 500,000 tonne at Moga in Punjab and Kaithal in Haryana in 2005. The company has since invested R650 crore for building the two base-silos and five field depots (at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Navi Mumbai and Hooghly). Official sources said Mott MacDonald was appointed by a committee headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen. The feasibility report by the consultancy firm has covered factors such as comparative costs between conventional storage facilities and silos, locations of setting up silos and tendering process to be adopted for creation of these grainstorage facilities. The government is expected to provide a viability gap funding of up to 20% of the capital cost of a silo and any expenditure beyond this would be funded by FCI. Mainly because of bumper grain output during the last few years, the government has been keeping more grain than required under the strategic reserve and buffer stocks norm. For augmenting grain storage, FCI and the Central Warehousing Corporation are in the process of building 15 mt capacities over the next five years. During the current fiscal, FCI would create an additional 3 million tonne capacity. FCI procures and distributes grain under the targeted public distribution system and maintains buffer stocks and strategic reserves. It has a capacity of 61 mt, which includes 18 mt of CAP (cover and plinth) capacity that can't keep the grains intact for more than a few weeks.

India to strategise on climate resilient agricultu
Observed changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, particularly in the North-Eastern region, are the major projections on which Indian agriculture scientists are pegging their 'mitigation and adaptation' plans in the farm sector in the absence of definitive long-term and area-specific data on climate change. Acknowledging that in India the 'climate system is extremely complex and poorly understood in terms of extent, timing and impact', Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) scientists, however, emphasise the need for small and marginal farmers to adapt to the impact of climate change from biotic and abiotic stresses. They cite the occurrence of yellow rust disease in wheat as a result of shifts in temperatures in the northern region. At the centre of their plan is shifting the cropping pattern to less water dependent crops, changing the land-use pattern to bio-fuel plantation and agro-forestry and managing heat stress in dairy animals. As to how these measures will meet the food security requirement of a growing population was a question that remained largely unaddressed at a Press conference organised here on Monday to announce an international conference beginning this Tuesday on 'Climate change, sustainable agriculture and public leadership, 2012' organised by ICAR and the National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership (NCCSD). The scientists are led mainly by international data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organisation that maintains that climate change could adversely impact global environment, agricultural productivity and the quality of life and the belief that developing countries, including India, are particularly vulnerable to climate variability and climate change. It is projected that in India productivity of cereals may decline due to increase in temperatures and decrease in water availability. Each one degree Celsius rise in temperature will, for instance, result in four to five million tonnes of wheat, which can be reduced to one to two million tonnes by timely sowing. Rise in sea and river water temperatures will impact fish breeding, migration and harvests. Animal disease due to heat effects and decline in milk production by 2020 is also likely. "Climate change implications are not only threatening water and food production but access to food [affordability], food stability due to biotic and abiotic stresses and food utilisation [nutritional problems and food safety]," observed Mahmoud Solh, Director-General of the International Centre for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas, in his paper for the conference. Deputy Director-General of Natural Resource Management A. K. Singh underscored the need for a 'strong political will, bureaucratic support, technological back-up and farmers' participation' to meet the challenge up front.

Spice park to boost saffron production
To increase the production of saffron in the Kashmir valley and meet the growing demand for the spice in the country, a spice park will be set up in Budgam district of central Kashmir. "A spice park, to be set up at a cost of Rs 22.6 crore, will ensure quality control and effective marketing of the most expensive spice in the world. The country has to import saffron to meet the domestic demand of 20 MT per year and the government has launched this programme to increase the production of saffron in the state so that the demand is met," said Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir during a function at Budgam yesterday. The minister was addressing a public gathering after distributing Rs 87 lakh among 817 saffron growers of Budgam who had participated in a government programme - 'National Mission on Saffron'. Under the programme, Rs 12.28 crore had so far been distributed among the 2,696 saffron growers of the Valley. Stating that the government would continue to provide all requisite facilities to the growers for the production of quality saffron in the state, Mir urged the officials of the agriculture department to work as facilitators of the farming community in the Valley. Dr Farooq A Lone, Director (Agriculture), Kashmir, said the objective of the National Mission on Saffron was to review the cultivation of saffron by providing latest technology to the farmers. He said weeders and hot-air dryers were being provided on 50 per cent subsidy to the growers of saffron. Also, 122 bore-wells would be provided to them to enhance the irrigation system, he added.

Govt May Stop Selling Pulses at Lower Rates
The government may discontinue supply of pulses at subsidised rates through the public distribution system from the next financial year. The consumer affairs department will recommend scrapping this scheme as states are not keen to lift supply, an official said. "A majority of states are not taking interest in this scheme. The offtake is very low. We can't run this scheme for two or three states. The scheme is reviewed every year before giving extension. Currently, it is valid till March 31, 2012," said consumer affairs secretary Rajiv Agrawal. The final decision will be taken by the cabinet. Pulses are the top source of protein for Indian consumers with a significant share of the monthly food budget. The government is already working on a proposal to raise the price of sugar sold in ration shops by 30% in the new financial year. The proposal to stop selling pulses with a subsidy is coming in a year when India's production is expected to decline by 1 million tonne. According to the second advance estimates by the ministry of agriculture, production will drop from 18.24 million tonne in 2010-11 to 17.28 million tonne this year. The government had set a target of importing 5 lakh tonne pulses for 2011-12. But canalising agencies -- MMTC, STC, NAFED and PEC -- could import only 1.65 lakh tonne due to lack of orders from state governments. "We can import only when a state demands. A few states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh have shown interest in procuring pulses. Others didn't place orders in a considerable quantity," said an official in one of the canalising agencies on condition of anonymity. PSUs too seem to have lost interest in the scheme. Out of the four agencies involved, only STC and PEC actively imported pulses in this fiscal. "We stopped fresh contracting as there were early signs that the ministry was not keen to continue the scheme," said an official in one of the other agencies. The central government had launched the sale of subsidised pulses in 2008, after a steep rise in prices caused consumer distress. The scheme requires state governments to import pulses through state-run agencies like STC, PEC, MMTC and Nafed and sell them through ration shops and state cooperative dairies. The centre gives a fixed subsidy of Rs 10 per kg, which enables consumers to buy pulses at a price lower than the market. Before introducing a fixed subsidy scheme, the Centre used to reimburse 15% of the landed value of the pulses as subsidy to importing agencies. The scheme has recently drawn flak from the Comptroller and Auditor General's office, which has pointed out in a report that importing agencies suffered a loss of Rs 1,201 crore on import and sale of pulses between 2006 and 2011 without succeeding in price stabilisation in the market. CAG said the importing agencies were not able to dispose of the pulses in a timely manner, as prices offered by private bidders were substantially lower than the import prices paid as well as wholesale prices.