Agro & Food Processing December 2017

India's Only Monthly News Magazine, Portal & App For Agro, Food & Allied Industries

13 TH

Wake-up India!

Vol 13 Issue 01 December 2017 100/-

Food Processing Machinery Export is on

regular decline

FPI in Gujarat

Laddering with international standards

Blockchain Technology revolutionizing the food industry

Healthier eating

begins with safe food

makes

Indian inflation cry louder

Will

PMKSY

revolutionize Indian Food processing industry Follow us on: www.facebook.com/foodprocessing.india

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CONTENTS

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Wake-up India!

Food Processing Will PMKSY Machinery Export revolutionise Indian is on regular decline Food Processing Industry?

9

18

Blockchain Technology revolutionizing the food industry 26

Onion makes Indian inflation cry louder 34

FPI in Gujarat laddering with international standards

48

The Food security issue at WTO and its catastrophe 53

Organic World Congress in India attended by several international experts Meghalaya state has great potential of agro-based industries Indian agriculture has 54 immensely increased production in food, dairy and fishery sector 24 Mantra Organic develops range of ready-to-cook product for retail market

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Some Aspects on Nutraceutical Regulations of FSSAI

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All restrictions on export of pulses removed after 10 years Declare 2018 as International year of millets: India to UN

EDITORIAL

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The views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors and are not necessarily those of the magazine.

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conomic growth of any country results enhancing its food supply and standard, both quantitatively & qualitatively and India is no exception to this. Reforms, FDI policy and strong macro-economic indicators have resulted in production development, processing, distribution and marketing of food and beverages in India.

Also progressive processes and bold reforms by the government, especially in last three years, including introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), replacement of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board with online Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal, permitting 100 per cent FDI for retail trading in the food processing sector for food products that have been manufactured or processed within India; increasing investment in infrastructure projects, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) aligning itself with Codex Alimentarius international food standards, and so on. This reflects the government’s positive outlook, and a clear intent to develop the sector.

Recently, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2018, India jumped 30 spots to the 100th rank (from 130th in 2017) among 190 countries on the basis of certain parameters.

Furthermore MoFPI is spearheading the initiatives of Government of India in supporting the food processing sector. The Ministry is making all efforts to encourage investments in this sector.

It has approved proposals for joint ventures, foreign collaborations; industrial licenses and 100 per cent export oriented units. Another important aspect of this sector is employment generation.

The availability of skilled manpower has been identified as one of the major challenges.

Food safety is another major factor that contributes to the upgradation of F&B Industry in India. Of course with its new policies and law, FSSAI is contributing immensely. Recently, the country’s apex food regulator is working on a ‘one-nation, one-food-safety-law’ so that every state-level food authority follows a standard practice for the implementation, compliance and surveillance of food safety regulations, which in turn will ensure smoother operations for food companies. FSSAI wants to erase discrepancies in food safety regulations across states, and standardize surveillance, sampling and inspection. This is to enable states with good practices.

India's food processing sector has the potential to attract USD 33 billion in investments by 2024.

The country's food and retail market is expected to touch USD 482 billion by 2020, up from USD 258 billion in 2015 with recent reforms making the sector more competitive and marketoriented.

Where Indian food and beverage Industry is facing new heights, it is also fighting for food security globally. The eleventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended in a deadlock, without any ministerial declaration as the US reneged on its commitment to give a permanent solution to food stockpiling issues of developing countries.

The Americans blocked attempts to work out reforms in farm trade putting the entire ministerial meeting in jeopardy. India refused to play ball as the proposed declaration was short of its expectations. Also India’s tough stand managed to prevent any deal on e-commerce or new issues such as investment facilitation.

A solution on food security would have meant that the developing countries could continue with minimum support price-type schemes without fearing a breach of the ceiling of 10 per cent of the value of production. Currently, India does not need to worry on that count as the WTO members had agreed to a permanent peace clause that guarantees protection from any action even if the United States oppose.

Well there has been a lot of noise on cryptocurrency and bitcoin of late. Bitcoin has brought to light the interesting concept of blockchain technology, which offers great potential for the agrifood sector. Thanks to blockchain technology originally designed to monitor cryptocurrency, this new tech is something that could put a significant dent in the number of foodborne illnesses that occur every year. It’s part of a new program in which IBM is partnering with Walmart, Nestlé, Dole, Tyson Foods, Kroger, and others, to use blockchain technology to track food throughout the complex global supply chain.

Simply put, blockchain technology is a way of storing and sharing information across a network of users in an open virtual space. Blockchain technology allows for users to look at all transactions simultaneously and in real time. In food, for example, a retailer would know with whom his supplier has dealt. Additionally, since transactions are not stored in any single location, the information is almost impossible to hack. For consumers, blockchain technology could make a difference. By a simple QR code read on smartphone, data such as an animal's date of birth, use of antibiotics, vaccinations, and where the livestock was harvested can easily be conveyed to the consumer.

Blockchain could bring a new level of transparency to a supply chain. It also empowers the entire chain to be more responsive to any food-safety disasters.

2017 has ended, and this year has been overall upright for the food and beverage Industry. It was a year that seen most development in this sector and has made its presence felt worldwide.

A very Happy New Year to my readers, colleagues, employees and friends…….

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

GOVT. INITIATIVE

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Will PMKSY revolutionise Indian Food Processing Industry?

The PMKSY will promote setting up of food processing units to boost availability of processed food items in the domestic market and for export purpose. The scheme will encourage creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

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he Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for re-structuring the schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) under new Central Sector Scheme – SAMPADA (Scheme for AgroMarine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) for the period 2016-20 coterminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle. Later, CCEA approved renaming this as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) PMKSY with an allocation of Rs. 6,000 crore is expected to leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crores, handling of 334 lakh MT agro-produce valuing Rs. 1,04,125 crores, benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate 5,30,500 direct/ indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20. The objective of PMKSY is to supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease agri-waste.

PMKSY is an umbrella scheme incorporating ongoing schemes of the Ministry like Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Food Safety, and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, etc. and new schemes like Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters, Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages, Creation / Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities.

The PMKSY is a comprehensive package to give a renewed thrust to the food processing sector in the country. It includes new schemes of Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters, Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages and Creation / Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities aim at development of modern infrastructure to encourage entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based on cluster approach, provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

processed food industry by plugging gaps in supply chain and creation of processing and preservation capacities and modernization/ expansion of existing food processing units.

The implementation of PMKSY will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country but also help in providing better prices to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of farmers’ income. It will create huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas.

It will also help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level, availability of safe and convenient processed foods at affordable price to consumers and enhancing the export of the processed foods.

10 Following schemes will be implemented under PMKSY • Mega Food Parks • Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure • Creation / Expansion of Food Processing& Preservation Capacities • Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters • Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages • Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure • Human Resources and Institutions Background: Food Processing Sector has emerged as an important segment of the Indian economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment and investment.

During 2015-16, the sector constituted as much as 9.1 and 8.6 per cent of GVA in Manufacturing and Agriculture sector respectively.

The manifesto of NDA Government stresses upon incentivizing the set up of food processing industry for providing better income for the farmers and creating jobs.

Government has taken various other measures to boost food processing sector as follows: 1. To provide impetus to investment in food processing and retail sector, govt. has allowed 100 per cent FDI in trading including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and / or produced in India.

This will benefit farmers immensely and will create back – end infrastructure and significant employment opportunities.

2. The govt. has also set up a Special Fund of Rs. 2000 crore in NABARD to make available affordable credit at concessional rate of interest to designated food parks and agro processing units in the designated food parks.

3. Food and agro–based processing units and cold chain infrastructure have been brought under the ambit of Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to provide additional credit for food processing activities and infrastructure thereby, boosting food processing, reducing wastage, create employment and increasing farmers’ income.

Brief details of the schemes under PMKSY

GOVT. INITIATIVE

1. Scheme for Mega Food Park Objectives of the Scheme: The objectives of the scheme are as follows. i. To provide modern infrastructure for food processing units in the country. ii. To ensure value addition of agricultural produce including dairy, fisheries etc. iii. To establish a sustainable raw material supply chain for each cluster. iv. To facilitate induction of the latest technology. v. To address the need of small and micro food processing enterprises by providing plug & play facilities. vi. To provide an institutional mechanism for producers, processors, and retailers to work together to build the supply chain.

Pattern of financial assistance: Grant-in-aid at 50 per cent of eligible project cost in general areas and @ 75 per cent of eligible project cost in NE Region and difficult areas subject to maximum of Rs.50 crore per project.

No. of projects: It is an on-going scheme. The total 42 projects have been taken up in the country, out of which 8 have been made operational including 3 completed projects. The remaining 34 projects will be completed during the period of scheme with an allocation of Rs. 1500 crore. The scheme will continue to be implemented with the same structure and pattern of assistance. New projects will be considered on completion of ongoing projects 2. Scheme for Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure Objective of the Scheme: To arrest post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce by providing financial assistance in setting up integrated cold chain, preservation and value addition infrastructure facilities without any break from the farm gate to the consumer.

No. of projects: It is an ongoing scheme. It is proposed to assist approximately 150 new projects against which 101 projects have been

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

approved in March end 2017. The total number of new projects to be sanctioned may vary depending upon the budget allocation and the grant approved per project. The scheme will be implemented with a total allocation of Rs. 1650 crore.

3. Committed liabilities under infrastructure related Schemes The committed liabilities for infrastructure related schemes amount to Rs. 2602 crore. This includes Rs. 1300 crore for Mega Food Parks, Rs. 1092 crore for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure and Rs. 210 crore for other ongoing infrastructure projects.

4. Scheme for Creation / Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities Objectives of the scheme: • Creation/ expansion and /or modernization of processing / preservation capacities which will help in increasing the level of processing, value addition and thereby reduction of wastage.

• The setting up of new units and modernization/ expansion of existing unit will be covered under the scheme. The processing units undertake a wide range of processing activities depending on the processing sectors which results in value addition and/enhancing shelf life of the processed products.

No. of projects: It is a new scheme. It will be implemented with an allocation of Rs.1290 crore to take up 400 new projects with total allocation of Rs.1141 crore and to meet the committed liabilities of earlier Technology Upgradation Scheme of Rs. 149 crore. The grants-in-aid will be credit linked but not back ended.

GOVT. INITIATIVE

(II) Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) / ISO Standards/Food safety/ Quality Management Systems

Scheme for Infrastructure for Agro Processing Clusters Objectives: i. To create modern infrastructure for food processing closer to production areas. ii. To provide integrated and complete preservation infrastructure facilities from the farm gate to the consumer.

To create effective backward and forward linkages by linking groups of producers /farmers to the processors and markets through well-equipped supply chain.

Salient features of the scheme: (i) The scheme will have two basic components i.e.

Basic Enabling Infrastructure (roads, water supply, power supply, drainage, ETP etc.) and Core Infrastructure/Common facilities (ware houses, cold storages, IQF, tetra pack, sorting, grading etc).

Creation of common facilities in a cluster may vary depending upon requirements of food processing units existing outside the cluster or to be set up in a cluster.

• Minimum 5 food processing units with minimum investment of Rs. 25 crore will be set up in the cluster.

• Units will be set up simultaneous along with creation of common infrastructure.

• Such infrastructure facilities may be developed by: a. The promoter(s) willing to set up own units in the cluster and also allow utilization of common infrastructure to other units in the area; b. The promoter(s) willing to develop common infrastructure for use by the units to be set up in the food processing cluster by other entrepreneurs; c. The promoter(s) willing to develop common infrastructure in the existing food processing clusters: No. of projects: It is a new scheme. During the period of the scheme, about 100 Agro Processing Clusters are proposed to be taken up with an allocation of Rs. 750 crore. The grantsin-aid will be credit linked but not back ended.

6. Scheme for Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages (a) Objectives: (i) To create an effective backward & forward linkage for perishable agri-horti

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produce through setting up of primary processing centres / collection centres at farm gate, distribution hub and retail outlets at the front end. (ii) To provide preservation facilities for enhancing shelf life of perishable agricultural produce resulting in better remunerative prices to farmers. (b) No. of Projects It is a new scheme. It is proposed to assist 50 projects with an allocation of Rs. 150 crore. The grants-in-aid will be credit linked but not back ended.

7. Scheme for Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure (I) Setting up/Up-gradation of Quality Control/ Food Testing Laboratories Objectives: i. To establish a surveillance system for monitoring the quality and composition of food. ii. To analyses the samples received from processing industry and other stakeholders. iii. To reduce the time for analysis of samples by reducing transportation time of samples. iv. To ensure compliance of international and domestic standards on food in case of exports as well as imports.

No. of projects: It is an ongoing scheme. 40 ongoing lab projects with a committed liability of Rs. 50 crore will be completed and about 60 new projects with an allocation of Rs. 100 crore will be taken up. The total allocation for ongoing and new lab projects will be Rs. 150 crore. The number of projects may vary depending upon the budget allocation and grant approved per project.

Objectives: The main objectives of the scheme are to motivate the food processing industry for adoption of food safety and quality assurance mechanisms such as TQM including ISO 9000, ISO 22000, HACCP, GMP, GHP, to enable adherence to stringent quality and hygiene norms and thereby protect consumer health, enhance product acceptance by overseas buyers and keep Indian industry technologically abreast of international best practices.

No. of projects: It is an ongoing scheme. 86 projects will be taken up with an allocation of Rs. 15 crore including committed liability of Rs. 1.53 crore for 9 ongoing projects. The number of projects may vary depending upon the budget allocation and grant approved per project.

(III) Scheme for Promotional Activities, Advertisements, Publicity, Studies & Surveys a) Objectives of the scheme: The objectives of the scheme are as follows: (i) To organize, co-sponsor, participate in all India level seminars, workshops, fairs and exhibitions for food processing sector to encourage investment in food processing and to create awareness of plan schemes being implemented by the ministry. (ii) To commission studies/ surveys to assess, evaluate various aspects of food processing sectors and allied activities. (iii) To create awareness about schemes of the ministry through print/audio-visual media through advertisements and publicity materials. (iv)To organize road shows, development of software and investor facilitation activities to promote food processing sector.

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

DINE OUT?

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production goes to waste each year due to inadequate infrastructure. The loss of so much food is particularly galling when nearly 300 million Indians live in extreme poverty and face constant hunger and malnutrition.

The government wants to develop a more efficient and integrated supply chain for agricultural produce involving valueadding backward linkages to farms for the provision of fertilizer, equipment, and processing facilities. Forward linkages will focus on storage and more modern retail systems. The domestic strategy will also contribute to efforts to develop India as a food exporter.

b) Allocation of funds: The scheme will be implemented with an allocation of Rs. 30 crore out of which Rs.1.5 crore will be utilized for meeting the committed liabilities of ongoing events.

(III) Skill Development a) Objectives of the scheme: The objectives of the scheme are as follows: • to provide sector specific skilled workforce from floor level workers, operators, packaging and assembly line workers to quality control supervisor etc. in the various sectors of food processing industries. • to contribute towards achieving the projected skilled human resources requirement as envisaged by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in food processing sector i.e 17.8 million persons by the year 2022.

training modules in different languages for each job roles. (ii) Assistance for creation of infrastructure facilities for skill training centres. Grant in aid will also be provided at the rate of 50 per cent of cost of plant & machineries required for training module subject to maximum of Rs. 15 lakh per training module and limited to two training modules per training centre. c) Allocation of funds: The scheme will be implemented with an allocation of Rs.30 crore including committed liability of erstwhile HRD scheme of Rs.2.50 crore.

The new scheme has been proposed in place of hither to be discontinued scheme of Human Resource Development. b) Pattern of financial assistance: (i) Development of course curriculum for training modules and its translation in English, Hindi and regional languages based on the qualification packs (QPs) validated by the NSDC as National Occupational Standards for different job roles in various sectors of food processing industries. Grant-in-aid would be available primarily to NIFTEM and IIFPT and also other eligible institutions to the extent of Rs.5 lakhs per QP for development of training module both in print and multimedia for each job role.

Rs.0.50 lakh per QP would be available for the translation of already developed

PMKSY to combat agricultural wastage In a bid to reduce post-harvest waste in India valued at 920 billion rupees ($14.2 billion), and to raise farming income, the government is launching an ambitious national scheme involving large food parks, integrated cold chains, and foodprocessing clusters About 4 per cent of India's agricultural

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

"Our target is to make a national food grid consisting of cold chains and food parks, where from production to consumption there is a seamless transfer of perishable [produce] with the lowest amount of wastage," MoFPI Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said.

The government aims to shorten supply chains to make them more efficient, and to create huge retail venues. Last year, it also approved 100 per cent foreign investment for multi-brand retailing of food produced in India.

Badal noted that in the e-commerce sector about $700 million has already been committed to the online grocery business by U.S.-based Amazon and local companies like BigBasket and Grofers.

The government has taken various measures to give a boost to the food processing sector. With these measures food processing sector has grown at 7 per cent.

To arrest post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce, the Ministry has accorded approval to 42 Mega Food Parks and 236 Integrated Cold Chains for creation of modern infrastructure for the food processing along the value chain from the farm to the market.

Out of 42 Mega Food Parks, 8 are operational. Of this, 6 Mega Food Parks have been made operational during the last 3 years. Another 4 Mega Food Parks are targeted for operationalization in next three months. Similarly, out of 236 Cold Chains, 101 Cold Chains have been sanctioned recently in March 2017. 100 Cold Chains have become operational. Of

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14 which, 63 Cold Chains have been made operational during last 3 years.

MOFPI has separate scheme for promotion of Food Processing sector The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has a separate scheme for the Promotional Activities, Advertisements, Publicity, Studies & surveys to create awareness of plan schemes and to encourage investment in food processing.

This is aimed at creating infrastructure and facilities for food processing industries for reducing wastages, enhancing preservation, extending shelf life and processing of perishables resulting in increase of income of farmers.

The promotional activities of the Ministry are aimed at the development of the processed food sector, creating awareness among all stakeholders including farmers, attracting investment etc, the Minister of State for Ministry of Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

This also aims to promote participation in national/ international exhibitions/ fairs is made to disseminate information including Farmer Producers Organizers (FPOs), Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) regarding food processing industries, familiarizing the existing and prospective entrepreneurs with modern techniques of production and packaging, development of market and popularization of products.

Research and development innovations are also showcased amongst farmers and processors.

Assistance is provided for organization of national /international seminars/ workshops of pan India nature which are spearheaded by apex industry bodies like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, All India Food Processors Association (AIFPA), Central Government Autonomous Bodies and Public-Sector Undertakings in the field of food processing industry for this purpose.

Government of India has approved a new Central Sector Scheme – KISAN PMKSY YOJANA (KSY) for the period upto

GOVT. INITIATIVE

2019-20 to be implemented by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI).

The Minister informed that under KSY, a new Scheme for Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages has been approved.

The objective of the scheme is to provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for processed food industry by plugging the gaps in supply chain in terms of availability of raw material and linkages with the market.

The scheme will enable linking of farmers to processors and the market thereby ensuring remunerative prices for their produce. The new scheme for creation of capacities under Kisan PMKSY Yojna will also assist in creating linkages between farmers & FPIs to reduce the wastage of perishable commodities.

In addition to this, Government of India

under Kisan PMKSY Yojna is also implementing the Mega Food Park and Cold Chain Schemes also aimed to reduce post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce and provide remunerative price to farmers for their produce.

New PMKSY scheme to give free hand to entrepreneurs keen on food clusters The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), under its new PMKSY scheme, has decided to give free hand to entrepreneurs to decide the size of the land for setting up food processing units as part of clusters. Until now entrepreneurs could come up with their plans only for Mega Food Parks but with the new scheme, they have the option of deciding on smaller sized food clusters.

The government will soon notify the scheme and reveal its guidelines.

However, there is a small rider that has been put forth. The entrepreneurs should

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

have five units under the plan and Rs 25 crore investment besides it should be close to farming hub. It may be multistoried, or spanning in few acres.

According to ministry officials, the requirement of landholding for setting up of the industry/unit has been removed while the Mega Food Park plan will remain there.

Badal stated that there was nothing in between Mega Food Park scheme and Cold Chain scheme to promote the food processing industries and it had been done to further augment the opportunities in the sector.

She stated this while replying to a question at a recently held press meet in New Delhi, “When we took over, we analysed that one of the reasons the scheme of Mega Park was not taking off, was requirement of 50 acre of land. Further, there was nothing in between the schemes of Mega Park and Cold Chain to bridge the link. So, we decided to have a cluster-based approach to further the opportunities in the processing sector.”

Under the scheme, there will be flexibility in terms of land requirement and an individual can set up a park, but it should have minimum five units and be in close proximity to a farm cluster.

This has been done to encourage more clusters to come up where food processing can be carried out and help in value addition to the farm produce ultimately helping in reducing food wastage and increasing the food processing in the country, according to the minister.

Meanwhile, MoFPI is awaiting the final nod to the FDI policy in food retail (produced and manufactured in India).

The matter was supposed to come up before the cabinet recently, but it got delayed. Now it is expected to be taken up after the Prime Minister comes back from foreign visit.Under the FDI policy, MoFPI has proposed that 15per cent of the investment should be spent at the farm gate so that the basic infrastructure that includes grading, sorting and controlled atmosphere warehousing can be set up to enhance the shelf life of the farm produce.

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16 Govt to set up mini food parks The government will focus on setting up of mini food parks to raise the processing level, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said and asked the industry to buy agricultural produce directly from farmers to boost their income.Minister of State, said all 42 sanctioned mega food parks will be operational by 2019.

She assured the industry that the ministry will consider and take up any of their concern related to GST. Addressing an ASSOCHAM conference on FMCG, the minister said the government will facilitate setting up of ‘mini food parks’ across the country on smaller land parcel to boost food processing level.

GOVT. INITIATIVE

The minister felt that farmers’ income will not be doubled unless their produce is procured directly.

The processing sector will also get their raw material at cheaper rates and better quality if they buy agri produce directly from farmers, she suggested.

MOFPI to set up bank like NABARD MoFPI is considering for the establishment of a bank in the same line of what National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is to the agriculture sector in India. This bank will provide the requisite.

This will be done under the new Rs. 6,000 crore PMKSY scheme approved by the government recently, she added.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, confirmed the development, affirming that the ministry had started the work on the project, contours are to be worked out and the funds that will be lent to the processing sector are to be created. Analysis as to how this bank would function is underway.

The ministry provides subsidy of up to Rs 50 crore to set up a mega food park.

There is a need, Jyoti said, to increase the food processing level to reduce wastage of farm produce.

Also, the bank would be a largely private entity, while the government will hold a stake in it. A consultation note has been circulated amongst the various ministries for the same. This is expected to come

up for discussion shortly.It is relevant to mention that the government had brought the food processing sector under the priority sector lending scheme, and a fund amounting to Rs 2,000 crore had been assigned to NABARD. Conclusion Central Government has allocated the big amount for betterment of food processing industry. With an objective of handling 334 lakh MT agro-produce valuing Rs. 1,04,125 crores, benefiting 20 lakh farmers and generate 5,30,500 direct/ indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20.

Earlier also government launched the same scheme to avoid pre and postharvest agri losses, but the wastage was more than imagination. Rs. 6000 crore has been allocated to set mega food parks, better cold chain infrastructure and many more. It will be very exciting to see that whether a big planning avoid such losses or not.

Visit us at Khadhya Khurak 2nd 5th January 2018 Hall no. 1, Stall-119/120

TM

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

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NEW TRENDS

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Tracking down contaminated food has historically been a messy affair, sometimes taking retailers and food companies’ weeks to learn exactly what products they need to pull from store shelves. Blockchain is one technology that will solve this mess.

Implementation of blockchain in food supply chain can help address food frauds, illegal production and help reduce foodborne illness and losses due to product recalls.

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lockchain technology and its application in Industries Imagine if we could pinpoint a problem with certainty within minutes, not days. Well there has been a lot of noise on cryptocurrency and bitcoin of late.

While some suggest cryptocurrencies are a fraud, others believe them to be the next economic revolution. Bitcoin has brought to light the interesting concept of blockchain technology, which offers great potential for the agri-food sector.

Yet it is far from being the panacea for diverse issues affecting the industry – at least not yet.

Thanks to technology originally designed to monitor cryptocurrency, this new tech is something that could put a significant dent in the number of foodborne illnesses that occur every year.

It’s part of a new program in which IBM is partnering with Walmart, Nestlé, Dole, Tyson Foods, Kroger, and others, to use blockchain technology to track food throughout the complex global supply chain.

Simply put, blockchain technology is a way of storing and sharing information across a network of users in an open virtual space. Blockchain technology allows users to look at all transactions simultaneously and in real time. In food,

Blockchain Technology revolutionizing the food industry Healthier eating begins with safe food for example, a retailer would know with whom his supplier has dealt. Additionally, since transactions are not stored in any single location, the information is almost impossible to hack.

For consumers, blockchain technology could make a difference. By reading a simple QR code with a smartphone, data such as an animal's date of birth, use of antibiotics, vaccinations, and where the livestock was harvested can easily be conveyed to the consumer.

Massive companies putting pressure on suppliers to use blockchain will migrate a huge swathe of the food world into one organized system. That’s no small feat when farmers, processors, distributors, and retailers are currently use different types of documentation to track their products—some of them still on paper.

Blockchain could bring a new level of transparency to a supply chain. It also empowers the entire chain to be more responsive to any food-safety disasters.

Large companies such as Nestle and Unilever are considering blockchain technologies for that reason. Wal Mart, which sells 20 per cent of all food in the U.S., has just completed two blockchain pilot projects. Before using the technology, Wal Mart conducted a traceback test on mangoes in one of its stores. It took six days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes to trace the fruit back to its original farm.

Under the new system, if a consumer falls ill from E. coli traced to a batch of lettuce, a food-safety investigator

December 2017 Agro & Food Processing August 2017

could conceivably scan a barcode on the packaging to quickly learn where it came from and where other lettuce from the same batch went. Retailers will be able to quickly remove contaminated products from shelves, thus stopping the spread of illnesses.

With help of blockchain retailers will be able to quickly remove contaminated products from shelves, thus stopping the spread of illnesses Walmart has been using a pilot version of the technology, showing how blockchain can be expanded beyond the financial, health care, and natural resources sectors to be applied to the foods that consumers interact with every single day. Coupled with companies’ efforts to stop foodborne illnesses early on, this could signal a major moment in how humans keep the food system in check.

By using blockchain, Wal-Mart can provide all the information the consumer wants in 2.2 seconds. During an outbreak of a food-related health scare, six days is an eternity. A company can save lives by acting quickly. Blockchain also allows specific products to be traced at any given time, which would help in the reduction of food waste. For instance, contaminated products can be traced easily and quickly, while safe foods would remain on the shelves and not in landfills.

Blockchain will allow everyone to be paid more quickly, from farm to plate. Farmers could sell more quickly and be properly compensated as market data would be readily available and validated. The technology could represent a legitimate option for farmers who feel compelled

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NEW TRENDS

20

to rely on marketing boards to sell their commodities. The use of blockchain could prevent price coercion and retroactive payments, both of which we have seen across the food-supply chain.

Blockchain technologies could "Uberize" the agri-food sector by eliminating middlemen and lowering transaction fees.

This can lead to fairer pricing and even help smaller outfits desperate to get more market attention.

Blockchain will allow everyone to be paid more quickly, from farm to plate However, it will work only if the data at the source is accurate, and current practices in the industry are still prone to human error. Much of the compliance data is audited by trusted third parties and stored either on paper or in a centralized database. These databases are highly vulnerable to informational inaccuracies, hacking, high operating costs and intentional errors motivated by corruption and fraudulent behaviour. Blockchain operates anonymously, so mistakes would be traceable to individual culprits.

Considering recent food fraud scandals seen in Canada and elsewhere, this feature is not trivial. Blockchain technology provides a method with which records are kept permanently. Most importantly, though, it facilitates data sharing between disparate actors in a food value chain.

Many retailers have sold fraudulent food products unknowingly. With the use of blockchain, those days could come to an end.

Our current traceability systems need work, and blockchain technology could be the evolution they need. Given its architecture, blockchain offers an affordable solution to both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large organizations. However, there are noteworthy limitations. The amount of information that can be processed is limited. Since everything is out there,

several contracts between organizations would need to be secured for some level of confidentiality to be retained. A balance between confidentiality and transparency would need to be struck. The agri-food arena is filled with secrets. The manner in which blockchain technology is currently being deployed would be problematic for many food companies. For many, blockchain is just a solution looking for a problem.

Nevertheless, the most important challenge remains participation. All parties must adopt the technology in order for it to work. In food distribution, not all companies are equal, and some can exercise their power more than others. A successful integration of the blockchain requires the engagement of all participating organizations. Wal-Mart's blockchain will likely be successful because it's Wal-Mart. But thousands of companies have the same clout.

crop land because the current systems are vulnerable to fraud that leads to ownership disputes. In sub-Saharan Africa, a fertiliser company and an exchange owner are using the technology to develop an agricultural commodity platform.

The technology is a big selling point for the global food industry to identify counterfeit ingredients and to trace the source of contamination during product recalls. Michigan State University estimated fraud costs the global food industry as much as $40 billion a year.

In August, IBM said it's working with a group of companies including Wal Mart Stores Inc., Nestle SA, Tyson Foods Inc., Unilever NV and McCormick & Co. to identify ways they can incorporate blockchain.

Benefits of blockchain Fewer Intermediaries-Blockchain is a true peer-to-peer network that will reduce reliance on some types of third-party intermediaries – like banks, lawyers, and brokers.

Wh at is blockch ain tech nology?

It is a reliable, difficult-to-h ack record of tra nsactions a nd of who owns wh at. Blockch ain is based on distributed ledger tech nology, which securely records inform ation across a peer-to-peer network. Although it was origin ally created for trading Bitcoin, blockch ain’s potential reaches far beyond cryptocurrency. Blockch ain ledgers ca n include la nd titles, loa ns, identities, logistics m a nifests – al most a nything of value. The tech nology is still new, but the potential impact it ca n h ave on business is exciting.

How does blockch ain work?

A blockch ain records data across a peer-to-peer network. Every participa nt ca n see the data a nd verify or reject it using consensus algorith ms. Approved data is entered into the ledger as a collection of “blocks” a nd stored in a chronological “ch ain” th at ca n not be altered.

Industry leaders should embrace blockchain as an opportunity and become part of the digitalization strategy currently affecting the entire food industry.

As such, transparency, productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of the agri-food sector could be enhanced.

Nonetheless, research should look at how to generate evidence-based blockchain solutions to democratize data for the entire system before we get too excited.

Industry leaders should hold blockchain as an opportunity and become part of the digitalization strategy currently affecting the entire food industry In Agriculture, farmers already see the possibilities. The government of Ukraine said in October it will use blockchain technology to manage its registry of

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Faster Processes- Blockchain can speed up process execution in multi-party scenarios and allow for faster transactions that aren’t limited by office hours.

Transparency-Informatio in blockchains is viewable by all participants and cannot be altered. This will reduce risk and fraud, and create trust.

ROI- Distributed ledgers will provide quick ROI by helping businesses create leaner, more efficient, and more profitable processes.

Security - the distributed and encrypted nature of blockchain mean it will be difficult to hack. This shows promise for business and IoT security.

Automation-Blockchai is programmable

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22

building a food supply chain which can reliably trace the food’s provenance and hold each link accountable. With blockchain technology, the food supply chain can be monitored to ensure what we eat is safe.

will make it possible to automatically trigger actions, events, and payments once conditions are met.

Revolution of Blockchain technology In Food Industry How depressing it would be if you started your day with the possibility that your coffee had adulterated coffee powder.

Or say, the milk you drank had deadly chemicals passed on from the cattle feed?

How often do we check that the food we eat is safe, and ensure that it is free of harmful additives and adulterants? Is it even possible in the current regulatory system?

Within the food supply chain between the farmer and the consumer, adulteration is a key safety issue. Since the food we eat goes through many touch points before it comes to our plate, ensuring food safety requires multisectoral collaboration.

Food go through many touch points before it comes to our plate, ensuring food safety requires multisectoral collaboration.

According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, one in every five samples of food items tested by the public food safety labs in the country was found to be “adulterated and misbranded.

And, there has also been wide media coverage of the impact of adulteration, across the globe. In 2011, China’s largest processed meat manufacturer was found using illegal feed additives that contaminated its products.

The consumers, industry, lawmakers and regulatory agencies were unaware of it. The government was blamed for its inability to ensure a safe food ecosystem.

This has highlighted the importance of

Walmart, the global retailer, which has been in the forefront of adopting new technologies, partnered with IBM and Tsinghua University in China to improve the way food is tracked, transported and sold to consumers.

In October, it inaugurated the Walmart Food Safety Collaboration Center in Beijing. This helps Walmart deliver food to stores faster, reduce wastage, better manage product shelf life and also cut down logistics costs considerably. As a result, consumers will no longer see on the store shelf, the food that is beyond its “best before” day or simply not fresh.

With IBM Blockchain™, food products can be tracked digitally from farm to store shelves and ultimately to consumers.

This technology enables the monitoring of information such as farm origination details, batch numbers, factory and processing data, the intermediary details, expiry dates, storage temperatures and shipping details, along the entire food supply chain.

With IBM Blockchain™, food products can be tracked digitally from farm to store shelves and ultimately to consumers Another advantage of blockchain is that the information in the shared ledger can be exposed and used as part of the data that fuels predictive analytics. For example, a supply chain manager who puts their data on a blockchain can access it via Watson technology and provide information on the best way to optimize the supply chain.

This will ultimately lead to cost savings and increased efficiencies across the network.

Food safety is important to all of us as we consume grown, processed and packaged food from around the world. With blockchain, companies are empowered to ensure the food we eat is safer. To know more about how foodtech companies and retailers are leveraging blockchain technology, signup for IBM Clouding

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Innovation Forum 3 point summary • Walmart has partnered with IBM and Tsinghua University in China to improve the way food is tracked, transported and sold to consumers across the country, thus ensuring safety in consumption.

• IBM’s Blockchain TM when leveraged with Watson can help in predictive analysis and enables retailers to make informed decisions to address cost savings and efficiency of their network.

• With blockchain, food products can be digitally tracked from farms to store shelves worldwide and ultimately to consumers.

Blockchain in food supply In the food supply context, a blockchain could be used to keep track of every single thing that happens to individual or groups of food products. That could make it easier to find out where a shipment of a particular product has been, say, or at what point in the supply chain it was contaminated. Such information could potentially prevent major outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

Blockchain technology in food supply could potentially prevent major outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

Shutterstock Blockchains could be used to trace sources of food contamination to help prevent waves of food sickness, such as the on-going salmonella outbreaks linked to Maradol brand papayas. Take the case of the salmonella outbreak that's been linked to Maradol-brand papayas.

The first illnesses were reported on May 17. As of August 16, 173 people across 21 different states in the US had fallen ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). While the CDC was able to determine the origin of the contaminated papayas, it's clear that not all of the shipments have been tracked down or recalled, because people keep getting sick.

If the papayas shipments were recorded in a blockchain some of those diseases might have been prevented. At least in theory, the blockchain record would make it easier to find out which shipments were exposed to the bacteria and where those shipments were delivered. It could also help companies and public health officials determine which communities might have been exposed.

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NEW TRENDS

24 Potential risks Still, widespread adoption of blockchain systems may take a while because the transition to new systems will be disruptive and requires some investment.

There's also concern about the potential risk of putting all that data online.

A blockchain technology startup, said its website was hacked and $7 million was stolen from investors trying to participate in the company's initial coin offering.

In November, Tether Ltd. disclosed on its website that a "malicious" attacker swiped $31 million in tokens and sent them to an unauthorised bitcoin address.

Agro-food processing insight Blockchain can improve a variety of industries, from food to Pharma. It can target specific pain points in supply chain processes, such as traceability, compliance, flexibility and stakeholder management. This can lead to better performance when it comes to monitoring products, ensuring high standards are met, keeping costs down and reducing risk.

19 x 15 cm

Indeed, blockchain has a myriad of capabilities, including auditability, immutability, smart contracts and disintermediation, making it an attractive options for many an organisation.

However, understanding blockchain technology is vital, not only for the supply chain sector but for all industries and sectors. Companies still need to be prudent when using the technology, like any other.

Blockchain technology should be evaluated on its unique and value-creating characteristics, and ensure it is driving real business benefits and value before rolling out front-to-back solutions.

Blockchain may be growing in popularity but some businesses have yet to fully grasp its potential. 2015 was the year of hype, 2016 was the year of the prototype.

We are starting to see many companies using blockchain in a production environment in 2017, but expect to see a lot more companies using blockchain in live environments in 2018.

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What about end consumers? Will they see any difference with the integration of blockchain technology into the supply chain of their chosen provider?

Customers will be able to access detailed information on their goods through the use of QR codes, with a quick scan bringing up the full life cycle of their purchase.

“Transparency and provenance is fast becoming an increasingly important part of modern society, and blockchain technology will help show the authenticity of a range of goods, from food to art to handbags.”

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GM MUSTARD SAGA ONION CRISIS

26

Onion

makes Indian inflation cry louder

O

nions are, once again, in the news.

Last week, retail prices touched Rs 50/kg in several markets, and wholesale prices touched Rs 30/kg in major onion markets like Lasalgaon in Maharashtra. This is not the first time that onion prices have spiked.

Almost every alternate year, this rollercoaster of boom and bust in onion prices happens (see Graph). But 2017 is interesting as it saw record low prices in May-June when farmers sold onions at around Rs 2/kg in several mandis in

Madhya Pradesh. This has led to grief and anger among farmers.

The situation became precarious when farmers protested, and police fired at them, resulting in some unfortunate deaths. The MP chief minister realised the sensitivity of the incident and quickly announced a decision to procure onions at Rs 800/ quintal and state agencies procured 8.76 lakh tonnes.

But in the absence of ample storage capacity in the state, onions had to be

Agro & Food Processing December 2017 August 2017

quickly disposed of through the PDS and open market operations at almost one-fifth the cost. The whole operation caused a loss of Rs 785 crore to the MP government.

However, the more unusual aspect of the onion situation was that only a few months later, in August 2017, prices started shooting up (see Graph) resulting in a visit by officers of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs to Lasalgaon, income tax raids on traders in September and the suspension of trading in Lasalgaon APMC

ONION CRISIS

27

Some of the problems in India’s onion market are baked into biology. About 60% are the winter rabi crops harvested in April and May, so stocks tend to be running low by the time the monsoon-grown kharif crop is harvested in October and November. That leaves the market vulnerable to shifting updates about the impact of the monsoon on kharif crops in the fields and rabi stocks in storage. The onion price spikes over the past decade have all tended to coincide with India’s wet season. for about a month. The prices then fell for some time, but they have been rising since Diwali, prompting the government to announce the import of onions by the MMTC to bring down domestic prices.

This is not the first year when government action has been so ad-hoc and puzzling within a few months. In previous years, too, we have seen the government fix the minimum export price, ban exports of onions, and even a study by the Competition Commission of India. The lesson: Income tax raids proved futile in

keeping the lid on onion prices even for a few months. We need better policies.

To judge by the government’s response to a spike in onion prices this year, you’d say the former. The crop was suffering through an 18-month slump in midJuly when word began to creep out of harvest failures in Karnataka state and the collapse of an agricultural-purchase program in Madhya Pradesh, hitting supply from two of the three biggest producing regions.

So, what is it that causes high volatility

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

in onion prices and what could be the way out? To respond to these questions, one may first note that India produced 21.7 MMT of onions, which is about 20 per cent of global production in 2016-17, second only to China. India also exported 2.4 MMT in 2016-17, up from 1.2 MMT in 2014-15. About 60 per cent of onion production is in the rabi season, sown in December-January and harvested in April-May. This is the onion which is stored by farmers and traders and it meets export as

ONION CRISIS

28

to a sharp rise in onion and vegetable prices, recent government data showed. Annual wholesale price inflation last month increased to 3.93 per cent from a year earlier, as compared to a 3.59 per cent rise in October. Economists in a Reuters poll had forecast wholesale inflation to rise 3.78 per cent.

Wholesale prices of food articles increased to 6.06 per cent in November, as against 4.30 per cent in October, as per the data released by the Commerce Ministry. well as domestic demand till the arrival of the kharif onion crop, which is sown in May-June and harvested in OctoberNovember.

Reasons of shortage The late kharif crop is sown in AugustSeptember and harvested in JanuaryFebruary. Kharif and late kharif crops produce about 20 per cent each of the annual production. Kharif onion is of rather poor quality and cannot be stored for very long. The prices tend to rise in October-November when rabi onion stocks are almost depleted and kharif onion is yet to hit the market, or if the kharif crop is damaged, as is the case this year.

One of the prime reasons behind high volatility in onion prices stems from a lack of storage facilities that have not kept pace with rising production. Also, the traditional storage practices incur losses as high as 40 per cent. While Maharashtra used the Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and National Horticulture Mission and created 42,282 low-cost onion storage structures with a capacity of 9.65 lakh tonnes, there is hardly any storage facility in MP. No wonder, MP farmers suffered most in a bumper onion crop year. However, modern cold storages, as being set up by Allround India, a subsidiary of Allround Holland, and other such companies, can bring down wastage within the 10-15 per cent range.

Onion, a kitchen staple, witnessed a whopping 178.19 per cent rise in inflation last month on an annual basis. Vegetable prices too spiked 59.80 per cent on an annual basis.

Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA Limited, said the spike in vegetable prices led by onions and tomatoes was the chief factor that pushed up the primary food inflation to a 16-month high of 6.1 per cent in November 2017.

Rising commodity prices resulted in an uptick in inflation for minerals, crude petroleum as well as some sub-sectors of non-food manufactured products in November 2017, she said.

The index for fuel and power also showed a climb of 8.82 per cent.

Data earlier week showed consumer

Costlier Onion push wholesale inflation to eight-month high Wholesale price inflation accelerated in November to an eight-month high, due

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

released this retail or inflation in

November breached the medium-term target of 4 per cent of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI). This could put pressure on it to raise policy rates in 2018.

Consumer inflation rose to a 15-month high of 4.88 per cent last month, up from 3.58 per cent in October.

Last week, the RBI held rates unchanged, despite having faced some pressure to cut rates to aid growth. The central bank's increased concern about inflation has prompted it to hold rates since a trim in August.

The RBI has raised its inflation projection to between 4.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent for the six months ending in March 2018.

Export issues India's onion export rose by 56 per cent to 12.29 lakh tonnes in April-July this year, but the country has now gone in for import of the kitchen staple as retail prices have shot up to Rs 65-70 per kg because of tight supplies.

In value terms too, the onion export increased by 47.69 per cent to Rs 1,443.09 crore in the period under review, from Rs 977.84 crore a year ago, it said.

Earlier in November, the government allowed state-owned agencies like MMT to import onion from countries like Egypt and China to increase availability and cool retail prices that have skyrocketed to Rs 65-70 a kg level in many parts of the country.

According to data maintained by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), the country has exported 12.29 lakh tonnes of onion during April-July of 2017-18, up 56 per cent from 7.88 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

"Exports increased during April-July because of two reasons: firstly, there was no minimum export price (MEP) and second, the global prices remained much higher," the state- owned National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) acting Director P K Gupta told.

The exports helped farmers get better rates for their produce during the first quarter of the fiscal when local prices had fallen sharply. However, with old stocks getting depleted and rise in local prices, the exports have slowed, he said.

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ONION CRISIS

30 According to the DGIS data, exporters realised Rs 11,737 per tonne of onion during April-July of this fiscal. MEP is the minimum rate below which export is not allowed. Onion MEP was scrapped in December 2015.

"We are hoping the price of onions will come down in India once their new harvest hits the markets," he added.

Despite demand from Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the MEP was not imposed in August when retail onion prices had started showing an upward trend. "Now, retail onion prices have come under pressure because the old crop is getting exhausted. Also, new kharif crop arrival is less," Gupta said.

Onions grab space in almost every Asian kitchen as they are used as the base for traditional dishes such as biryani in Pakistan, belacan in Malaysia and fish curry in Bangladesh.

For instance, in the national capital, the average retail price of onion was ruling at Rs 15 per kg in April and gradually rose to Rs 30-35 in July and by October-end, the rate crossed Rs 50, as per the ministry data.

However, local vendors are selling at Rs 65-70 per kg depending on the quality and locality in Delhi. A similar rise in prices of onion was witnessed in other cities also.

To boost local supply, the government facilitated import of onion through private traders, who have purchased 11,400 tonnes from the overseas market so far.

The new kharif crop is likely to be lower by 10 per cent as area sown is less by 30 per cent. The production assessment will be known once the harvesting completes, a senior consumer affairs ministry official said.

It may be noted that 40 per cent of the country's total onion crop is produced in the kharif season, and the rest during the rabi season. The kharif crop, however, cannot be stored. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat are major onion-producing states.

Onion export statistics of India India is the 2nd largest onion growing and exporter country in the world. It exported onions worth USD 308.64 million between January and September 2017. According to a report on onion export from India, the country exported fresh onions maximum in this period.

The major varieties of Indian onions are – Agrifound Light Red, Agrifound Dark Red, Agrifound White, NHRDF Red, Agrifound Rose, Agrifound Red, Pusa Ratnar, Pusa White Round Pusa Red. Here are the highlights from a report on onion export data recorded in Q1 to Q3 2017.

• India recorded highest onion exports in September with USD 46.29 million.

• Fresh onions shared 70.29% value of total exports.

• Onion shipments maximum departed from Maharashtra state. It recorded USD 191.09 million export value.

• As per Indian onion export data, the country mostly exported onions to Malaysia, which recorded value USD 62 million.

• Most export consignments of onions were loaded and departed from India’s JNPT port.

Onion prices rally in Asia as India restricts exports Asian countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia are struggling to secure supplies of onions after the world's biggest exporter India restricted overseas sales amid limited availability in the global market.

Onions, an essential part of the diets of millions of Asians, are likely to remain expensive and scarce for at least two months until India lifts curbs on exports, traders said.

"At the moment, there is nothing we can do but to wait," said, a trader based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where onion prices have trebled in recent months, hitting an all-time high of 100 taka ($1.22) a kg (2.2 pounds) this week.

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Opening international trade would also be a good idea: India exports a lot more onions than it imports, and a more balanced picture would go a long way to taking the edge off price spikes.

A seven-fold rise in retail onion prices in just five months prompted India last week to set a minimum price of $850 a tonne for overseas sales until the end of 2017, well above the prevailing market price of $700 a tonne.

"Only a few importers are willing to pay $850 per tonne. Exports have dropped substantially," said Ajit Shah, an Indian exporter based in Mumbai. India was exporting onions at an average price of just $186 in July.

The shortages come after record supplies last year prompted farmers in India and Pakistan to slash the area given over to the pungent bulb during the summer season after incurring losses.

India exported 2.4 million tonnes of onions in 2016/17, mainly to Bangladesh, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates.

Other exporters include Pakistan, China and Egypt.

ONION CRISIS

Buyers from importing countries like Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Nepal are now looking to China and Egypt for supplies, but these countries could not supply enough.

"All the countries that produce onions have shortages. So even if you go to China to buy, you can't get as much as you want," said a Kuala Lumpur-based official with a leading Malaysian farm commodity importing firm.

Indian supplies were preferred by Asian buyers due to flavour, lower freight charges and prompt delivery. "It takes more than one month to get the delivery when it comes from Egypt and about 20 days from China while it takes only a few days from India," said Dhaka-based trader.

India's production of summer and late summer onion crops is expected to drop by a quarter from last year's level of 7.5 million tonnes, said P.K. Gupta, acting director of India's National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation.

Onions have three crops a year, and the supply from the late summer season crop will start to rise in December and could help to moderate prices, Gupta said.

However, industry participants said the new season crop will provide only a tiny surplus and India would look for a substantial drop in local prices before easing export restrictions.

This was likely to take two months when supply from the late summer crop peaks.

Increase in Maharashtra’s doubled wholesale onion prices

share

While the move is seen as an attempt by the Central government to ensure onion prices are kept under check in the country’s cities, farmers have blamed the Centre for interfering in a free market and not allowing farmers to get good prices for their produce.

A slight increase in Maharashtra’s share in the total onion supply of the country over the past three months led to a near doubling of wholesale onion prices in the country, leading to Income Tax raids that were conducted on the country’s established onion traders who are based in Nashik. While the move is seen as an

attempt by the Central government to ensure onion prices are kept under check in the country’s cities, farmers have blamed the Centre for interfering in a free market and not allowing farmers to get good prices for their produce.

The onions which are now being sold in the market is a rabi crop which is called gavthi in local parlance. It is a high-yield variant and unlike other variants can be stored for close to six months. The crop is sown in December-January and is out in the market by April. Due to its high yield and storage capacity, farmers tend to store it in their sheds and sell it in batches till October. Maharashtra presently accounts for close to 30 per cent of India’s onion production. However, with fluctuation in the weather, the onion crop in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka had been affected to a certain extent.

Last year in July, Maharashtra contributed only 40 per cent of all the onions that had reached various APMCs across the country. This year, Maharashtra’s share in July shot up to 56 per cent of the total onions sent in the market as supplies from other states was affected. The increased share of Maharashtra in the supply chain meant that the prices of onions rose by nearly 100 per cent between July and August. According to data from the Department of Consumer Affairs, the average wholesale price of onion in India increased from Rs 1,079 per quintal in July to Rs 2,023 per quintal in August.

This hike was greater in Nashik, the country’s main onion market where onion prices increased from an average Rs 782 to Rs 1,617.

A section of the government reckons that the prices were manipulated by traders who had hoarded onions and were sitting on huge stocks whose release was being regulated to manipulate prices. Last month, a delegation from the Central government, led by top officials of the Union ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution was in Laslagaon to ascertain the reasons behind the massive fluctuation of onion prices in the APMCs. Subsequently, the local administration had been keeping a close eye on the onion stocks in godowns of traders to ensure that there was no hoarding taking place. Local traders have, however, stated that the hoarding of gavthi onions at this stage when the new kharif crop was about to come into the market did not make sense for traders.

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

31 They also claimed that the raids seemed to have been undertaken to artificially regulate the price of onions.

“These raids will act as a deterrent for farmers to get good prices for their produce. They have stored onion in their sheds for close to five months, hoping that they would get a decent price. However, these raids have created a situation where farmers will be short changed. The traders, because of the raids, will buy the produce at a lesser price and the farmer will be hit. If the government really wants to ensure that people in cities get onions at affordable rates, it should purchase them from the open market from farmers and then sell them at a subsidized rate to the public,” Changdeorao Holkar, former vice chairman of NAFED, said. Interestingly, the prices of onion in Lasalgaon, when it resumed operations for the first time after the raids, fell by Rs 250 to Rs 1,250. Only 5,000 quintals of produce came to the market.

A day before the raids were conducted, the rate stood at Rs 1,500 and 15,665 quintals of onion had come to the market, nearly thrice of what was seen a. “People do not have problems shelling out a few hundred when they want to eat mutton or chicken.

However, if onion prices increase by 10 or 20 rupees, then the government steps in,” Keshav Kakad, an onion farmer and activist from Nashik district, said.

The onion conundrum Onions are produced thrice every year in Maharashtra with crops being harvested from October till April. The three types of onions that you eat: 1) Pol: It is the kharif onion crop known by farmers in Maharashtra as Pol, which is presently being sold in the market. The produce is, however, of inferior quality. It has a low yield and cannot be stored for long. It represents 20 per cent of the total onion crop in the state. Planted in May-June and harvested in October-November, it has been affected by the drought which has caused the price rise.

2) Rangda: It is the late kharif crop known by farmers in the state as Rangda.

Some of it has already started entering the market. It is a little better in quality and represents 20 per cent of the total onion crop in the state. It is planted in AugustSeptember and harvested in JanuaryFebruary. This crop has not been affected much by the rains and its entry into the

ONION CRISIS

32

market by February 15 will put a brake on high onion prices.

3) Gavthi: It is the rabi onion crop and is of the best quality. It has a high yield and can be stored for close to six months. This crop represents 60 per cent of all total onion production. The crop is sown in December-January and is out in the market by April. Due to its high yield and storage capacity, the prices are generally in control when this produce enters the market.

Policies to come out First policy action has to be to promote modern cold storages and develop a system akin to that of the warehouse receipt system for farmers. While a bulk of the storage has to be undertaken by the private sector, the state can do some stocking under a price stabilisation fund.

They can hire the services of specialised private sector agencies to carry out such operations on the government’s behalf.

Second, use trade policy for price stabilisation. In case of a bumper crop, promote exports and in case of a deficit crop, encourage imports. This must be done well in advance — as soon as one comes to know the advance estimates of production.

Third, encourage the setting up of onion dehydrating units and promote demand for dehydrated onions amongst

large consumers (restaurants, fast food chains, army, hospitals, etc). Gujarat has already emerged as the main centre for dehydration units with 85 out of 100 units located there, while Maharashtra has just five units. Dehydrated onions are being exported to Japan, Europe, Russia, US and some African countries.

The Ministry of Food Processing and state governments can encourage entrepreneurs to avail grants for setting up onion dehydration and processing units. A subsidy of up to 35 per cent with a cap of Rs 5 crore is available to such units.

However, the budget of the Ministry of Food Processing for this scheme is just Rs 95 crore. And MP, in its budget for 2017-18, has provided just Rs 7 crore as grants to food processing units. This needs to go up manifold if we are serious about encouraging food processing and stabilising prices even of fresh onions.

Thus, instead of raiding traders or banning exports et al, the Centre and the states would do better if they promote investment in scientific storage and processing facilities, and use trade policy more judiciously.

Conclusion: It’s a tricky situation, but government intervention has hindered, rather than helped. The most obvious proximate

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

cause of this year’s bubble was a program in June to purchase crops from protesting farmers in Madhya Pradesh. With the government unable to warehouse all the onions it had bought, tens of thousands of tonnes were left rotting in fields and unofficial dumping grounds, just as drought in Karnataka left the whole country running short.

The program failed for those it was meant to help, because any farmer who sold his crop to the government for Rs6 a kilogramme missed out when prices jumped to five times that two months later. Meanwhile, traders able to use the black market to get their hands on the product selling for Rs2 a kilogramme in state ration shops and then sell it at open market prices would have made out handsomely.

It’s no surprise that action on this front has been slow in India, where onion prices can be a notoriously controversial subject. NCDEX had announced plans to offer onion futures in 2006, in 2008 and in 2013, but backed away each time.

Surging prices have been blamed for the falls of governments in 1980 and 1998, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was pictured on billboards in the run-up to his 2014 election shaking his fist about the cost of the vegetable and vowing change.

Three years on, it’s time he followed through on that promise.

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COVER STORY

FPI in Gujarat

internationa

I

ndia stands on the 5th position in the world in terms of production, consumption and export of processed food. Food Processing Industry is divided in to two distinct processes, primary and secondary process. Raw agricultural produce like milk, meat and fish commodities fit for human consumption are converted by simply cleaning, grading, sorting and packing, without changing the physical properties of produce. These products fall under the primary process.

The secondary processing usually deals with higher level of processing where new or modified products are manufactured.

Primary processing is being carried out at farm level and secondary at factory level on large scale.

India is at the forefront in the world in production of rice, milk, pulses, ginger, chick pea, and fruits such as banana, guava, papaya and mango. A good agricultural and dairy produce enables India to expand its food processing

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

industry and meet the global demand after meeting domestic needs. The Indian government is creating the perfect environment offering manufacturers immense opportunities for growth and investment in this industry and has the potential to boost the national economy.

The populace in India has changing tastes and the choices hence this opens several spheres for manufacturers in the food industry. Food processing is designated as a priority sector in India. National

COVER STORY

35

t laddering with

al standards

Food Processing Policy aims to increase the level of food processing from 10 per cent in 2010 to 25 per cent in 2025.

Remarkable growth can been witnessed in all segments of Indian food processing like shorting, grading of grains and pulses, spices processing, oil, sugar and confectionary manufacture, ready-to-eat food products and other areas. Agro & Food Processing magazine got in touch with some businessmen to know about their views on successful growth of food processing sector in the state of Gujarat.

Food Processing Sector outline in Gujarat The food processing sector in Gujarat is growing at a rapid pace and still holds great potential for growth. The major agricultural commodities grown in Gujarat are groundnuts, cotton, soybeans, maize, pulses, wheat and rice. Banana, mango, citrus, papaya and sapota are the major fruit crops grown in Gujarat.

The major vegetable grown in Gujarat are onion, potato, brinjal, tomato, okra

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

and also is the leading producer of spices -cumin, fennel, and garlic. Seed spices segment is also doing well.

The sanction of Mega Food Parks in strategic locations of Gujarat brings huge opportunities for investors in Gujarat.

The various growth drivers for food processing sector in Gujarat are the agriculture resources available there; contract farming which has received great success, entrepreneurial mindset and spirit of Gujarati people, rising disposable

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36

left and the use of acrylic polyurethane is made which is not harmful. It is airtight package and consumers should gain the best and maximum benefits of our product.”

Food processing industry is one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth. The Indian food industry is expected to grow at a rate of 11 per cent to touch US$ 64.31 billion by 2018.

income of people. Subsidy and incentive schemes provided by Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India is encouraging the manufacturers and allied industry to invest in best technologies from all over the world. Also the excellent rail and road connectivity has created cost effective opportunities for procurement and trading into domestic market. Better access to world seaports and airports brings opportunities for trading into international market.

Bharat Doshi, Managing Director at Lotus Inc said most of the households in urban areas prefer ready-to-consume products and packaged foods.

“My company is medium-sized business that deals into multiple sectors apart from food. People are ready to spend on such products because they have money and it is very convenient. Today, everyone is dependent on these products.” He is a technology savvy person and always looks forward to explore new technological ideas.

MD of Jalaram Gruh Udyog (Shrijee Masala), Jignesh J Thakkar said the strategy used for development of Gujarat state is so well-planned that there had to be successful growth in this FMCG sector. “Manufacturers feel very encouraged with such initiatives.

Even a lot of awareness has been created

about the FSSAI rules & regulations.

When the quality check (PUC and other procedures) and norms are adhered to then the industry is bound to grow. I am very optimistic with the export scenario as my company in a short span of time has achieved growth & turnover, hopefully I may export my products worldwide.”

The company began with manual production and later switched to use of semi-automatic equipment. He added that “we have received so much of success in our business that today we are capable of establishing a fully-automatic machines.

To gain skilled manpower for operating these machineries is essential.”

Managing Director of Kalpataru Spices (Prem Saffron), Kumarpal K Jain said there is development in food processing segment in Gujarat and still there is vast scope for growth. All this is due to several beneficial initiatives by the government for this sector and manufacturers should make use of it.

R

“I am into saffron line of business and though my products are not exported, but they have a good domestic market share all over India.

We provide saffron to the food industry, dairy and our packet pouches go in retail.

Saffron comes in small plastic bottles and is a hot product. In summer months, saffron melts and during June-July the saffron powder becomes hard.

Hence we have developed a design portal packet wherein 50 per cent air space is

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

The Indian dairy industry has grown considerably post the white revolution and reports suggest that with current growth rate of approximately 3 per cent4 per cent has set to grow to 185 million tonne and become a US$ 24 billion organised industry by 2020.

Government initiatives to enhance growth of FPI Ministry of Food Processing Industry (MOFPI) has envisioned trebling the size of investment by efforts of ministry to bring private players in the processed food sector by increasing the level of processing of perishables from 6 to 20 per cent, value addition from 20 to 35 per cent.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries has introduced a scheme for Human Resource Development (HRD) in the food-processing sector. The HRD scheme is being implemented through state governments under the National Mission on Food Processing.

The scheme has the following four components: a) Creation of infrastructure facilities for degree/ diploma courses in food processing sector b) Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) c) Food Processing Mega Food Park aims to provide a method to link agricultural production to the market by getting together farmers, processors and retailers ensuring maximum value addition, minimize wastages, increase farmers’ income and create employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.

Training centers (FPTC) d) Training at recognized institutions at State/National level Anand Agricultural University has introduced various Bachelor and Master Programs for food processing & technology, to provide skilled human

COVER STORY

37 ceremony, praised the state government for the summit’s success. Parrikar said he was aware that Gujarat would not benefit from the Goods and Services (GST) reform as it is a manufacturing state. But Gujarat is a smart state. The people know it will benefit in the long-term”.

resource to serve the sector efficiently e) Scheme for Technology upgradation / establishment/ modernization for Food Processing Industries objective of this scheme is to Increase the level of processing, reduction of wastage, value addition, enhance the income of farmers as well as increase exports thereby resulting in overall economic development.

Mega Food Park Scheme is based on cluster approach and visualizes a distinct agro/ horticultural-processing zone containing state-of-the art processing facilities with support infrastructure and well-established supply chain.

These Food parks will provide enabling infrastructure and mechanisms to strengthen the agricultural value chain.

Regarding the several initiatives taken by the government for this sector, Joshi is of the view that Gujarat government is very progressive because it is the only state in the entire country wherein there is continuous power supply. There is no other state in India providing electricity round the state.

Power supply is a necessity today as it is very crucial element for the industry. Also, Thakkar informed that the government has a department wherein they provide subsidies for machinery, though there has been lot of awareness created but then actual benefits at the ground level have not been achieved as yet.

The manufacturers are unable to gain the benefits from this department. The government has succeeded in eradicating corruption by creating awareness through media channels like print, electronic and social.

Lastly, Jain quoted that many people are not rightly aware about FSSAI rules & regulations. 12 items have to be mentioned on packet of the product, but many do know about this important packaging rule.

Complete awareness needs to be created in this regard about rules and regulations.

So when manufacturers comply all norms then there are fewer chances of samples being rejected.

Record MoUs inked at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 The eighth edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit from 10th to 13th of January 2017 held at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. The central focus of the Summit was ‘Sustainable Economic and Social Development’. A total record of 25,578 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) was signed at this three-day event which seen a participation of more than 33,000 people from across 10 nations.

Elaborating on details of the investments during the summit at the valediction ceremony, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said “As many as 25,578 MoUs have been signed at this edition of the summit. The highest number of MoUs was signed for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) amounting to 18,533 MoUs, followed by 5,938 MoUs for large-scale industries and 1,107 MoUs for technology sharing.”

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar present at the

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Of the 25,578 MoUs signed, 381 are in the agro and food processing sector, 493 in animal husbandry, 268 in petrochemicals and chemicals, 190 in education, 94 in engineering and automobiles, 259 in environmental and forests, 93 in financial services, 285 in health, 123 in industrial and logistics parks, 147 in information technology and biotechnology, 409 in minerals, 87 in Port development, 425 in power and gas, 41 in road and railways development, 380 in rural development, 168 in urban housing, 89 in skill development, 28 in Special Investment Regions (SIRs) infrastructure projects, 151 in textile and apparel, 145 in tourism and civil aviation, 1,625 in urban development, 51 in water management and seven in sports and cultural sectors.

Gujarat inks MoU for bullet train.

The event Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is an example of the futuristic approach of the Government of Gujarat towards inclusive and sustainable development to ensure policy coherence and effective investment promotion.

Far from the regional investment fair that characterized the first Summit in 2003, this Summit has become a unique forum to exchange ideas, share knowledge, networking, explore business opportunities and signing cooperation agreements and partnerships, while setting the policy agenda for meeting some of the current global challenges.

Logistically, Gujarat is blessed with vast coastline that have several ports developed for import and export. Hence Thakkar

COVER STORY

38

have made India a preferred investment destination. Increasing urbanization and a growing middle class are resulting in an ever-growing demand for wholesome, processed food.”

Modi said farmers are central to India’s efforts in food processing. “We have a stated target of doubling farm incomes within five years. We launched a national level programme, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, to create world-class food processing infrastructure.

This is expected to leverage investment of $5 billion, benefit two million farmers and generate more than half a million jobs over the next three years.” expressed that sea route transport mode used here has been greatly developed and is a major advantage for these companies.

“The government has earned huge profits along with developing new ports and creates better facilities. The road transport also has undergone tremendous changes in the last few years that a 5 hours journey now takes 2-3 hours. So whatever investment the government has put into the state, they have received significant ROI.” Jain added that Gujarat state is at advantage because having a coastal area with several leading ports for import & export has proved very beneficial for the manufacturers.

This route has many advantages for the export and import of products as the profit margins of many companies has grown 5 times more after the use of ports.

Significant investment in food processing segment to boost growth Indian government has received commitments from 13 global and domestic companies to invest a collective Rs. 68, 000 crore in food processing in next few

years. The MoFPI signed in-principle agreements with the 13 companies at the World Food India 2017 event in New Delhi.

PepsiCo Inc. shall contribute an investment of Rs13, 340 crore to set up beverage and food manufacturing units in next five years. Whereas Coca-Cola Co. said it will invest Rs.11, 000 crore in the supply chain as part of its plan to increase use of Indian fruits in its beverages.

Major maker of cigarettes and packaged consumer goods, ITC Ltd said they will invest Rs.10, 000 crore in food processing in next 5-7 years.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd that competes with established packaged goods companies in the past couple of years also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a proposed investment of Rs10,000 crore to set up food processing units across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the inauguration of World Food India 2017, “food processing is a priority sector under the Make in India programme. Steps such as allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment in food retail, a single-window facilitation cell for foreign investors and attractive incentives from central and state governments

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Most of the investments proposed by the companies named above are not new.

Most of these companies, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, ITC, Patanjali, Amazon and Metro Cash and Carry, had earlier announced their investment plans in India until 2020.

Other proposals include Rs5,000 crore of investments by Saraf Group in farm produce and processing, Rs4,000 crore

by Yes Bank Ltd for financing food processing projects across the backend infrastructure and Rs3,450 by USbased online retailer Amazon.com Inc., which will invest in food retail, as per a statement released by the ministry of food processing industries.

FEATURE

Pradip Chakravborty

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39

Some Aspects on Nutraceutical Regulations of FSSAI

ntroduction Earlier in the absence of Regulations, Nutraceutical products were considered as Proprietary Food. With the implementation of the regulation on Nutraceuticals, manufacturing as well as import licenses can be generated straightaway under Category 13.6 provided ingredients and additives are listed in various Schedules specific to the product.

The FBOs need to submit information on the purity criteria at the time of application for license or when demanded by the Food Authority. In addition to the specific labelling requirement under these regulations, the product shall also comply Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. The product shall also comply with the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011.

Nutrition and nutrient content claim for the product can be made. Such content claims would be based on supporting data related to that particular food and the content of nutrients and nutrition. For product led health claims, prior approval of FSSAI by submitting the relevant documents is required.

Salient features of the Nutraceuticals Regulations Mere combination of Vitamins and Minerals shall not be considered as Health Supplements without known and established nutritional or beneficial physiological effect. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is based on the guidelines issued by the National Institute of Nutrition- Indian Council of Medical Research (NIN-ICMR). However, these are the minimum RDA. NIN is in the process of finalising maximum RDA like USFDA which has both minimum and maximum RDA. Ingredients and Additves which are missing in this regulations are considered as Novel Food/ Novel Ingredients for which specific approval is required from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) following due procedure posted in the FSSAI website.

Confusion about the Nutraceuticals Regulations

No regulations in the world are full proof.

There is always scope for development and evolution. In the Nutraceutical regulations, Chapter 7(IV), a nutraceutical ingredient which is not listed in the regulations but its safety has been established in India or any other country shall be manufactured or sold on prior approval of the FSSAI. However, in 7(V), such application shall be accompanied by documented history of usage of at least 15 years in India or 30 years in the country of origin. This is contradictory as the product, being a novel food, has no scope of usage of 15 years in India. This Clause 7(v) needs to be removed from the regulations.

Similarly, as per Chapter 7(2) (I), the nutraceuticals shall contain any of the ingredients specified in Schedule I or II or IV or VI or VII or VIII. However, as per Chapter 7(3) (I), no ingredient other than those specified in Schedule VI, shall be used as nutraceutical. Both nutraceutical and health supplements can be manufactured and sold as nutraceutical product.

Scientifically, for nutraceuticals at least one ingredient from Schedule VI would be required while ingredients specified in other Schedules permitted in the nutraceutical category may or may not be used.

This has been clarified in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) issued by the FSSAI but FAQ has no legal validity. Regulations need to be suitably amended to clear the confusion.

Advantages of the Nutraceuticals Regulations With the implementation of the regulations, a number of proprietary food are now considered as standardised product for which license can be generated directly without waiting for approval from the FSSAI. Innovative food products will fall under novel food category for which specific approval is required from the FSSAI with authenticated safety studies .However, the only concern is unless the approval process is speedy, expansion and growth of Nutraceuticals business in India will hamper. Once a novel ingredient is approved by FSSAI, it will be notified in the official gazette of FSSAI and

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

included in the list of approved ingredient.

Subsequently, other Food Business Operators need not to apply separately for approval of the same ingredient.

There is total flexibility for the manufacturer/ importer of the Nutraceutical product falling under the regulations if the product contains approved ingredients and Additves, specific to various schedules.

Change in Apex Regulator Apex Regulator FSSAI is now more cooperative with the FBOs and Industry Associations.

Members of the Associations, who are subject specialist, have been included in a number of committee constituted by the FSSAI. In spite of this, some draft regulations notified in the website for stake holders comments are still pending. It needs aggressive persuasion by the Industry Associations to convert draft regulation into gazette notifications as gazette notification is the only valid legal document.

Apex regulator should also amend the defects in the regulations without further delay.

Key features of the regulations, where industry should focus The regulations are applicable to foods covered under eight categories namely: 1) Health Supplements 2) Nutraceuticals 3) Food for Special Dietary Use (FSDU) 4) Food for Special Medical Purpose (FSMP) 5) Food with added Probiotic ingredients 6) Food with added Prebiotic ingredients 7) Speciality food containing plant or botanical ingredients 8) Novel Food There are as many as eight Schedules which contains permitted list of ingredients and additives.

Schedule I contains list of Vitamins and minerals and their components.

Schedule II contains list of Amino acids and other nutrients.

Schedule III contains values for Vitamins, Minerals allowed to be used in FSDU & FSMP (other than those intended for use in infant formula)

FEATURE

40 Schedule IV contains list of plant or botanical ingredients.

Schedule VA is the list of food additives for Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals and food with added prebiotic sand probiotics.

Schedule VB is the list of food additives for FSDU and food with added probiotics and prebiotics.

Schedule VC is the list of food additives for FSMP (other than those products intended for foods for infants) and food with added probiotics and prebiotics.

Schedule VD is the list of food additives for FSMP (other than those intended for infant foods); formula for sliming purpose and weight reduction and food with added probiotics and prebiotics.

Schedule VE is the list of food additives to be used (at GMP levels) for Nutraceuticals, FSDU ( other than foods for infants), FSMP, Food with added probiotics and prebiotics, Speciality food containing plant/ botanical ingredients and Health Supplements.

Schedule VF is the list of food additives to be used as tablets, capsules and syrup for all the above mentioned categories under Schedule VE. Schedule VI is the list of ingredients as Nutraceuticals.

Schedule VII is the list of Strains as probiotics (live microorganisms).

Schedule VIII is the list of prebiotic compounds.

Regulations also mention specific labelling information for each categories of products, in addition to the compliance of the Food Safety and Standards ( Packaging and Labelling) Regulations,2011, the products should also comply with Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations,2011.

The regulation also deals with Health Claims and Nutrients and Nutrition claims. While formulating Nutraceuticals, Health, Dietary supplements, industry should focus on the list of ingredients, additives with maximum permissible limit, compliance of specific

labelling requirements and Claims, if any.

Impact on import of ingredients and products While importing ingredients and products, Importer should check that ingredients are within the permitted list mentioned in various Schedules, specific to the product.

They should also see that the dosage of Vitamins and minerals are within the permissible limit prescribed in the regulations.

Labelling should comply with the specific labelling instructions of the regulations, in addition to the Packaging and Labelling Regulations, 2011.

Claims, if any, should be

supported by the relevant authentic studies.

Product should also comply Contaminants, Toxins and Residues regulations, 2011. Importers should follow Import regulations of FSSAI for clearance of their import items.

Opportunities- Beyond India for exports Exports of food products are not within the perview of the FSSAI. It is being looked after by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Imported and domestic foods are being regulated by the FSSAI. Standards for food items to be exported should comply with the standards specified by the importing countries and may be different from FSSAI standards.

However, export oriented unit should obtain manufacturing license from the FSSAI if the product is manufactured in India. If some portion is sold in India, then domestically sold items must comply FSSAI regulations and the retailer should obtain FSSAI license for selling the product in Indian market.

Since most of the raw materials are available in India and cost of labor is cheap, exporter may take the opportunity to manufacture the product, particularly health supplements, in India and export it to the overseas countries from where we have been importing these products till date.

New Ingredient or New Product Approval which is the right way?

Product Approval is granted to a product after

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

examining the safety studies of the ingredients and additives, packaging and labelling Compliances, and Claims, if any. Now product approval is limited to novel food only. Product approval is better than the ingredient approval because novel ingredients in the product are also approved during product approval process.

However, fees for product approval have been fixed at Rs 50,000/ per product which is quite high. Earlier it was Rs 25,000/ per product.

Also, there should be some time limit for product approval.

Role of Standards Review Group of the FSSAI In the regulations, a number of grey areas and lacuna have been noticed which should be addressed by the Standards Review Group. Though FSSAI issued FAQs on the regulations, but FAQs are not legal documents. Regulations which was notified in the official gazette is only legal documents.

Even Supreme Court of India also said that the regulators should regulate through regulations only. Supreme Court of India had declared all the advisory issued by the FSSAI null and void. Hence, regulations needs to be amended and Standards Review Group has a great role to play.

Some components have been left out which needs to be addressed by the Standards Review Group. Creatine Monohydrate which is essential nutrient particularly for sports nutrition has been left out. Since Creatine Monohydrate is synthesised from L- Leucine, L- Isoleucine and L- Valine, which are all approved essential amino acids, Creatine Monohydrate should be considered as an approved product.

Delay between draft regulations and final gazette notifications should be minimised.

Draft regulations of nutraceuticals, health supplements were kept pending for more than a year. Even draft regulations of Cholostrum and Cholostrum products has been notified in the FSSAI website on August 8, 2017. It is a long pending regulation which needs to be finalised and notified in the official gazette without further delay.

Conclusion Though the regulations have become effective from 6th January, 2017 but enforcement will start from 1st January, 2018. In the absence of proper training on this regulations of the state food safety officers and the officers of the FSSAI, problems may be created by them as the regulations has lot of contradictions.

These anomalies are to be removed as early as possible.

(Writer is Former Director of FSSAI)

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42

WAKE-UP CALL..!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Make in India’ drive to attract foreign investment is yet to be seen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's glitzy campaign to showcase India as the world's next manufacturing hub meets with criticism. Major cause of concern is the conflicting data and vague timelines that raise questions about Modi's ‘Make in India’ drive, which he called the biggest brand created in India.

F

ood processing is considered as one of the fastest growing industries in India. Given the natural supply advantage and a population of 1.3 billion people, total consumption of food and beverage segment in India expected to increase from US$ 369 billion to US$1.142 trillion by 2025. It is a priority sector for Indian Government as well as one of focus sectors in the Make in India initiative.

It is estimated that market for plant and machinery in the food processing sector in the year 2024-25 will be USD 51.41 billion as compared to the current value of USD 17.3 billion (2016-17).

The Government of India, particularly the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), as part of the focus sectors under Make in India is encouraging technological advancements for the industry by providing specific incentives to the sector in terms of duty reductions, duty exemptions etc.

witnessing a huge dip which is a cause of concern for the government. Even the MOFPI officers and industry experts are in dilemma about the regular decline in export of food processing machines.

Clear signs of tension can be seen on the faces of MoFPI officers in context with the increasing import.

Given this scenario, there lies abundant opportunities for various multinational companies to explore the manufacturing of equipment for food processing sector in India, but still the government initiatives are not working on ground.

According to our recent research, food processing machinery export is

Department of Commerce, Government of India, reported that country imported USD 168 million worth of plant and machinery in the year 2016-17. However, this number does not include generic equipment, which is not exclusively used in the food processing industry.

Therefore, actual size of the import of

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

WAKE-UP CALL..!

43

Wake-up India!

Food Processing Machinery Export is on regular decline

equipment used in food processing sector could be larger.

is the single largest segment in terms of import of machinery.

During the year 2016-17, out of total import of USD 168 million for food processing equipment, import for dairy sector equipment was USD 16.75 million and for all other subsectors in the food processing was USD 151.63 million.

While earlier in 2014-15 this data was USD 199.8 million and in 2015-16 it was 215.76 million.

Food Processing Equipment: Market Scenario & Growth Opportunities in India Growth in the processing equipment market in India is driven mainly by increased demand for processed food products. The consumer is shifting towards more value-added food categories such as yoghurt, cheese, processed meat and ready-to-eat food products. In addition, there is a growing demand for processing basic products such as fruits, vegetables and grains which require technologically advanced equipment.

China, Germany and Italy are the top three countries from where India imported its food processing equipment in 2016-17.

Sector wise, bakery and cereal processing

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Therefore, there is a need to adopt new methods, technology, and machinery for the food processing industry with least impact on sensory qualities such as colour and texture. Technological advancements are necessary for growth of the sector and for diversification of existing production capacity of food processing industry.

The next phase of growth of food processing sector will require creation of infrastructure across the value chain.

There is a massive requirement for infrastructure creation, pack houses at the farm gate, cold storage facilities across the value chain, latest technology for processing of food products while

WAKE-UP CALL..!

44

retaining its nutritional value, multimodal logistics, infrastructure at port gateways with phyto-sanitary facilitation etc.

There are equipment manufacturers specialising in manufacturing equipment used in the food processing sector and support infrastructure addressing unique features of the industry. Some of the key features of equipment used in food processing sector are high precision, automation with high speed, ability to withstand harsh cleaning agents, precise temperature control among others.

Food processing requires high precision in the equipment for quality, safety, and hygiene. Stainless steel fabrication is must for any machinery that comes in direct contact with the food product and must be free of cracks and crevices that might retain food particles.

The automation requirement in food processing equipment is quite advanced and sophisticated. Largely, the machines used in the industry have similar automation and motion control needs, such as material conveying and positioning, heating, drying and cooling.

The food processing equipment has a constant need for cleaning and disinfecting, gentle handling and precise control of temperature, pressure, treatment times and other process parameters.

Many digital sensors, pipes, transmitters, tanks, tubes are used in the processing line. This equipment need to withstand harsh cleaning agents, ranging from steam and water to alkaline solutions, organic solvents, hypochlorites, iodine compounds and nitric acid.

US$ 17.3 billion.

The estimate is considering only the organised industry. There has been a steady increase in market and the overall growth of Indian market averaged at 25 per cent considering the next four years.

Among India's total machinery production only around 10 per cent of food processing equipment are exported out of total domestic production, while 65 per cent of total agro-food processing equipment industry is imported.

Export Data Global food processing manufacturers are shying away from Made in India machine which has resulted in a huge dip in machinery export from consecutive three years. During last decade, export volume of the country was on its peak and India export its machine to USA, European countries along Asian countries but the conditions are totally changed now. Even the Make in India initiative is useless for the local manufacturers of food processing machines.

Export data of last three years reveals that in financial year 2017-18 country exported US$ 41.52 crores, while in 2016-17 it was US$ 114.52 crores. In 2015-16, the value was US$ 136.65 crores and in 2014-15 US$ 212.28 crores.

Import Data Advanced technological requirement for the food processing sector makes India one of the largest importer of plant and

Export-import of machinery The total market size of food processing equipment industry in India is estimated at

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

machinery in the sector. The technological advancements also create a need to replace older machines with new ones for food processing companies. Therefore, India is poised to remain an attractive market for technology companies for their solutions to both new entrants as well as existing players for replacement of older machines.

According to the database of the Department of Commerce, Government of India, the country imported US$ 85.2 crores worth of food processing machinery in current financial year 201718. In 2016- 17, the value was US$ 204 crores while in 2015-16, value was US$ 187.29 crores and in 2014-15 it was US$ 179 crores.

Global technological status The availability of raw materials, changing lifestyles, needs to offer broader selection of food products at lower costs and innovation in technology are some of the key factors which helps to drive the growth of food processing equipment market worldwide. Among various food processing equipment, bakery and pasta equipment market is growing at faster rate.

The growing income level of individual leads to more investment over food processing equipment. Large population base in Asia Pacific countries and frequent change in food preference among individuals lead to increasing demand for food products. This changing trend leads to investment more on food processing equipment. Due to advancements in technology related to cutting, slicing and grinding in food processing equipment, many manufacturers in food industry are replacing their older machines with newer ones, which are more efficient and boost their bottom line through higher throughput.

WAKE-UP CALL..!

Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing markets for food processing equipment.

The market is driven by increasing demand of processed food products in emerging and developing countries including India, China, Indonesia and Thailand. In Asia Pacific region, China accounts for the largest market in food processing equipment.

The total market size of the Indian food processing industry is expected to touch around USD 330.0 billion by 2014-15. In North America region, the U.S. accounts for largest market in food processing equipment.

Growing awareness level regarding new food products, rising economy, investment on research and development over food processing equipment are some of key reasons, which drive the food processing market in European region. Global food processing equipment market is expected to grow in single digit growth during forecasted period 2014- 2020.

Technology Status in India In India thousands of food-processing units are currently doing business.

The equipment of some of these units are outdated with very poor hygiene conditions. These units offer a good replacement market for food-processing equipment suppliers. The food processing machinery market in India is growing at an average rate of 15 per cent.

Experts feel food industry in India is huge and there are traditional and medium equipment manufacturers, who have locally made equipment for food and beverage processing. The machines and equipment used by those are of inferior quality, whereas there are a few big companies who have high-end equipment machinery for food and beverage sector. As we go ahead, companies have to update technology and machinery, because there is huge demand for processed food products with changing lifestyle and consumer preferences.

has been a net inflow of equipment from Europe, especially from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Czechoslovakia

and also from Australia. The presence of companies like Alfa Laval is a proof enough which further strengthens this hypothesis that India has been a net importer of technology in the equipment sector. In India, the major thrust in research and development in the agri-food sector has been on the primary processing of food rather on developing equipment in this sector. There has been pioneering efforts put forward by the CFTRI, IARI, DRDL, Post-Harvest Technology Centre (PHTC, IIT Kharagpur) and DFRL. These laboratories have been fairly successful in developing innovative equipment in the agro-food processing sector. Most of the technologies available in the equipment sector which could be considered as globally competitive fall in the category of pre-harvest technologies.

Make in India: The Make in India initiative was launched by Prime Minister in September 2014 as part of a wider set of nationbuilding initiatives. Devised to

However, the technologies available in India in the agrofood processing equipment sector are still in learning curve when compared to the developed countries. There

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

45 transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub. However, on ground implementation is missing Make in India also means make best machines in India for that Indian companies need support in technical matter for up gradation of products and manufacturing practices, like China has done before the export boom in their country.

However, the results of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Make in India' drive to attract foreign investment is yet to be seen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's glitzy campaign to showcase India as the world's next manufacturing hub meets with criticism. Major cause of concern is the conflicting data and vague timelines that raise questions about Modi's "Make in India" drive, which he called "the biggest brand created in India.

According to experts, the results are yet to be seen. As the infrastructure, the expertise and investment are not in sync.

A lot more must be done to get results.

P.M is pushing to lure manufacturers that can create millions of jobs, allowing India to take advantage of a demographic dividend as its population surpasses China in the next decade. While India's 1.3 billion people and high growth rate make it a stand-out among emerging markets, other indicators are grim: Investment remains weak, exports have fallen for 14 straight months, borrowing costs are relatively high and trade deals have stalled.

Modi's efforts to make it easier to operate in Asia's thirdbiggest economy have yet to show up in key external indicators. In the World Bank's Doing Business index, for instance, India still ranks 130 of 189 economies well short of Modi's goal to crack the top 50 in two years.

Experts believe that Make in India is glittery scheme and government has highlighted it a lot but the

WAKE-UP CALL..!

46

and are therefore, vital for job creation, particularly in the small and medium enterprises segment.

“Our members have informed us that it would be impossible for them to export in August and September as per this refund time schedule. We request and kindly urge the finance ministry to make the GSTN operative for processing returns and refunds by the beginning of August," EEPC India said in its communication to the finance and commerce ministries.

ground results are yet to be seen and felt.

Reasons of Declining Export Export of food processing machines in India is regularly declining while the import is touching new heights. As per experts, regular decline in value of rupee against dollar is main reason of this downfall.

During financial year 206-17 rupee touched the lowest level resulting economical slowdown. However, during FY 17-18 there is bit change in conditions but predictions of crack down in rupee during December 17 to February 18 has put the whole industry in tensions.

Experts also believe that cheap financing of machines from overseas and easy availability of loans from Indian banks are also main causes of regular downfall in export of food processing machines.

Declining Value of Money: The Indian rupee has been witnessing turmoil against the dollar ever since the beginning of this year. The Indian currency tested the 28-month low of 68 against the dollar during financial year 2015-16 and 201617.

Global economic slowdown: The major factor which is contributing to both the stock markets and Indian currency fall.

China’s yuan devaluation has also been hurting the sentiments globally.

China has been witnessing a slowdown with the International Monetary Fund has reiterated and while slashing the global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year IMF has cited a sharp slowdown in China trade and weak

commodity prices that are hammering Brazil and other emerging markets.

India’s Trade deficit: Exports contracted for 13th month in a row in December 2015 as outward shipments shrank 14.75 per cent to $22.2 billion amid a global demand slowdown. Imports too plunged 3.88 per cent to $33.9 billion in December over the same month previous year. Trade deficit during the month under review widened to $11.6 billion as against $9.17 billion in December 2014.

Exporters facing difficulties in GST transition period Engineering exporters' body EEPC India, said that shipping companies are facing difficulties post GST as their drawback refunds will not be released till September-end or October.

Moreover, the supplies of goods to the export-oriented units from the domestic tariff area are not considered as "deemed exports" under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, resulting in denial of duty free imports of inputs under the 'Advance Authorisation' scheme of the government, the exporters' body said in a statement.

“In fact, several schemes for giving a boost to exporters by the commerce ministry have been turned upside down and their functioning has become extremely difficult or not viable,” EEPC India Chairman T S Bhasin said in a statement.

Exports of engineering goods constitute the biggest share in India's overall export basket

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

According to the exporters' body, as supply of goods to the export oriented units (EoU) from domestic tariff area are not considered as "deemed exports" in the GST regime, shippers are not allowed to import the inputs without payment of duty under Advance Authorisation.

Moreover, exporters will have to pay the basic customs duty, cesses and IGST for imported inputs to be used for supplies to EoU. They are entitled to input tax credit of only IGST. Basic customs duty and cesses are thereon a cost to them.

Conclusion MoFPI’s capital grant under PMKSY is to facilitate investment in the food processing sector in India. PMKSY with an allocation of INR 6,000 crore (USD 882 million) by the year 2019-20, will induce an investment of INR 16,800 Crores (USD 2.5 billion) in plant and machinery during this period.

Government subsidy linked projects are direct opportunity for equipment manufactures as most of these projects are new and are related to encouraging investments in plant and machinery.

System is doing a lot but the regular downfall in export is not a good sign for Indian government as local market is now becoming tough for domestic manufacturers.

47

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FOOD SECURITY INDIA

48 Current Scenario The eleventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended in a stalemate, without any ministerial declaration as the US reneged on its commitment to give a permanent solution to food stockpiling issues of developing countries. The US' refusal to reaffirm multilateralism and the Doha development mandate in the outcome led to a breakdown in talks at the 164-nation WTO as several countries, including India, opposed the US. Although a decision to address India's concerns over public stockholding of foodgrains was expected, the plan had to be abandoned after the US failed to back it. The Americans blocked attempts to work out reforms in farm trade putting the entire ministerial meeting in jeopardy.

“India refused to play ball as the proposed declaration was short of its expectations” While WTO secretariat and the Argentinian team of organizers sought to salvage a deal, India refused to play ball as the proposed declaration was short of its expectations given that it did not mention continuation of the Doha Round of talks or maintaining special treatment for developing countries.

India tough stand managed to prevent any deal on e-commerce or new issues such as investment facilitation but acknowledged that its aggressive interests could not find a solution.

“A solution on food security meant that the developing countries could continue with minimum support price-type schemes without breaching 10 per cent of the value of production” A solution on food security would have meant that the developing countries could continue with minimum support pricetype schemes without fearing a breach of the ceiling of 10 per cent of the value of production. But Indian officials said that there is no worry on that count as the WTO members had agreed to a permanent peace clause that guarantees protection from any action even if the United States is opposed.

India comes out as an aggressive player even as WTO talks end in stalemate due to differential issue between India and the United; alsoIndia manages to prevent new deal on ecomm, investment facilitation.

The Food sec WTO director general Roberto Azevedo said WTO members needed to do some "real soul searching" about the way forward and realise they cannot get everything they want.

After hectic parleys and no breakthrough in sight on issues such as ecommerce and farm and fisheries subsidies, the talks had ultimately wrapped up.

What Happened The 11th WTO ministerial conference meeting in Buenos Aires collapsed and epicenter of the latest crisis is India and to an extent China, two of the world's fastest growing economies.Both Asian neighbors have been nailed at the WTO conference on the contentious issue of public stockholding of food — as part of the food security initiatives of both countries.

“Permanent solution to the food stockholding issue was not acceptable to America” United States of America said that permanent solution to the food stockholding issue was not acceptable to America.With talks on crucial food stockpile issue reaching a deadlock, the other issues like services, fisheries and e-commerce too did not make any headway.

But under the global trade norms a WTO member country's food subsidy bill

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

WTO and its

India’s fight for

should not breach the limit of 10 percent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88.

India’s present stand at WTO over food security For the uninitiated, India brought a new law, National Food Security Act, 2013.

The act "provides for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity."

However, India believes that full implementation of food security

FOOD SECURITY INDIA

49 of 600 million poor people.

India's demand for a permanent solution to the food security crisis has forced New Delhi to oppose the introduction of ‘new issues’ such as e-commerce, investment facilitation and matters relating to small firms in this year's discussion.India has been stressing on resolving the food security conundrum.

t a e u s s i y t curi

e h p o r t s a t a c s

r food security

Just two weeks before the meeting, India had repeated its commitment to food security but added that countries needed to ensure that “stocks procured under public stockholding programmes do not distort trade or adversely affect the food security of other members”.

Now, India has expressed disappointment over the decision of a “major member country”, presumably the United States, to default on its commitment for a permanent solution to the public food stockholding issue.

programme may result in breach of the WTO cap. This is the reason why India has been opposed to such a cap and is demanding a permanent solution to outwit the problem.

“India has been maintaining that a permanent solution to food stockpile issue since 2013”.

India has been maintaining that a permanent solution to food stockpile issue since 2013. And it was a "must have" at the ongoing ministerial and failure to do so would impact the credibility of the strong multilateral trade institution.

“India is deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of members reiterating it, US reneged on a commitment made two years ago” At present India is surprised and deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of members reiterating it, a major member country has reneged on a commitment made two years ago to deliver a solution of critical importance for addressing hunger in some of the poorest countries of the world.

India has also rejected the US criticism on seeking differential treatment at the WTO saying the country was the 'right candidate' and a legitimate demand for special dispensation as it has to take care

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

India-China unity in WTO However, unlike platforms like NSG and UNSC, where India and China have often been on the opposite end of the debate, WTO has been a major point of departure for both countries.Since 2015, both countries have worked together on the issue of food security and farm waivers.

India, China and 31 other countries called for "legal certainty", which implied that the WTO Agreement on Agriculture has to be amended for a permanent solution.

India-China's collaboration was seen in 2015 too, when they came out with a joint paper to highlight the issues faced by developing countries, including matters related to food security.

“Since 2015, India and China have worked together on the issue of food security and farm waivers” On the issue of the farm subsidies, Beijing and New Delhi had submitted a Joint proposal in August 2017, which called on developed countries to eliminate their “amber box” support.

"Amber box" is WTO term which refers to the domestic support measures, provided by national governments, which may affect trade and production. According to the apex trade body, such measures by developed countries need to be reduced.

Both countries have argued that eliminating this type of support would remove one of the biggest imbalances in the current farm trade rules by obliging the biggest "subsidizers" to reduce their special entitlements.

India comes out as affirmative frontrunner Though India was unable to push its agenda on food security forward, the consequence is seen a positive one and India's cautious interests were intact as it was able to prevent any new deal on issues such as ecommerce and investment facilitation. “India's food security programmes are protected as the perpetual peace clause is intact”

FOOD SECURITY INDIA

50

problem of public stock holding, as it is a matter of survival for hundreds of millions of people. During the negotiations for WTO Agreement on Agriculture in 2001, India raised concerns over food security and flexibility that developing nations must have when it comes to providing subsidies to key farm inputs.

Seventeen years have gone by since then and countries like India are still waiting for a permanent solution on food security and public stock holding to arrive at the WTO. It is a matter of setting fundamental values of pro-people governance in a civilized society and giving supremacy to human rights values.

Despite no outcome on a permanent solution, India's food security programmes are protected as the perpetual peace clause is intact. In fisheries, India was able to push the commitment to 2019, to prohibit certain forms of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In ecommerce, India managed to persuade other countries to continue with the old work programme that links a twoyear continuation of the moratorium on ecommerce with the continuation of one on TRIPS and non-violation complaints.

There was no outcome which was against India’sinterest and its victory is summed up with no dilution in the peace clause.

The main conquest was that coalitions held out till the end and did not allow new issues like investment facilitation, MSMEs, gender and trade, which lacked a mandate or consensus to be taken forward.

“India stood firm on its stand on fundamental principles of the WTO” India stood firm on its stand on fundamental principles of the WTO, including multilateralism, rulebased consensual decisionmaking, an independent and credible dispute resolution and appellate process, the centrality of development, which underlies the DDA, and special and differential treatment for developing countries In conclusion, the standoff at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial on public

stockholding is not just about receiving a mandate for subsidising specific agricultural products by developing countries like India, but it is about countries keeping to their promise that was made at Bali. This is critical if the WTO has to remain a transparent and predictable rule-making body for global trade. India is not alone in seeking this outcome from Buenos Aires. Several countries share India’s position, though they have not been as aggressive as India in the public debate on this issue.

Agro and Food Processing Analysis India became the second largest advocate of issues after the EU as it submitted proposals on six issues — public

stockholding, special safeguards mechanism, domestic regulation, domestic support, trade facilitation in services, and ecommerce.

But the fight for India is not over as it needs to find a permanent solution to the

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

The global corporations believe that trade is the key to control resources and the capital of resources is the key to control politics. Thus, the need for such a forum of trade was felt where the governments of all the countries could be brought together and such mechanisms could be created which could facilitate easy entry of powerful capitalist groups into any country, prevent any significant control on their activities, and keep the duties and taxes on these mega corporations low so that they are able to accumulate profit without any restraint.

In a way, the WTO has evolved into an economic-commercial-strategic forum. Its aim has been to reduce the subsidies provided to the farmers and citizens for farming and food security in order to ensure that the markets are freely able to decide the prices, priorities and policies of resource utilisation. There are four major aspects of this: First, according to the influential developed countries, the fixation of minimum support prices for agricultural products by the government puts a control on the prices of these products which, in turn, limits the profits of the big corporate houses.

Second, the government of India does not only fix a minimum support price (which is anyway quite low and not profitable for the farmers) but also buys wheat, rice, sugarcane and now even pulses from the farmers. This protects the farmers from clutches of such corporations and global traders.

FOOD SECURITY INDIA

Third, the government not only buys agricultural products and food grains but also provides it to two-third of the population—840 million people on subsidised rates through public distribution system. Due to this, the big corporations are deprived of potential customers and at the same time, poor people are also safeguarded against exploitative prices. This also ensures food security in those states where food grains are not produced in sufficient quantity.

It is to be mentioned here that Indian Parliament passed National Food Security Act on September 10, 2013 with an objective of providing food and nutritional security by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices. The Act provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population for receiving subsidised food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about twothirds of the population.

Fourth, due to this policy, the government

exercises control over agriculture which, in turn, prevents big corporations from assuming central role in this regard.

There is ongoing discussion in WTO that such ‘bad’ subsidies (which are termed

as ‘market distorting subsidy’) should be minimised because they affect market operations that are geared towards profit of huge monopolistic corporations.

A provision has been made that subsidies provided by the government cannot exceed 10 per cent of gross agricultural production. There are talk’sabout taking actions, including trade sanctions, against countries where subsidies exceed this level.

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Agro & Food Processing December 2017

51 On the one hand, India is still facing a huge burden of chronic hunger and childhood malnutrition: around 195 million people are living with daily hunger, 38.4 per cent children are stunted, 58.4 per cent children and 53 per cent women in the reproductive age group are anaemic. On the other hand, 333,000 farmers in India have committed suicide since WTO was formed, as they are not protected in the local and global market. They were affected by extreme weather conditions, nonremunerative prices and adverse effects of Green Revolution. In this context, WTO is debating the issue of Green Box subsidies (subsidy must not distort trade, or at most cause minimal distortion), Blue Box (exemption from the general rule that all subsidies linked to production must be reduced or kept within defined minimal levels) and Amber Box (all domestic support measures considered to distort production and trade). The total value of these measures must be reduced subsidies.

The rules of WTO were not geared to

52 help agrarian economies, farmers and consumers. For example, in the present debate of reduction in subsidies, total US domestic support as per the WTO notifications, has increased from US$69.9 billion in 1995 to $132.5 billion in 2014.

The US mentions that 94 per cent of its total domestic support falls in Green Box, whereas India and China has demanded removal of farm subsidies by developed countries. They propose elimination of 'Amber Box' subsidies.

If India had come to an agreement in this meeting then it would had to reduce the quantity of agricultural products it buys from the farmers, and would not be in a position to increase the minimum support prices in favour of farmers because it would increase the overall level of subsidies. In fact, the government would have had to increase the prices of cheap food grains distributed under National Food Security Act. Actually, the developed countries want India to stop buying food grains from the farmers and also to dismantle the public distribution system.

Instead, the government should transfer a certain amount as ‘direct cash transfer’ to the beneficiaries of National Food Security Act. People can use the cash to buy food grains or other necessities from the open markets. This will have adverse impact on women, children and the elderly. In addition, this system will eliminate government control on prices of food grains.

In India, the move towards dismantling the public distribution system to reduce the subsidies provided to the farmers under food security act has already begun.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament of India) on July 25, 2017, all the ration shops in Chandigarh and Puducherry have been closed.

These two union territories were used to be allocated 91,584 tonnes of food grains for distribution among 857,000 consumers. This has been stopped from the year 2017-18 and replaced by direct

FOOD SECURITY INDIA

cash transfers so that people use the ‘cash’ to buy goods of their choice from open markets. If the central government stops buying food grains from the farmers for public storage and also stops distributing it through the public distribution system then the food security of the country will come entirely under clutches of corporate interests.

The challenge before India The wholesale price of gram in India in the year 2016 was Rs 5,599 per quintal, while the international price was Rs 5,185. The price of maize in Indian market was Rs 1,504, while the international price was Rs 1,145. Domestic price of lentil was Rs 6,690 per quintal while its price was Rs

to Rs .51 million ($7,860) on an average to each of them. On the contrary, in 2014, Indian government provided on average a subsidy of Rs 27,100 ($417) to 9.05 crore farmers.

This included subsidy for research, pest control, training, consultancy, marketing, infrastructure, government purchases, irrigation, fertilisers and electricity.

If the subsidy given on research, marketing and infrastructure is also added to this, then the farmers were provided an assistance of $456 by the government.

Compared to this, Britain provides subsidy of Rs 2.37 million (£28,300), Japan Rs .91 million ($14,136) and New Zealand Rs 0.17 million ($2,623) to its farmers.

Between year 2011-12 and 2013-14, India reduced subsidy on agriculture and food security by Rs 18,918 crore. In this scenario, how will the Indian farmer compete in international market without any subsidy?

India has taken a call and says “a permanent solution on public stock holding for food security purposes is a priority.

6,030 in international market.

Price of mustard oil in India was Rs 8,340, while in international market it was Rs 5,391. Domestic price of groundnut was Rs 4,176, while in international market it was Rs 2,789. Domestic price of soybean was Rs 6,924, while in international market it was Rs 5,438.

This difference of prices in domestic and international markets is due to the impact of subsidy and protection provided by the government on the cost of production.

However, agricultural subsidy in India is far less compared to the developed countries.

For example, 31, 80,000 people were engaged in agriculture in the US in 2015.

The US government provided them a subsidy of $25000 million. This amounts

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

The permanent solution has to be an improvement over the perpetual peace clause, which was adopted in Bali MC-9 to continue with the existing level of subsidies till the permanent solution is found.

Under current circumstances, India badly needs to increase its domestic support basket and increase Minimum Support Price substantially and include pulses and edible oil in National Food Security Act. It needs to provide incentives to promote production of millets, pulses and edible oil to ensure livelihood and food-nutrition security. Ideally, agrarian economies should make a call to take food security out of the WTO negotiations.

NEWS

53

Organic World Congress in India attended by several international experts

L

eading experts, organic farmers, scientists, traders and representatives from all over the world participated in 19th Organic World Congress (OWC) organized by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) on November 9 at the Indian Exposition Mart in Greater Noida.

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated the three-day conference in presence of Union Commerce and Industries Minister Suresh Prabhu with APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) as partner agency. The theme of the 19th OWC was ‘An Organic World through an Organic India’.

Director, Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI) Claude Alvares said “Over 110 countries sent 1400 foreign delegates at the international event that had intensive pre -

conference discussions, seminars, conferences and exhibitions. India had 2000 participants.

There was an Organic Seeds and Good Practices exhibition. IFOAM is an international umbrella organization for organic farming which is a non-chemical, integrated and sustainable method of agriculture.”

Prabhu launched the Organic Food Business Operator portal of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Agriculture Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, and Sikkim were also present there.

Union Minister for Women and Child Welfare Menaka Gandhi opened an exhibition on farmers' hand-on demonstration in organic initiatives and good practices.

“The OWC plays a critical and unprecedented role in supporting the Indian organic farming movement and tilting India's agriculture

policy firmly in the direction of organic. At the same time, it enables solidarity among organic farmers and organic farming associations across continents, supporting the efforts of the Intercontinental Network of Organic Farming Organisations (INOFO).”

IFOAM organizes Organic World Congress once every three years in a different country to achieve their objective as the global organic movement and also to provide a platform where organic stakeholders can share their knowledge and expertise and establish valuable partnerships.

The event is considered the leading event for the development of the organic sector worldwide. It is held to promote and celebrate the inevitable turning of global agriculture to organic farming methods and to measure progress.

Meghalaya state has great potential of agrobased industries

M

eghalaya Governor, Ganga Prasad said that there is immense potential of agro-based industries in Meghalaya while recognizing the abundance of natural resources and recent increase in its agricultural produce in the state. “Food processing sector in India is one of the largest in terms of production consumption, export and growth prospects.” He was present at the inaugural session of a conference on ‘Linking Startups and SMEs in Food Processing with Government Schemes & Markets’, organized by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industries of India (ASSOCHAM) in collaboration with Ministry of Food & Processing Industries and ICAR Research Centre for NEH Region, Umiam.

There is a need to develop the food processing sector in the region, Prasad said that a significant proportion of the agriculture produce get wasted during transition from place of production to consumption as well as during storage. Therefore, the central government has accorded priority to the development of this sector with a number of schemes for infrastructure development, fiscal relief and incentives. Through all these measures efforts have been made to encourage

commercialization and value addition to agriculture produce, minimize post harvest wastage, generate employment and boost exports of processed food.

Speaking on the achievements of Meghalaya in various agricultural produce, Prasad said that besides the major food crops of rice and maize, the state is also popular for its horticultural crops like orange, lemon. He said the state has achieved significant success in the cultivation of non-traditional crops like tea, cashew nut, oilseeds, tomato, mushroom, wheat, etc and that it is enough potential for setting up a starch based processing unit in the State. Plantation crops like coffee, rubber, black pepper and arecanut are also becoming important products of the state.

Prasad added that a major breakthrough has been achieved in tea cultivation and

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

that tea gardens have come up in various parts of the state. With modern technologies that should reach far-flung districts of the state to increase the revenue generation, subsequently it will lead to development of the nation.

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24 Mantra Organic Indian agriculture has immensely increased production develops range in food, dairy and fishery sector of ready-to-cook

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nion Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh present at the inauguration of two-day national level workshop on Peri-Urban Agriculture, organized by Haryana Agriculture Department.

The Minister said exceptional development in agricultural production sets an example for the world and they are trying to learn our techniques and adopt them. Singh said, “In the last three years, the Ministry has developed innovative schemes, provided necessary funds and made policy-making decisions which had a far-reaching effect on the agriculture sector.”

The Ministry works towards increasing the production but also focusing on proper processing techniques, traffic and market expansion to make agriculture profitable.

Under Peri-Urban Agriculture, small and large-scale agricultural production will be done in and around the cities.

The Agriculture Minister further stated that Peri-Urban Agriculture can help in climate change adaptation through diversification of food resources for the urban population.

Singh said due to rapid urbanization in the recent years, demand for vegetables, fruits and flowers is constantly increasing in these areas. Peri-Urban Agriculture can contribute to price stabilization through the development of important local food production centres of the diversified food system. “This will reduce the burden on transport, and help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cold storages.

We are developing a system that will supply food to cities from 100 to 200 km. This will help in creating attractive employment option and prevent the conversion of agricultural land near urban areas into cities and towns.

The government is promoting quality in agriculture through food processing and in this regard Pradhan Mantri Kisan PMKSY Yojana has been launched with an allocation of Rs.6, 000 cr.”

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) has helped in production and productivity, post-harvest management and marketing by providing assistance in the production of quality seeds, protected agriculture, vegetable and organic farming.

Ministry of Agriculture has implemented important schemes to promote milk production.

He added said that Rashtriya Gokul Mission was launched in December 2014 to conserve and develop indigenous breeds in a focused and scientific manner. The projects have been sanctioned in 27 states of the country with the funds of Rs.1, 077 crore under the Mission to double the productivity of domestic bovines.

Through this process, the species of 41 domestic bovines and 13 mahish bovines is being promoted and developed. With Rs.10 crore, 2 Gokul villages are being set up in Haryana – one in Hisar and one in Ladwa Gaushala.

product for retail market

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resta Natural Bioproducts that promotes 24 Mantra Organic brand of organic products, have recently added ready-to-cook convenience food solutions to the product portfolio. They will be targeting both retail and HoReCa market with a diverse range of convenience food products.

The company has developed a wide range of tasty products like Ragi Idli, Kanda Poha, Gojji Avalaki, Millet Dosa, Pongal, Whole Moong Khichdi, Biryani, etc. for the retail market.

An announcement has been made for implementation of DIDF (Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund) with an outlay of Rs 10,881 crore under the ambitious White Revolution Mission.

CEO, Sresta Natural Bioproducts, N Balasubramanian said “Our new range of ready-to-cook products has been received well by all types of consumers including hotels and restaurants. These products taste fresh and authentic. These businesses are highly dependent on good chefs for quality and consistency.

Singh said, “Keeping in view the tremendous potentialities of fisheries sector our Prime Minister has declared Blue Revolution. Along with its multi-dimensional activities, the Blue Revolution focuses on the enhancement of fish production and productivity through inland and marine fisheries.

But with the new ready-to-cook products, businesses need to be over dependent on chefs.

With our products, customers will not be able to differentiate between chef cooked food and food made using ready-to-cook packs. We are eliminating a major pain point of hotel and restaurant units.”

The government has also started a new scheme with the name of Deep Sea Fishing under the umbrella of Blue Revolution.”

CEO of the company said that they can offer bulk packs for such customers based on their requirements. Balasubramanian said that they will add another 8-10 new products from different regions of India in the next one year.

“We don’t have products from North Indian cuisine now, so we will try and add few from that region. Similarly, sweets are missing in our product portfolio.”

The Ministry is also working on Honey Revolution. The National Bee Board has given 205 per cent more financial assistance in the last three years. The number of bee colonies increased from 20 lakh to 30 lakh. There has been 20.54 per cent increase in the production of honey. The center-funded scheme of national beekeeping and honey mission is also being prepared.

Through Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), the government is promoting organic farming in the country. Under this scheme, farmers are encouraged to form groups for organic farming. Under Promotion of City Compost, the Government is providing market development assistance of Rs.1500 per metric tonne.

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

Regarding organic food market, awareness is picking up among the customers on the health benefits of organic food, which even hotels and restaurants can cash in by making a differentiated offering to the customers. “We are ready to work with such people”, he said.

Sresta Natural Bioproducts engages farmers for organic cultivation. The company works directly with 45,000 farmers with over 225,000 acres of land under organic farming across India.

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All restrictions on export of pulses removed after 10 years

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support to pulses selling below the (government's) Minimum Support Price and invigorate the milling industry. We believe this potentially open up greater investments in the sector,” he said.

he government has removed restrictions on export of all types of pulses, almost after 10 years. The opening of all export would benefit the entire value chain of farmers, processors and also end-consumers.

Earlier, restrictions were lifted on export of tur (red gram), urad (black gram) and moong (green gram) but kept for chana (Bengal gram) and masur (red lentil). At present, the latter two have more demand in global markets. The biggest markets for Indian pulses are in West Asia and North Africa.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also empowered the committee headed by the food and public distribution secretary to

review the export and import policy on pulses to consider, whenever needed, measures such as quantitative restrictions, prior registration and changes in import duties.Pravin Dongre, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association, said this will correct price distortions, offer

Declare 2018 as International year of millets: India to UN

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ndia has asked the United Nations to declare 2018 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ and promote it as nutrition-rich smart food across the world. A letter in this regard has been written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

In the letter, Singh stated that there is a need to promote millets as the awareness is low among consumers, policy makers, industry and R&D sector. Sorghum, Bajra and Ragi are some popular millets in India.

“Promotion of production and consumption of millets through conscious efforts at global level is likely to contribute substantially in the fight against the targeted hunger and mitigate

the effects of climate change in the long run”, the minister said.

The yield of millets can be increased three times and they have multiple untapped uses such as food, feed, biofuels and brewing.

Therefore, millets are smart food and good for consumers, farmers and the planet. “Considering the importance of millets, the Government of India along with other country governments urges the UN to declare 2018 as the 'International Year of Millets'.

This will go a long way in popularising millets which would benefit future generation of farmers as well as consumers,” he added.

Singh said millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher level of protein with more balanced amino acid profile, crude fibre and minerals. They are traditionally grown in resource poor agro- climatic region.

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

The 2016-17 harvested is estimated at a record of a little over 22 million tonnes, due to good rain. In 2017-18, despite a slight break in the southwest monsoon, the country is projected to harvest a good crop of pulses. Kharif output is estimated at 8.71 mt, almost the same as a year before. Prices have dropped to Rs 2,000-2,500 a quintal, below the MSP for many, though the government has been buying.

Agri pact between India and Phillipines gains approval from Cabinet

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abinet gave its consentto sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and the Philippines in the farm sector. The MoU will improve bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and will be mutually benefit both countries, an official statement said.

The agreement provides for cooperation in rice production and processing, multi cropping system, dry-land farming systems, bio-organic farming, solid and water conservation and management, soil fertility, sericulture, agro forestry, livestock improvement, among others.

A joint working group will be set up to implement the identified area of work in both the countries. The group will meet once every two years alternatively in the Philippines and India, the statement said.

Bilateral cooperation will promote understanding of best agricultural practices in the two countries and help in achieving higher crop productivity as well as improved global market access, it added.

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Lack of policy hinders the Organic farming in India

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he Indian government has been commissioning measures to encourage organic farming with the aim to improve soil fertility and help to double the farmers’ incomes by the year 2022. The Prime Minister had visited Sikkim which is India’s first organic state and encouraged other states to replicate the “Sikkim model”.

and exhibitions, it does not give farmers a steady market. In a number of cases, the middlemen take away most of the profits and farmers are not able to earn a premium price. Direct linkages to processors and retailers could have helped farmers to get a better price, but farmers lack the right linkages and hence have to depend on middlemen and mandis.

Some of the policy initiatives to promote organic farming and exports include development of an organic regulation for exports by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), removal of quantitative restriction on organic food exports, providing subsidies to farmers and other schemes such as the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region. Despite these initiatives move to organic farming methods may not be that easy and organic farmers are not getting the expected premium price for their produce.

Also the government is supporting farmers under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for India, which is a selfcertification process supported through the PKVY scheme, these farmers are not allowed to export. In fact, the APEDA has made it mandatory to have a third-party certification for exports.

Many factor affect and hinder its growth like the under developed supply chain because of which small and mid-sized farmers located in hilly regions and tribal belts find it extremely difficult to access the market. There is a shortage of pack houses and refrigerated vehicles, which leads to spoilage. Organic products have to be stored separately from conventional products to avoid cross-contamination and the existing supply chain does not often provide that facility.

While the government is supporting organic product marketing through fairs

This is despite the fact that globally more than 100 countries, mostly developing countries, recognise PGS. Unless farmers under PGS India are allowed to export, they cannot earn the premium price.

farmers is a serious shortage of good quality organic inputs, which increases the risk of loss of yield. The available organic fertilisers are much below the required quantity, and there are a number of spurious players in the market too.

Similarly, there is a shortage of good quality organic seeds.

The biggest challenge faced by organic farmers is the lack of an organic policy for the domestic market and imports. In the absence of regulation on labelling standard for organic production and logo, it is not possible to distinguish an organic product from a conventional product.

This has led to fraudulent practices and genuine players are not getting the premium, which the consumers of organic products are willing to pay. While the absence of a policy makes it difficult to punish fraudulent players, the government cannot enforce punishment on the basis of a voluntary certification process.

A number of countries, such as the United Kingdom, have carefully designed subsidies to compensate for the yield loss during the conversion period, as a farmer converts his/her land from conventional chemical-based farming to organic farming, there is a risk of loss in yield due to the withdrawal of chemical inputs and high-yielding varieties of seeds. However, in India, there is no such subsidy. Further, a majority of the government budget and subsidies are targeted towards chemicalbased inputs and, in many states, less than 2 per cent of the budget is allocated to organic farming.

Another blockage in the path of organic

Therefore, over 79 per cent of the farmers opined that the certification process should be mandatory and the government should help farmers under PGS India to get the mandatory certification once their land is converted to organic. In fact, over 91 per cent of survey participants pointed out that there should be a uniform logo for organic, which will help in product identification.

measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 176.6 points in August, down 1.3 percent from July.

month's forecast.food prices rose steadily in the three months preceding August, but ample supply looks unlikely to leave room for price increases in the near future, and hence the potential dynamic in the future seems to be rather bearish in most aspects.

If forecasts come to fruition, the cereals harvest will be slightly higher than a record hit last year. The FAO also raised its estimate for global wheat output to 748.8 million tonnes, up 1.2 percent from the prior month's forecast.

The study further highlighted that if the right policy measures are taken, then organic farming is expected to grow at 20 per cent in the next five years and the farmers will see a rise in their income.

Record cereals prospects push down global food prices by 1.3 per cent: FAO

According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), world food prices have gone down in August from the month before as the prospect of bumper harvests pushed down cereal values.

Notwithstanding the drop, food on international market remained 6 percent more expensive than a year earlier. Food commodities have emerged from an era of intense volatility and are to remain stable over the next decade.

The FAO's food price index, which

The cereals sub-index fell 5.4 percent due to expectations of higher production, especially in the Black Sea region. Meat and sugar prices also declined due to high supply forecasts.Global cereals output is expected to hit an all-time high of 2.611 billion tonnes in the 2017-18 season, up 18.4 million tonnes on the previous

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

NEWS

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Rs. 325Cr rice millin Andhra Pradesh by Phoenix Group

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loan facility was over-subscribed with participation of BNP Paribas, RaboBank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, ICICI Bank and Shinhan Bank.

The company plans to invest the remaining amount to boost its rice business in Mozambique, Benin and Ivory Coast as destinations, and India as origin. Supported by OFID (the OPEC Fund for International Development), the

Chairman of Phoenix Group, Gaurav Dhawan saidlandhas already been identified to set up the rice mill and is in talks with the State government to complete the formality. “We have also identified 20-40 acres in Uttar Pradesh for cultivating tomato for export market.

Our target is to double revenue from India to Rs. 3,000 crore in the next four years.”

Dhawan is confident of sustaining growth in agriculture business in India by focusing on value added products and steering away from baseline commodities that have an impact on inflation. Dhawan said the government has set out its

eadquartered in Dubai, Phoenix Group, a global agricultural and food company plans to set up a rice mill with an investment of $50 million (Rs. 325 crore) to process 2, 50,000 of non-basmati rice per annum at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. They have even sounded out banks to procure stressed asset in food processing and rice mills. It has raised $205 million (about Rs. 1,300 crore) through a syndicate of seven banks led by Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore.

vision to double Indian farmers’ income.

There have been no constructive policy measures to achieve it. All the government policies are focused on food security and cost management by providing fertiliser at subsidised rate and giving minimum support price to farmers rather than targeting the export market with quality produce. If the government provides the basic road, private sector will invest in agriculture infrastructure such as putting up processing facility and cold storage to increase farmers’ income, besides sharing the knowledge on crops selection.

In India, the company recorded turnover of Rs. 1,500 crore through export of rice from India and import of pluses from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Australia.

World Food India convention seen ITC to invest Rs over 50 global CEOs in attendance 10,000-cr to boost

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ore than 50 global CEOs attended World Food India 2017 meet in Delhi from November 3 to 5.

The conference hosted by the Ministry of Food Processing in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) witnessed participation of over 200 international companies.

Paul Bulcke, Chairman, Nestle; Brian McNamara, CEO, GSK Consumer Healthcare; Pieter Boone, CEO, Metro Cash & Carry and COO, Metro AG; Amanda Sourry, Global President-Foods, Unilever and Steven Schiller, PresidentInternational, The Hershey Company are among the global CEOs partook in the event. In addition, ministerial and business delegations from Japan, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, Latvia, South Korea and Poland will attend the-three-day event. Denmark, Germany and Japan were the partner countries for this conference.

Global CEOs met the Prime Minister

and Finance Minister in two separate roundtables that focused on investment opportunities and regulatory framework for ‘ease of doing business’ among other issues. As many as 28 States partnered for the event and displayed their strengths and opportunities, seeking investments from food processing companies.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal believes that with only 10 per cent of India’s food being processed, the country needs to partner with global companies to augment farmers’ incomes as well as to reduce post-harvest losses. Badal said that foreign investment deals worth $10 billion in the food processing sector had already been closed and the inflow of investments was expected to see a rise after the World Food India event.

Director General, CII, Chandrajit Banerjee said “CII expects the Indian food sector to create four million additional jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities by 2025, including for youth and women. World Food India 2017 showcased the immense investment potential across Indian States and the entire supply chain.”

Agro & Food Processing December 2017

food processing business

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n coming years ITC is investing around Rs 10,000 crore to build up its business in the food processing sector and according to the Company’s CEO Sanjiv Puri most of the allotment will be in West Bengal.

This is part of the company's planned Rs 25,000-crore investment package, which it has planned to invest in 65 projects, including 20 integrated factories for consumer goods across the country.

Recently, ITC entered into the food and vegetable segment with its Farmland brand of low sugar potatoes.

In the past, it has also entered the seafood and juice segments.

By 2030, the company has targeted revenue of Rs 1, 00,000 crore, out of which FMCG is expected to be one of the biggest contributors.

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