AGRI BUSINESS & FOOD INDUSTRY- August Issue by Media Today Pvt. Ltd.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

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Cover Story

Agri Affairs ...34

...10

From RentSeekers to Entrepreneurs? — Sanjeev Chopra

S Dave’s Address at the 35th session

New Codex Strategic Plan for 2014-19 on anvil The future challenge will come from the effect of climate change on food safety, Says S Dave Spices Board India proposes Codex Standards Interview

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Interview

EDITORIAL

dairy

Amul Girl

keen to sign FTA with

It can offer olive oil, pulses, dried fruits and much more : Dr. Burak Akcapar

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Plea for a Credible Dairy Industry forum of like-minded People – Vijay Sardana

India Needs A New Strategy for Milk

Country Cuisines

Dadi…thou art vanishing!!!

– B.M. Vyas

– Anwar Huda

Interview

Sourcing materials for export market directly from the farmer is the best possible solution, says Apurva Shah

Corporate

Sameer Suneja: Perfect for Perfetti

...22

India is one of the major economies in the world……A place to do business, says Katharina C. Hamma

– Shashi Baliga

Turkey India

Scores Half Century, attracts eyeballs too many

42 44 46 47

– Vinay Kamath & R. Ravikumar profile

Sifter International Duke Thomson’s India Pvt. Ltd. Osaw Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. Asia Fruit Logistica 2012

48 RETAIL NEWS 52 CORPORATE NEWS 55 FOOD & BEVERAGES NEWS 60 COMMODITY NEWS 63 DAIRY NEWS

Meat Industry ...10

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

orial Edit

he world would need to grow 60 per cent more food grains by 2050 to meet the needs of the rising population. What’s more, this target has to be realized in a more sustainable way, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), who released a joint report.

Chief Editor

S. Jafar Naqvi

Consulting Editors

T.V. Satyanarayanan K Dharmarajan

Chief Co-ordinator

M.B. Naqvi

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Editor : S. Jafar Naqvi

Vol 9....... Issue 8 & 9 ...... August & September 2012

The challenge is indeed pretty tough, because of limited land resources, and their overuse, rendering large areas of farm land ‘highly degraded’. While the global farm production’s growth rate of 2 per cent in the last few decades may look somewhat heartening, these organizations expect it to slow down, very soon, to 1.7 per cent a year. Leave aside the long term challenges. The present state of affairs inspires no confidence either. The world hunger and poverty facts and statistics are indeed alarming. Small holder farmers who produce half of the world’s food are among nearly one billion people who go to bed hungry every night. Millions of children suffer irreversible effects of under-nutrition. In India, according to the Planning Commission’s revised norms, about 30 per cent of the people are in the ‘poorest of the poor’ category. Another report has found 42 per cent of the children in the country malnourished. True, efforts are not lacking all over the globe to fight the scourge of hunger and malnutrition. Researchers are in the forefront evolving new varieties of crops and improved techniques to increase production and productivity. The issue figured at the recent “global dialogue’ of farm scientists held at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics in Hyderabad. The participants, specially geneticists and molecular biologists from across the world, discussed the prospects of designing rice that would meet the future challenges of global food-nutrition-livelihood security. The principal questions addressed at the meet were: Can existing rice geno types meet the future requirements of food and nutrition? Will crop intensification and management practices with currently available HY varieties be able to maximize productivity? The consensus was on designing new varieties that would use less inputs and less water. As in rice, research work is in progress in many other crops. Some years back wheat scientists thought a ‘man-made’ grain Triticale – a cross between wheat and rye – could be the key weapon to fight world hunger. But the project on Triticale was abandoned as the grain was found to be wanting in meeting requisite parameters. GM technology is the latest rage. But its use for improving food crops has triggered a wide controversy. Former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam in a recent address to farm scientists in India suggested setting up research missions to promote technological interventions to produce 350 million tonnes of food grains by 2020. One unmistakable fact that is clear to one and all is that agriculture and allied sectors are going through a sea change in the context of rising population and demands for inclusive growth and social equity on the one hand, and rising incomes and changing life-styles on the other. As a result agriculture is graduating itself into agri business, embracing a wider gamut of activities. The stakeholders of all these activities are many. For faster and balanced growth, in a sustainable way, all these stakeholders need to come together to work in harmony as in symphony orchestra. A small step in this direction is what expos like Agri Tech series are doing by bringing all concerned under one roof for greater interaction and knowledge transfer. Comments are welcome at: mediatoday@vsnl.com Views expressed by individuals and contributors in the magazine are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of “AgriBusiness & Food Industry” editorial board. AgriBusiness & Food Industry does not accept any responsibility of any direct, indirect or consequential damage caused to any party due to views expressed by any one or more persons in the trade. All disputes are to be referred to Delhi Jurisdiction only. .....Editor

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Cover Story

S Dave’s Address at the 35th session

New Codex Strategic Plan for 2014-19 on anvil 50th anniversary celebrations

A priority task for Codex Alimentarius Commission is adoption of the new Codex Strategic Plan for 2014-2019. The current plan would come to an end in 2013, said Codex Chairman Sanjay Dave. Addressing the 35th session of the Commission in Rome, Dave sought the cooperation and support of the members to adopt the new strategic plan in the Commission’s session next year so that it could take effect from January 2014. The Plan for 2014-2019, which was examined at this weeklong session that began on July 2, contains the draft strategic vision statement for Codex “to be the pre-eminent international food standards setting body to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.” The session was attended by 623 delegates representing 147 Codex members and 38 Observers. Prominent among those present were FAO’s Director General Jose Graziano da Silva and Pakistan’s Minister of State for National Food Security and Research Muhammad Moazzam Ali Khan Jatoi. The Commission adopted over 20 Codex texts that were developed by 14 committees which met during the year. Excerpts from Chairman Dave’s opening remarks:

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

The Codex Alimentarius is inching towards 50 years of the Commission's sessions. While this will be a memorable celebration of the many achievements over the years, we should remind ourselves that the world population has grown from 3.2 billion in 1963 to 7 billion at the end of 2011. The food consumption has also gone up from 8 billion meals per day to about 18-20 billion meals during this period. Truly, food production has grown substantially to address the food security situation. The population will grow further by the time Codex Sessions mature to 50 years of age next year. At the same time, it also became imperative to ensure food safety to complement food security. The establishment of Codex Alimentarius in the early 60's bears testimony to the wisdom of FAO and WHO to address these needs. Global trade in food products has also grown during this period and this has led to proliferation of private standards. However, these have also led to difficulties in market access for the small and marginal farmers of most developing countries. It is, therefore, necessary for us to ensure that Codex remains the pre-eminent food standards setting organization. In this direction, we need to ensure much greater acceptability and visibility of the Codex around the globe. Two of the three sisters under the SPS Agreement have a logo while Codex does not have one. We need it in the interest of developing countries. As a global inter-governmental body, the pre-eminence of Codex standards will come through greater contribution of developing countries in the Codex process. These countries comprise almost 70% of the world population and, therefore, their contribution is

Cover Story equally pre-eminent. I must say that over time, effective participation of developing countries in the process of Codex standards setting has grown. I would like to congratulate the members that effectiveness of their participation is becoming more and more visible. Consistent efforts put in by FAO and WHO for capacity building and support from the Codex Trust Fund have been a great help in this direction. Efforts to support developing countries might need to continue even after 2015 when the current TF programme comes to an end.

Important agenda

This year, apart from our normal work of adoption of Codex standards, we have an important agenda before us, which is to consider the new Codex Strategic Plan for 2014-2019. The current strategic plan will come to an end in 2013 and I hope that with your continued support, we would adopt the new strategic plan in the Commission session of 2013 so that it can take effect from January 2014. We, therefore, need to pool our thoughts to make substantial progress on the document. There are certain difficult issues before us for discussion this year. Difficulties are bound to come in any work of international dimensions because of diversity across the globe in conditions, cultures, capabilities, etc. One does not enjoy work without challenges. However, this certainly requires an effort to contribute in the spirit of giving and moving from the national positions to find consensus, which, in other words, is success. Codex is our body and, I am sure, all participants have a strong desire to build a Codex that we continue to take pride in saying that it is the pre-eminent food standards setting global body. I would urge all members that we continue to work together as brothers and sisters.

Additional funding

I would like to add that much of the work in Codex has been possible on account of the consistent efforts put in by colleagues from the FAO and WHO expert consultation groups, namely, JECFA, JMPR, JEMRA and the newly

constituted JEMNU. Currently, the funding situation for scientific advice is difficult and there is an urgent need to find additional resources to carry out this work in a .sustainable manner as science is the back-bone of Codex. While, I am confident that FAO and WHO will put in additional financial resources, it will be helpful if members also come forward to

support this important work. I would like to recall here that colleagues in the Codex Secretariat have been contributing tirelessly and without whose hard work Codex Sessions cannot be concluded successfully. Indeed, the Secretariat needs further strengthening and encouragement. n

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Cover Story

The future challenge will come from the effect of climate change on food safety, says S Dave

The long association of Sanjay Dave (Director, APEDA) with Agriculture & Processed food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Codex Alimentarius (Chairperson since July, 2011) has brought to the fore his flair for capacity building services and a vision for global development of stakeholders. As a first for India, he introduced a web-based traceability solution in table grapes and continued this work on pomegranate, groundnuts and eventually in organic products. He led the work for developing and implementing the entire food safety monitoring system, which won, for APEDA, a National Gold Award for e-governance from Government of India as well as the e-Asia Awards for GrapeNet and TraceNet. One of his important responsibilities has been implementation of international food safety standards in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm export industry. As the Director of APEDA, he is credited with having steered forward the National Programme for Organic Production, making India a sustainable supplier of organic produce to the world. He was also instrumental in developing IndiaGAP document to enhance the productivity and safety of farm produce and to raise the income levels of growers. Dave has been contributing to agriculture trade for more than 26 years and has served the Codex by holding several responsible positions. For over twelve years he has been an active and constructive member of Indian delegations to sessions of various Codex committees engaged in framing standards for safety and quality of food as well as codes and guidelines to protect good manufacturing practices. These standards and guidelines are valued world-wide in international trade. Now that he has completed one year, a glorious one at that, as the Chairperson of Codex Alimentarius, his experience and views become even more important for India, as it is fast becoming a nation of health-conscious consumers and The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is already busy in implementing FSS Act, 2006, to protect public health. He has just joined FSSAI as an Adviser. MB Naqvi and Anwar Huda met him at his APEDA office and tried to know his achievements at Codex and its future challenges among other things for the readers of AgriBusiness & Food Industry. Excerpts:

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Since each country has its own varieties of foods, cultural preferences and such other things, it has to see Codex as a reference point and harmonize its standards while keeping its own interests safe. At Codex we have vertical standards (commodity standards) and horizontal standards. But what a country must look at is harmonization of national standards with those of the Codex, particularly, in case of pesticides, labeling, hygiene, additives and food contaminants and make its efforts to provide safe food to its own consumers -- and for export -- the same in a way that one can eat it without any apprehension and with a clear conscience

Cover Story You have completed one year as Chairman of Codex Alimentarius Commission. In that capacity, what do you think about Codex mission and its impact on Indian food industry and issues and notifications that it should address?

‘It was a fruitful one year’, I would say. My main responsibility at Codex is to see that international standardization process takes into account science, fair practices in trade and also the interests of developing countries while complying with the Codex procedures. When I am there I have to think, see and hear globally, and I can’t be a part of the Indian delegation. Codex expects countries to harmonize their food safety standards with its own. And as its Chairman, I would like Indian Government to do the same since Codex is the reference point in the framework of WTO. If any country harmonizes its standards with Codex, it would help its export items move smoothly across borders. And above all, its own consumers get the safe food and that is the mandate of any country. Since, however, each country has its own varieties of foods, cultural preferences and other such things, it has to see Codex as a reference point and harmonize its standards while keeping its own interests in perspective. At Codex we have vertical standards (commodity standards) and horizontal standards. But what a country must look at is harmonization of national standards with those of the Codex, particularly, in case of pesticides, labeling, hygiene, additives and food contaminants and make its efforts to provide safe food to its own consumers -- and for export -- the same in a way that one can eat it without any apprehension and with a clear conscience. In India, it is also the policy of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to harmonize India’s standards with those of Codex. I had a discussion with the FSSAI Chairperson, Mr K. Chandramouli, and he wants and is trying to harmonize standards taking into account India’s needs. But while a country can harmonize the standards, its implementation procedures can be different. Every country has a different set of procedures to implement standards. Codex is concerned with only the standards part, and not the procedural part.

What was your experience at Codex in this one year?

It was a very rich experience for me. There were 147 countries that participated in the Commission meeting and that is a record. There were almost 700 delegates present, and I found that atmosphere was quite exciting but challenging at the same time. There were some difficult issues, and most of them were from the veterinary drugs committee, especially the use of promotors. European Union is extremely sensitive towards issues that have any adverse impact on health or its use is against their policy. In this one year period, we had to go through some major controversial issues.

Could you please elaborate on some of them?

Yes. In true sense we cannot call these issues as controversial. They are basically points of disagreement. I would like to comment on 2 or 3 such issues. Issue 1 Processed Cheese Standards: The first such issue was about processed cheese standards. As you know there are vast varieties of cheese in the world and each country has its own interest, so the agreement was tough to reach. Codex wanted to continue its work on the standards of processed cheese, and to revoke standards set several years ago. But there was no consensus. The disagreement was on ingredients, starch and certain other components. As there could not be one standard for such a vast variety of cheese, it was felt

that work (on standards) should be discontinued. But several countries including India wanted that work on developing the standards should continue. So the challenge was to achieve consensus. A questionnaire was prepared for countries to respond, particularly on the impediments on trade in processed cheese in the absence of Codex standards. There was also a suggestion that regional standards could be allowed to be developed. However, as per the Codex rules, if a product is produced or traded internationally, then only an international standard can be developed by Codex to avoid any confusion in trade. There was a mixed response from the members. It was also noted that trade in processed cheese was increasing, so there did not appear to be any trade impediment. Following a detailed discussion, we achieved consensus. We agreed to discontinue work and resume it later when members would want it. Issue 2 Veterinary drug - recombinant Bovine Somatotropins (rBSTs) The second issue was about a veterinary drug -- recombinant Bovine Somatotropins (rBSTs). It is a growth hormone used in bovine animals. The adoption of MRLs has been held at Step 8 since 1999. Holding a document at Step 8 in Codex means there is no consensus. It remained in the cold storage until last year when a member country made

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Cover Story

a request to discuss it in the CAC session in 2012. In fact, JECFA (Codex scientific expert group) had carried out a risk assessment of this item in mid 1990s. And it was brought for discussion in 1997, and came to Step 8 in 1999. After that it was held. In this case, the whole house was divided. Europeans were against it due to their policy against growth promotors. However, several other countries wanted adoption of the standard. So, next morning, I made a proposal to the Commission. Since, a lot of new scientific researches have come up and we cannot apply the science of 1999 in today’s time, I suggested that we sent it to JECFA again for reevaluation. This proposal was acceptable to all. So, this is how this controversy was resolved for the time being. Issue 3 Veterinary drug -- Ractopamine The third issue was also from the veterinary drugs committee. Ractopamine is used in cattle and pigs. This issue has been in discussion for 5-6 years. The group of countries opposing it said it is a growth promotor and not used for therapeutic purposes, that the scientific risk assessment was not complete, the entire food basket from pigs had not been assessed and that use of growth hormones was against the policy of some countries. Moreover, since, EU and China together consume 70 per cent of the world’s pork production, so their concerns cannot be ignored by the

We are going to celebrate 50 years of Codex next year under my chairmanship. And to make the occasion memorable, I have proposed a logo for it, as it has no logo!! While its three sister committees have their respective logo. So, I thought to give an identity to Codex. The Codex Committee has already approved it Commission. The group supporting it said that there is no harmful effect of this item, and it is good for many reasons like food security, and that the JECFA risk assessment had been completed as per the mandate given to JECFA, the evaluation was carried out three times, last one in 2010 and that Codex should adopt standards as per the Procedural Manual. Several countries were of the view that since JECFA’s recommendations are always accepted by the Commission, its risk assessment in this case should also be accepted, and Codex standards has nothing to do with national standards. The issue remained at Step 8 until last year. This year (January), I personally prepared an analysis on the issue of MRLs for Ractopamine for discussion with members in the margin of a Codex Committee meeting in Paris in April 2012. However, no tangible progress was made at this informal meeting.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Despite this, I continued sustained efforts through video conferences, and on 1st July (Sunday), I had several meetings with different regions of the world and one of the objectives was to find consensus. On the first day of the Commission’s Session, during adoption of the agenda, I suggested that we have a facilitated discussion on this matter in order to explore further possibility of consensus. During the discussion, I put forward 5-6 proposals. However, nobody was willing to consider the different options. The main discussion was, then, held during the plenary with very divergent views being expressed. In the first two hours of discussion, 35 countries had spoken on this and the same number of countries were waiting to speak. I realized that nothing would be achieved in continuing with this discussion. So, I asked the Commission how they would like to proceed in the absence of consensus. One country requested that a vote should be conducted. As per the procedure, if there is a request from the floor for voting, the chairperson cannot deny it. The Commission decided to vote by a secret ballot. The outcome of the entire voting process was surprising. Out of the members present at the time of voting, 69 votes went in favour of adoption and 67 votes were against the adoption. So it was a matter of just 2 votes..! The result -- The MRLs for Ractopamine were adopted, and thus the issue was resolved. But I personally feel that it was not a good decision. We just made a decision. Adopting a standard with a difference of just two votes is not a good decision at all.

Cover Story This pull and push is perhaps happening everywhere right now. Now, please tell us the future developments at Codex?

We are going to celebrate 50 years of Codex next year under my Chairmanship. And to make the occasion memorable, I have proposed a logo for Codex, as it has no logo..!! While two (OIE and IPPC) of the three sisters under the SPS Agreement have their respective logos, Codex, which is a body for human safety, does not have one. So, I thought to give an identity to Codex. The Codex Commission has already approved it. The logo will be unveiled on this grand occasion next year. A communication strategy for promotion of Codex is under development and the Codex logo will be one of the tools to promote it. This will considerably help sensitization and capacity building for food safety in the developing countries.

That’s a true blue Indian master shot from you…we are proud of that. Any other personal achievement at Codex which you want to share with our readers?

Spices Board India is a major Commodity Board under the Ministry of Commerce. I had a detailed discussion with colleagues in the Spices Board for taking steps towards proposing a Codex Committee for Spices and they have acted very proactively in this direction. India is the largest producer of spices in the world. Since there are no Codex standards for spices, it is pre-eminently important that India take the lead for facilitating trade. Spices Board immediately drafted the proposal and the Codex Commission has also supported the idea, though a final decision is still to be taken. Spices Board really worked hard and is very excited to host the Committee. Since I am the Chairman, I cannot make the proposal, they have to make it. I only helped them in drafting it in the required format. The final decision will be taken by the Codex Commission next year. Spices Board has just prepared a discussion paper and it has been sent to the Codex Secretariat in Rome for circulation to the Codex members for their views.

Since developing nations were unanimous in supporting your nomination, what do you think are their expectations from you,

and have you fulfilled those expectations?

Fulfillment of expectations is always a continuous process. It doesn’t get concluded in one go. That process is on and Codex is always willing to help developing countries in their efforts to harmonize their standards with those of Codex to facilitate their products flow across borders. I need to do more. On 1st July, I had invited regional coordinators along with their members from Latin America, South-West Pacific, and Africa, Middle East and Asia to discuss issues. Since I belong to a developing nation, I know their problems and expectations. I want to address their issues and help find solutions. If I can succeed in extending the required help to their satisfaction, I would consider that I have partially fulfilled their expectations.

APEDA has agreement with European countries including the Netherlands on food safety and quality. There seems to be some reluctance on the part of some of these countries to import Indian fruits. What do you think India should do to address this issue?

The issue is about the pesticides residues, mainly in case of vegetables like okra, curry leaves and green chilies. As you may recall, the grape issue is over and there is no problem left regarding its export. This vegetable pesticides residue issue has nothing to do with Codex. EU has certain standards which need to be followed by exporting countries. To address this issue, APEDA is working with different states on a cluster basis to see that uniform agricultural practices are followed. We want to have a traceability system and the procedure is expected to be in place by the end of this year. It will help to address the pesticide residue issue. Traceability is just an electronic tool. What we really need is good farming practices and providing farmers with guidelines. APEDA is doing that. Farmer registration is going on for this purpose. Lot of awareness programmes are being carried out. Farmers need to know international standards. But more than awareness, we need good implementation practices. And it was encouraging to see that farmers are responding to this. They want to get rid of pesticides, but they need good alternatives. We do not want farmers and exporters to lose business due to this issue.

What are the future challenges for Codex?

The future challenge will come from the effect of climate change on food safety. Codex needs to keep itself abreast with the changes taking place internationally in the field of food safety. For example, if any new chemical comes into the market, its risk assessment becomes necessary. More than that, the ability of developing and least developed countries to meet the challenges related to food safety needs to be enhanced. So what they need is a lot of capacity building. In this respect, organizations like FAO and WHO are doing meaningful work. They are building capacity in developing countries. They are holding seminars and spreading awareness in these countries. For this, they need a lot of money as officials and experts move from country to country. Further, the officials of developing and least developed countries need financial support to participate in Codex meetings. To meet this cost, we have Codex Trust Fund. It was created in 2003. There are countries which are eligible to get funding support from it. There are certain criteria like GDP to decide which country is eligible to get help. India was eligible for help until last year. Generally, it is the developed countries which contribute to this fund. Malaysia also became a contributor 2-3 years ago. So I thought why not India? For this, I had discussions with FSSAI and MEA officials and, thankfully, India became the only nation among developing nations in Asia after Malaysia to contribute to the Codex Trust Fund. India, through FSSAI is now contributing US $15 K annually to the Trust Fund. So this is another thing, which I achieved as the Codex Chairman.

Now that you are joining FSSAI as an Adviser, what will be your role there?

Since I have gained valuable experience at Codex, I will try to use the same in FSSAI to help develop standards and best practices, which are truly global as it would not only protect public health in India but also enhance exports. n

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Cover Story

Spices Board India proposes Codex Standards There is a huge diversity in the standards of spices across countries and in case of several spices, there are no standards at all. This calls for an urgent need to consider setting up unified international standards under Codex to address this gap

pices Board India, under visionary guidance of S Dave (the 1st Indian Chairperson of Codex Alimentarius), has proposed to Codex Commission the creation of Standards for Spices. Acting on a note submitted by India, Codex has set up a committee on Indian spices to formulate the standards. The note, sent to the Codex commission during its 35th session held in Rome in the first week of July, stresses the need of having a harmonized standard for spices, herbs and herbal formulations. Harmonization of standards for spices under Codex will entail the following benefits for the various spices and herbs producing countries with respect to the following: *Unified classification and harmonization of spices and herbs-

taking advantage of the ISO standards or standards of any other international organization. *ISO does not cover standards for value added products including herbal formulations. *Ensures transparency, fair trade practices in trade and commerce in spices and health of consumers across the globe for spices are active food ingredients and additives. *Eliminate trade barriers and trigger consultation and cooperation among producing countries. *Harmonization of standards for facilitating trade. *Capacity building in producing countries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Benefit developing countries producing spices. *Help in identifying very unique varieties of spices and herbs with active properties and ingredients which can ensure better marketability and fair prices to the farmers.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

*Codex platform add value on account of inter-Governmental consultations and gives the basics for enactment of legislations in required areas at the national level. The changing face of international trade has led to the requirement by manufacturers and processors to have single, globally acceptable technical standards and conformance tests. Though there are international Standards for spices, there is no common body that deals with product specific harmonised standards for whole spices, ground spices, spice mixes/ blends, spice oils and oleoresins, herbs and herbal formulations.

Diversification of national legislation and apparent resultant or potential impediments to international trade

The note by India points out, many of

Cover Story

Spices Board to issue quality certification

he $2 billion spices export business is in for a major change on the quality front with the Spices Board deciding to introduce a voluntary certification for spice processors and exporters. The terms of reference for the proposed Spice House Certification is ready, and the Board will soon begin certifying processors and exporters, Chairman of the Spices Board A. Jayathilak said. Spice House Certificate would be issued as a stamp of quality after officers and scientists from the Board inspected the processing facilities. This would help importers easily identify reliable sources of spices and spice products, said Dr. Jayathilak. He said that it would be up to the processors to either go in for the certificate or not to. There are more than 3,000 registered exporters of spices and spice products in the country though about 90 per cent of the exports are accounted for by 30-40 exporting houses. The question of quality was being basically addressed to those who accounted for the remaining 10 per cent of exports, said Dr. Jayathilak. He, however, pointed out that quality of spices exported from the

the capable and leading spices and herb producing countries have the advantage of formulating through legislations in their countries their own standards for various spices. However these standards do not match to that of similar spice producing countries. There is a huge diversity in the standards of spices across countries and in case of several spices, there are no standards at all. This calls for an urgent need to consider setting up unified international standards under Codex to address this gap. The dominant importers fix their standards to arrive at buying decisions. While some of the standards of producing countries are generally fixed based on scientific studies looking to the basic

country had steadily improved over the years. The low rate or rejection of consignments was a clear evidence of this achievement. Spices Boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality improvement programme is backed by a chain of laboratories across the country for various spices. Labs have been set up in Mumbai, Guntur, Kochi and Chennai. Two more are coming up in Delhi and Turicorin. Dr. Jayathilak said that export of spices had beaten the recession blues to grow a little during the first quarter of the current financial year. He said the figures were not yet finalised but ruled out that the eurozone crisis had adversely affected Indian spices exports. Spices exports, helped by a surge in earnings from small cardamom, crossed the $2 billionmark last financial year. The queen of spices appears set to recapture its lead position with export volume going up nearly 300 per cent last financial year. Earnings in rupee terms rose 175 per cent, according to figures from the Spices Board. Cardamom exports stood at 4,650 tonnes last year, earning more than Rs. 360 crore.

characteristics of spices, there is no scientific basis generally at large. The lack of a common standard has been a detriment to activate spices exports from the least developed economies of the world and there is an impending need to harmonize grades and specifications for spices at large. Even for a common spice, there is a need to harmonize standards since some of the spice has various basic differences contributed by the soil and climatic conditions. Herbs and spices encompass a vast variety of products, both primary and derived, and include dried parts of plants that make up traditionally traded spices and spice mixtures, as well as extracted compounds, such as essential oils, oleoresins and aroma compounds

used in the flavouring and perfume industries. The common body ideally should be one like Codex Alimentarius Commission which has intergovernmental participation from many of the spices producing and consuming countries round the world where discussions and formulations of themes and ideas could be done to formulate harmonized standards. Spices & Herbs Spices are dried seed, fruit, root or bark of a plant used as a food additive to enhance the flavour, as a preservative to stem growth and destruction of harmful organism. Most of the spices are used as food additives, ingredients and is widely used in culinary, nutritional, dietary and medicinal applications on account of its active ingredients. Spices like pepper, chillies, cardamom, dry ginger, turmeric, garlic, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, coriander, nutmeg etc., find its applications in whole, cracked, crushed, ground, dehydrated and in liquid forms. Herbs are the aromatic leaves or leafy part of plants of low-growing shrubs used for seasoning and flavoring food and beverages, but not as a main ingredient. Examples are rosemary, parsley, marjoram, thyme, basil, oregano, and curry leaf. Many of the spices are grown mainly in developing countries in Asia, South East Asia, Africa, Middle East, Caribbean Islands and Latin America. Herbs are grown world wide in the Mediterranean regions besides Europe, Asia, Far East America and Australian regions. Spices and aromatic herbs are bought in world wide due to its applications in sustaining human life. Since it addresses the health concerns of consumers across the world, it is important that fair trade practices should find its place in the marketing of Spices which will also benefit a wide spectrum of farming population.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Interview

Turkey India keen to sign FTA with

It can offer olive oil, pulses, dried fruits and much more : Dr. Burak Akcapar Turkey, being the window to Europe and Asia, enjoys strategic geographical importance, and the stamp of both the continents are visible on all aspects of Turkish life and work. A focus country in all history books, Turkey is known to every Indian child. It is as fascinating travel-wise, as it is strong business-wise. In fact, India and Turkey are ancient countries and share a cultural bond. The trade relationship has had always been strong between the two nations. Turkey is now among the top 20 economies in the world. Its strategic geographical location is also a great asset. India-Turkey bilateral trade has grown more than 6 fold in just 8 years (2002-2010), and has tripled since the Turkish Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit to India in 2010, who described India as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the land of opportunitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Post his visit, the government and industry bodies in both countries have worked together to enhance bilateral trade. According to Susmita G. Thomas, Indian Ambassador, the bilateral trade volume are expected to touch US$ 15 billion by 2015. It is an inspiring fact that Turkey has made big strides in technology development in several fields, including farm and food. For instance, it was one of the first three nations that went in for newspaper digitization in early 1990s. Dr. Burak Akcapar, Turkish Ambassador to India, in an interesting chat with S Jafar Naqvi, Chief Editor, Agri Business & Food industry, provides his views on the current agricultural cooperation between the two countries and future possibilities in farm and food sectors.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Interview India has entered into many bilateral and regional trading agreements over the years. These agreements, besides offering preferential tariff rates on the trade of goods among member countries, also provide for wider economic cooperation in the fields of trade in services, investments and intellectual property. India has signed such agreements with South Asian countries. This has encouraged Turkish businessmen and investors to enter the Indian market Turkey is one of the leading countries in farm mechanization and export of technology and farm equipment (India is an emerging buyer), among other top-of-theworld items. As the Ambassador to India, what do you think is the reason behind all these phenomenal developments, or, as we say ‘Technology Revolution’, in your country, especially in agriculture and related fields?

Turkey as a unit has been functioning with significant efficiency and the wealth and stability thus generated has been turning the country into a regional and increasingly global economic force. The machinery industry has been at the cutting edge of Turkey's industrialization process due to its rapid growth based on high value addition and its contributions to other sectors. Its export has constantly been above the average of the export increase for Turkish industries overall. The Turkish machinery manufacturing industry produces every kind of machinery and accessories at high quality and competitive prices. The average domestic input ratio in the production stage is around 90%. The low cost of engineering services with respect to other countries increases the competitiveness of Turkish Manufacturers, especially for tailor made and turnkey plant production. Young, dynamic and well-trained labour force combined with a professional concept of work places a value on production of the desired quantity and quality. Turkish machinery manufacturers are preferred in international markets with delivery on time and at competitive prices, also with desired quality. Attaching great importance to

research and development, the Turkish Machinery Manufacturing Industry has sharpened its competitive edge in international markets due to its advanced engineering skills and low costs. Consequently, Turkish Machinery Industry has been exporting to around 200 countries. The mission of Turkish machinery exporters is flexible production at competitive prices using high technology and its vision is to reach world markets in a fast and effective way. The overwhelming majority of machinery manufacturers in Turkey are small or medium enterprises like many other countries. This makes possible a rapid and flexible adaptation to changing economic conditions and technological developments.

Turkey is the biggest food supplier in Europe, and its food quality is at par with the best in the world. Its meat industry is highly organized and is a profitable export business that earns much money for the country. It is among the world’s best in food processing, supply chain, storage system, post-harvest management and labour mechanization. India too has great policies and plans, but its major drawback is at the at the implementation level, leading to many woes. What were the strategies you employed to achieve 100 per cent implementation to get a level of progress, about which every Turkish feels proud?

Turkish producers and/or exporters are aware of the customer sensitivity about several features of a product and

they are very advanced in offering products that fully satisfy customer needs. They widely use international instruments such as ISO 9001:2000, ISO 22000, HACCP, GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) and the GLOBALGAP that are indicators that Turkish producers and/or exporters fulfill the obligatory rules for quality, food safety and environmental considerations.

Now, let’s come to trade aspect. Both countries are valuable to each other in terms of export and import, but Turkey is complaining about trade imbalance as it is tilted towards India. To remove this imbalance, what are the items that your country would like to export?

Agricultural products with export potential of Turkey to India, olive oil, pulses, sugar and chocolate confectionery, nuts and dried fruits and poppy. Prominent industrial products which have export potential of Turkey to India, iron and steel and products, automotive products, industrial products, processed and the block of marble, metallic ores, textile and apparel products, metal processing machines, some household appliances, textile machinery and machine tools.

Many major countries are signing FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with India to promote trade for mutual benefit. But Turkey hasn’t yet signed any such agreement. Have you any plans

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Interview further and promote import of Turkish technology and machinery into India, which is an emerging market for farm machines and equipment for dairy and other food processing industries?

for it in near future?

Turkey has concluded FTAs with 28 countries, 10 of which were repealed due to the accession of these countries to the EU. Currently, Turkey has 16 FTA’s in force; namely, EFTA, Macedonia, Croatia, BosniaHerzegovina, Albania, Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Georgia, Serbia, Montenegro, Chile and Jordan. Additionally, the FTAs signed with Lebanon and Mauritius are under ratification process. Meanwhile, including India, there are 19 countries and 5 blocs with whom Turkey has started FTA negotiations or is in the process of starting such negotiations. Turkey is keen to sign FTA with India as soon as possible.

As you know, India is an emerging importer of Turkish technology and machinery related to farm, dairy, meat and food processing sectors. Turkish technology and machinery are easily adaptable to Indian conditions, but the constraint appears to be the cost aspect. Have you any plans to make it economically more viable for the Indian farmer so as to boost the sales?

Cost of product depends on variety of factors such as energy prices, labor costs, level of productivity etc. However, competition in quality is better than price competition. In terms of product quality, Turkish products prices are not higher than competitive products in the market.

Turkey has emerged as the ‘focus country’ after Holland and Italy at the AgriTech expo series, the latest of which is going to take place in Bangalore on 25, 26 and 27 August. Do you feel that this would facilitate bilateral trade

In several agricultural sectors, India is among the world’s leading producers. For example, the country is second largest milk producing country in the world. The agricultural sector in the country is known for its high degree of product diversity. The complementary nature of a number of important Indian agricultural products, in comparison to those produced in the West and other countries, provide India considerable export opportunities to these markets. At present, I think the Indian agriculture industry is on the brink of a revolution, which will modernize the entire food chain, as the total food production in the country is likely to double in the next ten years. Turkey is India’s most natural partner in this coming revolution. For Turkish companies, to participate regularly in trade fairs held in India and creation of long-term partnerships with major importers are very important. AgriTech India 2012 will facilitate bilateral trade further and promote import of Turkish technology and machinery into India. Turkey has top quality and competitively priced farm machines and equipment for dairy and other food processing industries. In Turkey, approximately 130 different machines and equipments are manufactured in agricultural machinery sector. The products manufactured are mainly as follows: Tractors, harvesters, pedestrian controlled tractors, mowers, powered, lawn, with horizontal cutting device, seeders, planters and transplanters, manure spreaders and fertilizer distributors, means and equipment for plant protection and irrigation, harvesters, threshers, dryers, machines and equipments for cleaning, distinguishing and processing, milking machines and other equipments for farm and garden usage. The export of the agricultural machinery and equipment sector, which decreased only in 2009 due to the global economic crisis between 2007 and 2011, has increased by 18% in 2011 compared to 2010 and reached 411 million dollars.

Do you subscribe to the view that that Turkish industries’ keenness to have increased business

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

relations with India would also provide an opportunity to them to penetrate neighbouring markets like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka?

India has entered into many bilateral and regional trading agreements over the years. These agreements, besides offering preferential tariff rates on the trade of goods among member countries, also provide for wider economic cooperation in the fields of trade in services, investments and intellectual property. India has signed such agreements with South Asian countries. This has encouraged Turkish businessmen and investors to enter the Indian market.

Do you envisage any other area where bilateral cooperation can be expanded for mutual benefit?

Construction sector is perhaps the most important and potential area for cooperation. The Construction Industry in Turkey has been a driving force in the dramatic economic take off in our economy. The construction sector represents approximately six percent of the GDP employing around 1.3 million people. There is a strong presence of both contracting and consulting companies. Turkish contractors have undertaken almost 6,500 projects in 94 countries with a total value of 210 billion Dollars. Turkish Contactors are most capable to carry out large size and high value-added projects such as airports, subways, industrial plants, natural gas and petroleum refineries, highways and energy stations. Turkish contractors are open to international partnerships not only in the field of contracting, but also in construction industry investments, ranging from the manufacture of construction materials to infrastructure, housing, industry and tourism projects. Indian construction and contracting firms and Turkish firms may act together with the Russian/CIS markets and Middle East, Africa and South Asia markets. Other potential cooperation areas between Turkey and India include: Food processing, Pharmaceuticals, Electric and Electronic appliances, Ship building and maritime transport, railways and rail transport, Automotive, Oil and gas exploration and extraction, Power generation (including nuclear power and renewable energy), Space industry, IT, tourism, Health and Education, just to name a few. The sky is indeed the limit but awareness must grow on both sides about the lucrative opportunities.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Interview

India is one of the major economies in the world……A place to do business, says Katharina C. Hamma Koelnmesse GmbH stages approximately 80 international trade fairs and 2000 conferences attracting about 340,000 visitors, making it Germany’s largest organizer of trade fairs on its own site. The most prestigious among these fairs is Anuga International FoodTec, the world’s biggest exhibition on food. Koelnmesse has been present in India for nearly a decade. But, on its own admission, it is still learning the psyche of the consumers and exhibitors along with local demands and other trends that may help it to mould its offerings according to the specific needs of India. To strengthen the reputation of the brand and to generate more goodwill, its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ms Katharina C. Hamma visited a few cities of India in the second half of July. Ashwani Pande, MD of Company’s Indian subsidiary Koelnmesse YA Tradefair Pvt Ltd accompanied her in her connect-mission with exhibitors, and to further explore possibilities. Anwar Huda of AgriBusiness & Food Industry met them in New Delhi to know their concerns, views and future plans. Excerpts:

Please tell us a brief profile of yourself before you joined as COO of Koelnmesse?

After studying Business Management and Clothing Technology and receiving a degree in Engineering, I began working at Messe München in 1997. Here I headed the business unit responsible for investment goods trade fairs. This category includes important trade

fairs such as Bauma, EXPO REAL, IFAT Entsorga, and transport logistic. In 2008, I became an Authorized Officer of the Messe München Trade Fair Company. And I occupied this newly created post of Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the three-person top management team at Koelnmesse, on October 1, 2011.

What are the main objectives of your visit to India, and as now,

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you have the first hand experience of India and Indian exhibitors, so, being the COO of Koelnmesse what is your understanding of the Indian food industry?

First of all I would like to say that India is marching ahead in many fields, and I was surprised to see many positive changes. I have come here to mainly connect with the exhibitors to further enlighten them with our global

Interview reputation, world-class services and a business-catapulting exposure. We had investor meets in Kanpur, Mumbai and Chandigarh. As you know India is one of the major economies in world and along with China, Turkey and Brazil it is a place to do business. So we cannot ignore India. But to know the market and other practical aspects we need to have a robust contact and research programme. We have to go to these markets. We have to follow our customers. And yes, we are learning and changing ourselves fast. India is of course a very important market, and that is why I am here. There are a lot of developments happening and we want to be part of these developments in a positive, mutually beneficial way. But India is very different from European nations, and we have to adjust to these differences and adapt well. We have to find solutions to these behavioural and cultural differences. We have to develop our shows according to the preferences of the regional exhibitors. Indian food industry is an evergrowing segment. As you know, India is the 2nd largest producer of food, next to China. So we can understand how important the segment is. So there is a huge potential for the processing technology. And this makes sense to organize an exhibition like International FoodTec India.

How are you going to manage the cultural differences and sensitivity towards certain food issues?

We are implementing certain ways to adjust to elements of cultural differences, including sensitivities towards certain kinds of meat and how they are processed. We had a workshop on cold chain also, as the system is quite different here. We are familiarizing ourselves with Indian ethos, preferences and sensitivities and are implementing DOs & DON’Ts to impress upon Indians. When you are going to introduce your food in some other country, you are not going to introduce only food but the whole food culture as well. As you know, India is too sensitive towards food. What one community loves to eat is considered untouchable for another

India is of course a very important market, and that is why I am here. There are a lot of developments happening and we want to be part of these developments in a positive, mutually beneficial way. But India is very different from European nations, and we have to adjust to these differences and adapt well community, e.g. beef and pork. In Europe it is not a big issue. Here Indians love chicken, but it is not true with Germans. So all these differences are to be taken into consideration, and I think it all depends on educating the consumers. For example, Indians took several years to popularize curry in foreign markets. So we cannot expect an overnight changeover. It is a slow process, and exhibitors can’t find a partner in one show. We have to accept this. A lot of globalization is happening right now. Chinese restaurants and even Italian cuisines are making great strides in India. And Indian food too is getting very popular in European nations. So it shows people love the change and want to explore new things, and that is good for us. But we have to adapt according to the habits and culture of a country of our business. But it is not our perception that India cannot mange German lines of food or technologies.

Not only Indian entrepreneurs but foreign investors and brands too face problems like bureaucratic red tape, lack of infrastructure, among other such pesky issues. Do you think such things may discourage them from coming to India to do business?

But they still come to India and those who haven’t are desperate to come. This shows how important India is. See, such problems exist in other developing countries as well, but yes, India needs to better its system and infrastructure to attract investment and ease the process.

What is the biggest problem for an Exhibition organizer? Apparently getting a good venue is

the biggest problem. Good venue is a powerful factor to make an exhibition a success. If exhibitors and visitors face problems to reach the venue in a comfortable way, and to take a lot of hardware to the show ground, they will not participate in next show.

India is emerging as one of the biggest participants in overseas food exhibitions but now your show is facing competition from other new global events such as Gulf Food, SIAL Middle East etc. So, what is your strategy to sustain India’s participation in your show?

Yes, we are aware of that. And we are doing our best to remain at the top. These are regional shows in front of our show. India is big economy, and its participation means a lot. We are addressing issues and problems to remain attractive to India and other such nations.

Germany is known as a major player in organizing the biggest global exhibitions but in last few years we are not seeing any sizeable growth. Apart from that, India is too big with its famous diversity of culture and preferences. Are you facing tough challenges from top regional organizers?

Although, competition exists everywhere, we are not facing any big challenge. Exhibitors know that Koelnmesse is unique in many ways. We can offer what others cannot. We have certain global standards which others do not have. Big exhibitors book stalls in our exhibitions as soon as we announce the dates. We have international reputation and our services are world-class. In India, we see success for us. And we will have a long relationship with it.

Do you have new plans for India?

That we can’t disclose right now. But we are gearing up for several new things and would explore new possibilities. n

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Dairy

Amul Girl

Scores Half Century, attracts eyeballs too many

– Shashi Baliga

When Sylvester da Cunha told his wife Nisha about the campaign he was going to create, he recalls, she asked, off the cuff, “Why don't you say, ‘Utterly Amul'? To which he responded, equally spontaneously, “Hey, what about Utterly Butterly Amul?” And thus was born what he calls “one of the more memorable battle cries in advertising.” Some thought it was ungrammatical. However, Dr V. Kurien, Amul's legendary head, said, “I think it's utterly mad, but if you think it will work, go ahead.”

hese are busy times for Rahul da Cunha. Non-stop India will not allow him a breather as the scams and crooks, the cricketers and the crazies keep hurtling into his hoardings without respite. There was a time when one Amul hoarding went up every week. In May this year, a record 17 of them went up, says the adman, who is Managing Director and Creative Head of da Cunha Communications, the advertising agency that creates the Amul hoardings. In the last week of the month, a particularly eventful one in the life of India, one hoarding went up every day, some across India, some only in Mumbai and Maharashtra. The Amul girl had her say on Shah Rukh Khan's slanging match at the Wankhede stadium, the Kolkata Knight Rider's IPL victory,

Jaganmohan Reddy's arrest, the petrol hike, the film Rowdy Rathore, exam paper leaks in Mumbai and the Oppositioncalled Bandh on May 31. “We now want to tackle every issue; we want to talk to everybody. Look at the madness that reigns,” says da Cunha. “But the greatest joy is that one realises we are such a colourful country and we still have a great deal of freedom of speech.” The madness has kept the Amul hoardings going since 1966, when Sylvester da Cunha, founder-Chairman of the agency and the late cartoonist Eustace Fernandes created the very first hoarding that said: ‘Give us this day our daily bread with Amul Butter'. This month, the agency celebrated 50 years of the brand's advertising with a book featuring the most popular hoardings. Fittingly, for a book called Amul's India, and a brand whose popularity cuts across every social divide, it is not a lavish, expensive

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

coffee-table book, but a charming, neatlydesigned regular-sized one priced at a democratic Rs 299. It is a book filled with wit, insight, courage and waves of nostalgia, a humorous but by no means frivolous record of the high and low points in India's recent tumultuous history. It also has articles by a number of celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Gavaskar and Shobhaa De, who've featured in the hoardings. But first, Sylvester da Cunha tells how the famous catchline, unchanged since its first day, was created. When he told his wife Nisha about the campaign he was going to create, he recalls, she asked, off the cuff, “Why don't you say, ‘Utterly Amul'? To which he responded, equally spontaneously, “Hey, what about Utterly Butterly Amul?” And thus was born what he calls “one of the more memorable battle cries in advertising.” Some thought it was ungrammatical. However, Dr V. Kurien, Amul's

Dairy

Amul Girl at London Olympics

he takes shape rather like a Greek goddess, all grace and fluid movement. Amul’s ‘Milk Girl’ – for that’s the medium she is fashioned from – is the heroine of the company’s latest TV commercial which is part of a larger effort to position milk as ‘the original energy drink’. The ad is interesting in that it’s a 30-second liquid animation all through, right from milk being poured into a glass, the girl leaping out of it and going back into a packet, after showing off her prowess at doing the backstroke, performing on the parallel bar and lobbing a ball high up into an imaginary basket. Amul’s owner, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), a sponsor of India’s Olympics contingent, is pinning its hopes on this ad to get closer to young people through sports and movies. The brand has also tied up with the The Amazing Spiderman movie to play a 3D version of the ad in all theatres where the movie will play in 3D. Following a trend where companies now launch ads and products on the Internet first, Amul released this commercial online, which got it many shares and views on social media. This is one of the few ads using computer graphics that was

legendary head, said, “I think it's utterly mad, but if you think it will work, go ahead.” And they did. So much negotiation The hoardings have evolved from that simple one-liner into meaningful comment on a variety of issues. Their finest moment came in the 1970s, during the Emergency, when the press was dangerously muzzled. While many succumbed without a whimper, Sylvester da Cunha dared to send up a hoarding that declared: ‘We have always practiced compulsory sterilisation' — a reference to the forced family planning

accomplished entirely in India, and the only one which shows high-end liquid simulation from start to finish, say its creators Harish Murjani and Jayant Hadke. Murjani, creative director at Draftfcb+Ulka, Amul’s ad agency, mailed Hadke, creative director at Mumbai’s Famous Studios, an illustration of a girl coming out of milk. Hadke looked at some photographs of liquid sculptures for inspiration, mulled over making a figure in acrylic and dropping it in milk, met with production designers to explore shooting liquid forms and then settled on computer graphics (CG). Other postproduction houses also pitched for the job but Famous bagged it. Hadke, who directed the film, says: “I knew it could be turned into a piece of art if tackled properly and any slip would be disastrous.” Every post-production house is cautious of liquid simulation because of long hours and totally unpredictable results, he says, but he took it on because he knew it was a challenge he would enjoy. “We started tests, and I was quite horrified with the results. We could not control the way the ‘liquid’ was reacting. It was tearing, breaking into pieces – totally different from the nature of the milk.” He realised one piece of software

wouldn’t accomplish all of it, and then used Realflow and Autodesk Maya for the 3D version of the Milk Girl, and Flame, another Autodesk product, as the main software. He got some custom scripts made as well and things began to go smoothly. Says Nitin Karkare, COO, Draftfcb + Ulka, “We could easily have shown people running around but we wanted to link milk and sports closely.” Murjani says: “Milk is luscious, inviting, appetising, fuel, so we thought we’d use ‘milk bodies’ to represent all. Plus, the girl child is important to Amul and this idea tied in with that.” GCMMF Managing Director R. S. Sodhi says over time, more sports will be added to the commercial, which will be the pivot for other promotions to follow

measures ordered by Sanjay Gandhi. “Dad took issues head-on and got away with it,” remarks his son. “I'd have to be really courageous or really stupid to do something like that now.” That's because, he says, “Every cartoon involves so much negotiation. We have to do a lot of research, take care not to offend anyone. We have to be humorous but not make light of matters, for these are not frivolous issues we are talking about. I spend a huge part of my day on this, because we are the custodian of this brand, which comes with such a great legacy.” Also, he adds pragmatically and

honestly, “The brand has to be protected. The Amul management has given us such a free hand that we have to be extremely responsible. We can't endanger their sales.” It's one of the reasons, he says, that they “don't touch” Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray or his nephew Raj. “We're very tempted but we won't go near them, because they are so unpredictable. And the irony is that they are both cartoonists.” Still, they manage to keep the flag flying. One of his personal favourites, says da Cunha, is the one on Lalu Prasad's fodder scam. ‘Fodder of the

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Dairy nation,' it said, and added, ‘Scamul!'. But when they came up with ‘Maine kyon khaya' (Why did I eat so much?) for Suresh Kalmadi during the Commonwealth Games scam, they ran into trouble. “He was found guilty, he was in jail, his party had abandoned him. But party workers in Pune actually pulled down the hoarding,” recalls a bewildered da Cunha. There have been some laughable protests as well. When they wrote ‘Satyam Sharam Scandalum!' for Satyam Computer Services's disgraced Chairman Ramalinga Raju, he says, “We got a formal letter from the Satyam Board threatening us with dire consequences: all their employees would stop eating Amul butter!” The millions who haven't stopped doing so have made the hoardings an

integral part of India's pop culture. What does the Amul cartoon mean to the longsuffering common man? “It mirrors his thoughts, whether of anger, perplexity or amusement,” believes da Cunha. “The attempt is to vocalise what everyone is thinking but can do nothing about.” No wardrobe makeover It is a small, long-standing team of three that comes up with the hoardings. While da Cunha and award-winning copywriter Manish Jhaveri think up the lines, cartoonist Jayant Rane draws the moppet in the polka-dotted dress. It is a team that obviously works very well and productively. But what happens when they don't see eye to eye? “If we can't agree on something, we don't use it. If there's disharmony between the three of us, it won't work when it goes public either,” explains da Cunha. Certainly, they can't take too many

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

liberties with the Amul girl. “When we put her in a skimpy outfit for a cartoon on the IPL cheerleaders, there was a huge protest on our Facebook page,” recounts da Cunha. “They will accept her in any costume if she is drawn as someone else, whether it is Mother Teresa or Mallika Sherawat. But if she's shown as herself, she can't change.” Safe to say they wouldn't consider giving her a wardrobe makeover? “Unthinkable!” declares the adman. Perhaps her fans want her to retain her innocence, one that is now increasingly rarer. “Yes, we want to hark back to that age of innocence and we want her to be six-seven years old forever. She can comment on all kinds of things but she has to remain an innocent child,” he said. Courtesy: Hindu Businesline

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Dairy

Plea for a Credible

Dairy Industry

forum of like-minded People “Private Dairy Industry should fill leadership vacuum to enter higher growth trajectory”

– Vijay Sardana

Vijay Sardana is a well known agribusiness and commodity markets expert. Recently, Former Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented him Zee Business India’s Special Award for his contribution to development of Agribusinesses and Commodity Markets in India. Sardana has been with dairy industry since 1984. In a chat with AgriBusiness & Food Industry, he gave his frank views on dairy industry in India, National Dairy Plan and role of private sector. Excerpts:

Since when are you associated with the dairy Industry and how has been the journey so far? Thanks for having me for this discussion. As you know, I started my career with dairy industry as a student in 1984. I worked as a trainee at Amul, as an extension worker with dairy farmers in Rajasthan, sold and established plants during my stay in Alfa Laval and Tetra Pak, participated in policy making

as member of various committees of policy making bodies like Planning Commission, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, BIS, PFA, etc. I got chances to make presentation to Dr. Verghese Kurien and his team about UHT milk and how to build UHT milk market in India, raw milk quality in India and on many other issues. It was no doubt a memorable experience. I was touched by his caring attitude whenever

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

I met him. Great people express their greatness in their attitude and behavior. I can say one thing, if you know how to handle and process milk, every other food item is much simple to handle and process. Dairy industry is like running an ICU in hospital; you are always running against time. In India, where ambient temperature is very high and infrastructure is poor, milk business really tests all your management skills and technological capability. It is a great experience to be part of Indian dairy industry. I must thank all my teachers, wellwishers and friends in dairy industry for their constant support, guidance and encouragement. This award is an outcome of their belief in me and my efforts. What are your views on the latest National Dairy Plan (NDP) and why is private sector not taken on board this plan? After Operation Flood program, this is a major initiative to push dairy industry to a high trajectory. According to National Dairy Plan, in its 15-year horizon, the focus will be on breed

Dairy improvement, animal nutrition, villagebased procurement system and project management and learning. Total investment planned for Phase-1 is Rs. 1760 crore. The major source of funding is from World Bank -- about Rs. 1584 crore – and the rest Rs. 176 crore is from Government of India. The interesting observation is that World Bank always supported and promoted private sector role in all major developments in India. Why was private dairy sector either ignored or not taken on board? This needs to be understood and discussed with concerned authorities of World Bank and Government of India. The role of private sector may not be clearly announced in many words but this needs to be discussed and if possible clarified by the concerned authorities. Should Private Industry approach World Bank to discuss their role in NDP? World Bank and Government of India must have done extensive consultations with various stakeholders. No public policy document and public policy can be finalized without stakeholders’ consultation. I am sure, private sector will be part of the development agenda. What will be their role needs to be discussed in detail. Suppose, If NDP ignores private sector it means somewhere private sector has to do introspection and do something to create confidence among policy makers that they can also do good for farmers and consumers by taking certain actions and activities. Now the biggest point is who will go and talk to World Bank on this subject? I don’t see any forum or body or Association, other than those already consulted, who can go and discuss this subject on behalf of private sector dairy industry. Are your saying private sector has no voice or their voice is unheard? Credible voice comes from credible visible actions. Let me raise a few issues at the risk of making certain people unhappy. What is the private sector dairy industry doing to control the problem of synthetic milk and

adulteration in dairy products like maltodextrin in milk powders, etc? These products are consumed by vulnerable sections of society like infants, children, aged people and patients and they are also given as offering to temples. For all of them, purity and quality of dairy product is of utmost importance. If you ask private sector players, why are they, or their association, not taking action on these matters, the standard reply is that it is the role of the government. I am sure all companies keep track of what

from international developments. I am not sure what is happening now. It is now operating from Pune. You have to check with them. Unfortunately our private dairy industry is not united. They don’t have one voice on major issues. They are fragmented, based on their commercial interest. Many of them work with cooperative sector as co-packers. Let me tell you from first-hand experience. We organized Dairy Industry Council to take up

No doubt, there are bodies like Indian Dairy Association (IDA) but it represents all stakeholders including students, researches, farmers, cooperatives and also private sector. They all have their own priorities. I am not sure what role IDA can play to act as a bridge between cooperatives and private dairy industry. I am sure they must have played a role in finalization of NDP. They must have given their inputs about role of private sector dairy industry in NDP is going on in other companies? The question now arises: Why was collective action not taken till date by any Industry Association, including national industry bodies, against even a single company involved in such mal-practices to protect the goodwill of Indian dairy industry and health of society and goodwill of Indian products in world market? Yes, government has its role, but you cannot ignore the role of other stakeholders in controlling this problem of adulteration. You were involved in many landmark activities during your association with Centre for International Trade in Agriculture and Agro-based industries (CITA). What has happened to the initiatives taken by CITA for dairy sector? You mentioned about CITA. Yes, CITA was constituted to protect and promote the interest of Indian Agriculture and Agribusinesses including dairy industry in India mainly

issues of private dairy sector in CITA. One of the major issues which I was handling on behalf of Indian dairy Industry was to prevent dumping of Butter Oil from New Zealand which could lead to collapse of Indian dairy industry. We were concerned because we have seen how dairy industry in other countries collapsed due to subsidized imported butter-oil and milk powder. We wanted to protect our dairy farmers and dairy industry from unfair trade practices in world market. In order to take everyone on board, from the platform of CITA we organized Dairy Industry Council and had meetings with all major players. All were invited from all over India with advance intimation about what was the agenda. The turnout was less than expected. Most of them wanted the minutes of the meeting but avoided their presence in the meeting due to reasons best known to them. On telephone they

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Dairy were very enthusiastic but when it was the time to stand together, many were missing. On investigation it appeared that many of them actually wanted subsidized imported butter oil and milk power so that they can make quick money at the cost of Indian dairy farmers and Indian dairy industry. Except a few, no one was even willing to share the data when anti-dumping case was filed. Interestingly the biggest support for the cause came from Indian newspapers and Indian Government officials. Indian press and policy makers wanted to support but were helpless because of lack of support from Industry to protect poor dairy farmers of India and Indian dairy industry. None of the major private sector dairy, or any body or association even sent their representatives or came as observer or ever asked GOI to make them party to the anti-dumping case. All this is in public domain and can be downloaded from internet and can be sourced by filing RTI application to seek details. I wish we have good dairy industry body with a vision for Indian dairy Industry. It is interesting to hear all this inside story, but now with National Dairy Plan can private dairy sector be on high table with Cooperatives? Let us come back to National Dairy Plan (NDP). While no doubt, private sector role is important, who is representing them? As a country, do we have a democratically elected body or association to represent private Dairy Industry on all India basis? NDDB’s mandate is to promote and support cooperative movements in dairy sector. I am associated with Indian Dairy industry since 1984. I have not come across anybody with a mandate to represent private Indian dairy Industry. No doubt, there are bodies like Indian Dairy Association (IDA) but it represents all stakeholders’ including students, researches, farmers, cooperatives and also private sector.

They all have their own priorities. I am not sure what role IDA can play to act as a bridge between cooperatives and private dairy industry. I am sure they must have played a role in finalization of NDP. They must have given their inputs about role of private sector dairy industry in NDP. You are mentioning that private sector dairy feels let down and want to get ‘benefits’ under NDP. They should approach the government on this matter. The word “benefit” highlights the undercurrent of their demands. What do they mean by “benefits”? If it means subsidies or cash transfer to them, I don’t think it will be an easy task in current situation. After all, it is public money. It cannot be utilized for private gains. Laws will not permit, courts will not permit and Parliament will not permit. Moreover, World Bank is funding this NDP project; it means it is a loan not grant from World Bank. Who will pay back? There is need to establish a mechanism and this must be understood carefully. Let me share my views on components of NDP and how the private sector can play a role: 1. Breed Improvement: Private sector can initiate this activity with the support of NDRI and other universities in their area. How many of them are doing it. No one stopped them from doing it ever. No law prevents this. Why was it not done till date? There is no need to have semen production system in every dairy. What private dairies can do is to organize Good Animal Husbandry camps in their catchment area and promote good practices. How many companies have created infrastructure for these activities, baring cooperatives and very few private diaries and MNCs like Nestle?. This should be documented and shared with GOI so that confidence building starts at the top policy making level. A common statement in dairy business is: Everyone wants to milk a milking cow and no one wants to feed it during dry season, but expect good return on a sustainable basis. This is not possible. Private sector should tie up with breeding farms and promote Good

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Dairying Practices in their region. 2. Animal Nutrition: How many private dairies have feed mills? Who has stopped them from promoting balanced rations in their catchment area? You don’t need NDP for this because animal feed manufacturing and selling itself is a profitable venture. Why is it not being done? Private diaries should promote balanced ration in their areas. 3. Village based Milk Procurement Systems: Yes, this is one area where capital is required. Government of India also has established Dairy Venture Capital Fund. This can be sourced from Government for India at subsidized interest rates. How many companies have facilitated the use of these funds by farmers in their villages? This can be checked from GOI, by sending RTI request. I feel Government of India should support this activity as well, like it is doing for cold storages as well. But have all the villages electricity to keep the milk chilled? I suggest, private sector must visit Nestle and Amul to see how dairy development work happens in the catchment area and their region. After all, long term sustainability of any business happens with overall development of all stakeholders, not of investor only. If we think farmers will work for private sector dairy and he has no alternative or if we feel consumers will buy our product and they have no option – such concepts will only highlight our ignorance and insulation from ground reality. Farmers and consumers have options, but unfortunately, the situation is the other way round -- Industry has no option, it has to work with the farmer and consumers to source raw material and sell the products. The sooner the industry builds bonds with them, the better it will be for it. What is the way forward for private dairy Industry? My humble request to my private sector dairy friends is: Please form a credible association with a wider agenda,

Dairy not just for subsidies, food laws and tax concessions. It must be for long term development plan. Pool your own funds first and create an infrastructure for the association to give a message to stakeholders and policy makers that we are serious and we mean business. Avoid petty politics in associations because this makes industry bodies ineffective and ultimately create breakaway fractions in the name of regions or states. Institution building is a long term process. Think big, think long term, have patience because no development will happen overnight. Please do make Code of Conduct for your members and take commitment at the time of enrolling them as members that our members will not do any adulteration of any sort in milk and milk products. Avoid caste system in your association whether it is cooperative dairy or private dairy or MNCs. Once we invest in factories in India and work with Indian farmers and use Indian raw material, we all are part of Indian Dairy Industry. With personal experience, I assure you world around you will change very fast. People and policy makers will invite you to come on high table and be part of the development agenda. One caution: Companies keen to do trading by importing from international market and have no interest in sourcing milk from Indian dairy farmers should not be part of the same table and forum. Members must source minimum 80% of their annual turnover and milk and milk products requirements from Indian farmers or milk produced by Indian farmers. Otherwise, this will lead to conflict of interest. International trade politics will be at full play on various issues like taxes, quarantine food safety, food laws, etc. I have seen all this firsthand in various associations. For those players with short term trading interest there are many other forums. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry about them; they know how to play their games. There any many other forums willing to take them on board because they can sponsor many events and programs for many associations. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow money bags to decide develop agenda. Who will recognize new Private Dairy Association? In fact if you talk to policy makers,

they also want good private players to come forward in the form of good industry association. It is true that Policy Makers cannot accommodate individual industries. interest. Collective voice will give strength to policy making because it is public money and it must go for good public cause. Who should initiate the process? As we all are fully aware, there are many good dairy companies and good leaders in private dairy sector, they also need a credible forum and forum needs a credible voice. I know many of the dairy business leaders. They are very good, but are busy with their business. Now it for them to spare some time for a wider cause like NDP and come out to do something in the larger interest and create a credible dairy industry forum with like-minded people. They can do it, but someone from them has to take the first step forward. It is doable, let us see who comes forward. Let me wish them good luck in advance. The country is waiting for leadership in private dairy sector. Are you hopefully that there is a place for private dairy sector in NDP? As far National Dairy Plan is concerned, I am sure this can be modified to accommodate the ground reality and credible players from private sector. When the constitution can be modified, every other document can be modified, made by the people those

who take oath under that the same constitution. The bigger question is, are we ready with our credentials to be on the high table? These are my personal views, many of your readers not agree with these. Many may feel offended. I have no intention to hurt anyone, I was sharing my personal experience based on what I observed and experienced about the industry in which I have invested more 25 years of my professional life. One can choose to ignore the facts but facts remain. I have also seen very encouraging developments during my extensive travelling in many places in India. I wish the same can be replicated all over. Livestock industry incl. dairy Industry will be one of the most profitable industry in days to come. This needs holistic planning approach, not piece meal approach. It is high time for country to encourage livestock sector in big way. Please remember, livestock industry is like ATM machine for farmers. This brings cash to him or her on daily basis. For crop earning, he has to wait for seasons. I wish you and your readers all the very best. Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity for sharing my views. Disclaimer: These views are personal as a concerned citizen. Author is not authorized by any association or organization to give views or opinion on its behalf.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Dairy

India needs a new strategy for milk – B.M. Vyas

But each time the tabela owners sent the calves for slaughtering, they were also destroying our best genetic stock without appreciating that the ‘calf’ is a future cow. This process went on, unchecked for more than a century and not just in Mumbai but in all metros. Over time, it translated into the country losing its best genetic pedigree and being left with milch animals with dismal productivity

e have all read or heard how, in the past, India was a land flowing with milk and honey. The country, after all, had some of the best breeds, both of cattle (Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir, Kankrej, Tharparkar and Ongole) and buffalo (Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jaffarabadi, Mehsana and Banni), besides also the best cattle breeders in the world. Moreover, we had tropical weather, reasonably good monsoon, and both rainfed as well as perennial rivers flowing through fertile land mass — all conducive for dairy farming. Yet, when we became independent in 1947, milk was scarce and beyond our means. What went wrong? For an answer, we need to look at history in a different

light, going back to the advent of the British era. That was when a trend of urbanisation around major sea ports such as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and also the national capital of Delhi gathered momentum. Destroying genetic wealth The ever increasing population in these centres generated rising demand for milk, resulting in the setting up of tabelas and khattals — enclosures where cows and buffaloes were reared for milk. Even today, one can, while taking a local train from the north to south of Mumbai, spot a large number of these enclosures alongside the tracks. The tabela owners, always keen to maximise short-term profits, would bring the best of the high yielding animals from the hinterlands along with their young calves. Once the milk flow was established — which is all that interested

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them — they would wean away the calf within a week or so and send it for slaughtering. The animals in-milk, too, would be reared for a few lactation cycles, before being disposed of to the slaughter house as well. The empty slots in the tabelawould, then, be filled with the next lot of cattle from the hinterland. But each time the tabela owners sent the calves for slaughtering, they were also destroying our best genetic stock without appreciating that the ‘calf’ is a future cow. This process went on, unchecked for more than a century and not just in Mumbai but in all metros. Over time, it translated into the country losing its best genetic pedigree and being left with milch animals with dismal productivity. Amul’s Advent This state of affairs — where milk

Dairy was being produced and consumed in urban India, with government schemes also doing the same — changed with Amul coming into existence in 1946. This was a cooperative owned by farmers producing milk from animals reared in their natural rural environment itself and not brought for eventual slaughtering in the city tabelas. As the Amul model grew — providing market access and remunerative prices to farmers along with services such as veterinary care, balanced cattle feed supply, artificial insemination and progeny-tested frozen semen — milk production and animal productivity started going up. For the first time in about 200 years, someone was also trying to stop and reverse the depletion of our precious animal genetic wealth. Between the mid-1970s and the 1990s, the dairy cooperative movement spread to more than 200 districts of India, with milk production growing at 4 to 5 per cent per annum, from 20 million tonnes (mt) to the current levels of 120 mt. India emerged as the world’s largest milk producer and per capita consumption, too, rose to almost the global average. If milk production could increase six-fold in less than 40 years, what makes our bureaucrats, sitting in their plush airconditioned offices in New Delhi, doubt our ability to achieve an output of 200 mt by 2020? It sometimes raises doubts about their real intent: Resorting to milk powder imports and banning export of dairy products is something that comes most naturally to our babus! Crude Protein Export Doubling India’s production over the next 10 years is surely achievable, with better road connectivity, power supply and faster communication infrastructure, and more educated milk producers. But that requires strategic initiatives in raising milk productivity, where our national institutions have grossly failed. We have lost valuable time, failing to master modern technologies for dairy cattle genetic upgradation that have been successfully applied in the US, New Zealand, Europe and even Israel, China and Brazil. What would take decades through earlier technologies such as

progeny testing can be achieved at much less time and cost today using advanced genetic engineering tools. It is high time a special mission is created to spearhead deployment of genetic engineering tools for supply of pre-sexed, high pedigree frozen embryos and semen of proven bulls from our indigenous breeds such as the Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal and Murrah. Also, we need to revisit the policy of exporting millions of tonnes of soya, cotton-seed and rape-seed meal, all of which contain 30-40 per cent high-quality crude protein. If these are fed to our cows, buffaloes or poultry, they would be converted into highly digestible protein that our children and women need most. It is often argued that export of meal brings in valuable foreign exchange, but the reality is that most of it gets spent again on import of pulses! Now, I am not anti-globalisation or liberalisation, but exporting crude protein and importing pulse protein just doesn't make sense. At Affordable Prices My point is, we must make our fodder and feed resources at an affordable rate for our animals first, which is what the Government earlier did by imposing a 20 per cent levy on export of protein meal. Reinstating this will not affect our oilseed farmers, who are hurt more by the country importing massive volumes of edible oil at negligible import duty. If well-managed, the next couple of decades can become a golden era for India’s milk production and cattle productivity gains, especially with a young population growing handin-hand and powering a market for milk and value-added dairy products. Meeting this demand by importing is an unsustainable proposition. If we want our countrymen to be strong, tall, healthy, smart, and to live for 100 years, we need more milk at affordable prices. Not right-for-food or rural employment guarantee schemes! (The author is former M D of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) Courtesy: Hindu Businessline

Alis Volat Propriis

amilaben Govindbhai Patel hasn’t been to college. But at 43, she earns what some CEOs take home. She milks cows every day and supplies milk to a dairy co-operative. She earned Rs 1.10 crore net profit in 2011-12. At Pentarpura village in Sabarkantha district, Ramilaben’s dairy farm churns out 5.55 lakh litres of milk per annum. What had started as a backyard business in 2000 is now a full-fledged family business. She is an outstanding success story of the change the White Revolution has brought about in Amul capital. Twelve years ago, Ramilaben registered herself as a primary milk producer at Pentarpura’s dudh mandali (village level milk society) and took a bank loan for five cross-bred cows. Today, she runs ‘Jai Ranchod Dudh Utpadan Kendra’, which is a five-acre home to 280 cattle where 40 workers get employment, even though the farm has four automatic milking machines. She and her husband Govindbhai visited Israel last year to finalize plans to set up a calfrearing farm alongside a fully computerized ‘tabela’. “Our farm has 24-hour water, a cooling system, fodder chaffing machines and other things but we want to adopt Israeli technology where rotary units will milk cows automatically and also indicate fat content,” says Ramilaben. The modernization will cost Rs 1 crore. Ramilaben is an inspiration to other women in Gujarat who are the backbone of the dairy industry. Out of the total 16,117 milk societies, 2,124 are run by women. Alis volat propriis, Latin for ‘She flies with her own wings’, which is also the motto of the state of Oregon, perfectly sums up this miracle lady.

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Agri Affairs

From Rent-Seekers to Entrepreneurs? — Sanjeev Chopra

I The clamour for removing perishables from the ambit of the APMC Acts is gaining currency, as also their exemption from Mandi fees/cess/levy. The creation of a pan India market for perishables is also underway. Aggregators would also like to participate in markets other than the ones in which they are currently registered. Why should the onion trader of Srinagar or Kolkata or Guwahati not have access to the markets of Nashik where most onion trading takes place?

n this Agri Affairs, the focus is on the ‘economic agents’ who run the perishable supply chain. Often described as intermediaries, middlemen, financiers, aggregators and traders, they are a vilified lot –for they are the ones who are held responsible by all and sundry for the rising prices, the supply chain deficiencies, and for giving a raw deal to both the producer and the consumer. What is said about them is not untrue – but it is not the whole truth. There can be no denial of the fact that they have not changed their business practices to cater to the increased production and demand – and they have continued to work on business models which were based on low volume and high margins to cover the aggregation, transport, auction, wastage and bad debts. Over the last decade the volumes have grown manifold - but as the margins have not been suitably adjusted, there is no incentive to shift from the existing rent –seeking behaviour to an enterprise model Planning Commission Report Fortunately, the Saumitra Chaudhury (Planning Commission) report on cold Chain for perishables recognises this aspect. It clearly spells out that existing commission agents should be encouraged to upgrade their value chains by supporting their endeavours to upscale technology at all levels to cut wastages, and give a premium for quality. The report recognises the fact that it is not possible for all the farmers, especially marginal and small farmers to get their produce individually to the Mandi, or even the local aggregator – the

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costs will not be commensurate to the returns. Scientific storage & speed However, if the sorting, grading and primary level scientific storage can be organised, the reduction in wastage can help create a virtuous cycle. If he can also arrange a refrigerated van to transport the produce, it would be much better. If he can also have his own controlled atmosphere storage closer to the farmer’s field, he can schedule his deliveries to maximise his revenues. Thus if the pressure on getting the produce to the Mandi in whatever condition and within the shortest possible time is reduced, there will be a change in the way business is currently being carried out. Commission agents have the resources; they also have the domain knowledge of the commodities, the producers and the consumers: what are missing are technology inputs and a long term vision to reinventing their business. Why should the onion wholesale dealers not develop their linkages with the farmers of Nashik and Lasalgaon directly, and facilitate the transport of onion? Why should they not create their own brands and offer pre-packaged bags of onions with clear indication of the MRP? Making a proposition is easy. The tough challenge is to transform it into practice. How do we bring about this change? More importantly, why should the commission agent leave his familiar world, and step into the unknown. What can the state do to facilitate this transition? Information technology The main drivers of this change will

Agri Affairs be information technology, professional logistics, state support to FPOs, and the imminent trade liberalization. Information Technology is the first driver. As mobile phones become cheaper, have in –built FM radios and pan India calls become the norm, farmers will be aware of the retail prices in different markets, and also the mark –ups at different levels of the value chain. Farmers will not be ‘dependent’ on the commission agent for price discovery. His ability to negotiate the terms of trade improves. Good Transport system Secondly, the expansion of the road network to production areas and the quality of trucks and pick –up vans has improved considerably. Transport companies have extended their networks to reach every nook and corner of the country. Many of them are also reinventing themselves as Logistics Company which offers an end-to end solution, including warehousing and CA storage facilities if required. Many transporters are adding refrigerated vans to their fleets. Thus commodities can move to different markets without having to stop at an intermediate point.

State Support Another game changer is state support to Farmer producer Companies. As this column has reported earlier, farmers are being encouraged to aggregate their produce locally and undertake certain primary operations themselves. FPOs are nimble, flexible and do not require the complex organizational framework of co-operatives. Neither are they loaded with any ‘social responsibilities’. They are also encouraged to form linkages with traders and intermediaries to reduce transaction costs at both ends. Thus unlike cooperatives which were often posited against the trader – the FPOs recognize the role of the commission agent, and are willing to enter into short to medium term understanding with them. While the advantages of scale become available to the farmer, they continue to do what they are best at doing – production. Trade liberalization Last but not the least is that trade liberalization is imminent. The commission agent also knows the writing on the wall. The clamour for

removing perishables from the ambit of the APMC Acts is gaining currency, as also their exemption from Mandi fees/cess/levy. The creation of a pan India market for perishables is also underway. Aggregators would also like to participate in markets other than the ones in which they are currently registered. Why should the onion trader of Srinagar or Kolkata or Guwahati not have access to the markets of Nashik where most onion trading takes place? As electronic auctions become the norm, business opportunities will become clearer, and many among the younger generation inspired to make the transition from traders in a local Mandi to pan India, and maybe global entrepreneurs. Given the right thrust, some positive encouragement and a clear signal that market reforms are imminent, the transition can lead to a ‘win –win’ situation for all the stakeholders. (The author is Joint Secretary & Mission Director, NHM & NMMI, Union Ministry of Agriculture)

A third of all food produced globally is wasted

ne-third of food produced globally every year does not reach human mouths – it is either lost in transit or wasted by consumers themselves. This amounts to a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes every year. These chilling figures are part of a report called ‘Avoiding Future Famines’ released by the United Nations Environment Programme at the recently held Rio+20 summit on sustainable development. Consumers throw away 222 million tonnes of food in edible condition every year in North America and Europe. The total food production of Sub-Saharan Africa is 230 million tonnes per year. Based on a study last year by a group of researchers from Swedish Institute of Food & Biotechnology (SIK), and the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), the report says that food loss or waste occurs right through the food supply chain – from farm to dining table. But in medium and high-income

countries, a higher share of food is really wasted, meaning it is thrown away even if still suitable for human consumption. In low-income countries food is mainly lost during the early and middle stages of the food supply chain; much less food is wasted by consumers. The world is wasting tonnes of food everyday, says a report by the United Nations’ Environment Programme. In Europe and North-America, a total of 280300 kg of food is wasted per capita every year. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South/ Southeast Asia per capita food wastage is 120-170 kg per year. This aggregate wastage figure is made up of loss or wastage at different stages: farming, post harvest, processing, distribution and consumption. In developing countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur at post harvest and processing levels, while in industrialized countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur at retail and consumer levels,

according to analysis done by Jenny Gustavsson of SIK. Per capita food wasted by consumers in Europe and North America is 95-115 kg per year, while this figure is only 6-11 kg per year in sub-Saharan Africa and South/ Southeast Asia. American consumers throw away 25% of all food they purchase while British consumers throw away roughly one-third of their purchased food due to factors such as over-purchasing in response to marketing offers and obeying expiration dates labelled on products, according to the UNEP report. The UNEP report suggests organizing small-scale farmers — which comprise the bulk of producers in the developing countries like India — so that they can pool resources and share centralized storage, transportation and marketing facilities. n

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Country Cuisines

art

Dadi…thou

vanishing!!! – Anwar Huda

‘I

do not have time’, shot back Anjali the moment I asked her if she loves to continue the legacy of making ‘til ka laddu in desi ghee’ on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sakranti. ‘We do not have time even to cook dinner, not to talk of all these ancient nonsense…I mean why should I grind myself when there is a good shop close by selling it in beautiful packing’, she added, almost taking pride in her busy and financially rewarding career and the weariness that accompany with it. The story is same almost everywhere in cities, with some exceptions, of course, especially in parts of India. Perhaps, today only the villages can claim to take the tradition of community kitchen and home-made delicacies forward. Every state in India has its own unique identity, not only in terms of food but also clothing, festivals and dialects. While culture is the single strong point which binds all the citizens of this great ancient nation, food specialties are a great topic of discussion at any occasion. But nothing can match the original traditional sweets and savouries that our dadis and nanis still make on important occasions. Children used to wait for these occasions in olden days. Not that their taste for these preparations is any less now, but the same old enthusiasm is slowing dying because of easy availability of modern ‘avtars’ of many of these delicacies in attractive packs in the markets. The mostly unwritten recipes are like oral traditions being passed from generation to generation. Cleanliness of the cook, kitchen and ingredients were all part of the drill – almost like a ritual for them. Has the new generation that is hooked on digital gadgetry and readyto-eat and cook packaged foods the time for all that? As a result, a connoisseur

will always find a difference in taste of a sweet or savoury prepared in the traditional home and of that which is available in the supermarket. Then, there are delicacies galore, prepared with great care and skill only in the homes, which cannot be found in any restaurant or branded sweet outlets. Leisure no longer exists for present day youth. They do not have time or inclination to sit in the lap of nature and hear the birds singing and rustling of the tree. Bungalows are being converted into multi-story flats to accommodate growing number of residents. So, nobody seems to have time to write poetry or read John Milton and Prem Chand. And they do not have time to learn and cook even good dinner and lunch items. So what can be the destination of these great traditional foods? Dustbin of history? Fast life, commercialization, lack of time and space, love for money and materials, disconnect from roots and lack of interest are some reasons that are sending these ancient recipes, born out of pure love for great taste and foods, to the dustbin of history. And what is alarming is that no one seems to care about this fast death. Given the present scenario, it might be possible that sooner the officials at the National Archive of India may wake up to this extinction phenomenon, and be ready to prepare an exhaustive list of each region’s traditional delicacies to keep them safe, lest future generation may want it for some scientific investigation or just for plain e-reading. Every one, no matter how much he loves fast food, will love a traditional delicacy, cooked on special occasion. And it should be everyone’s responsibility to shoulder these recipes and traditions and reach them to the next generation. In developed countries like UK, they take great efforts to keep

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

tradition and modernism side by side. Forgetting history is like forgetting our own existence. Schools books – home science texts -- should include these recipes and stories of dadis and nanis cooking these foods and the methods, hard work and entertainment that accompany them. . Many teen-aged children do help their mothers and grand mothers on special occasions, and this should be encouraged so that they acquire many tips and skills to be cherished forever. Dadis and nanis should also make a special effort to guide and inspire the children, and inculcate in them a pure love for our original home-cooked foods. They would thus know for the rest of their life, no matter how tall the claims of the food brands are, there are no real alternatives to home-cooked delicacies. Commercialization and technological improvements are important, but we should not allow them to wipe out the traditional culinary skills and knowledge that deserve to be preserved for posterity. Another amazing aspect of our ancestors is the community living and sharing foods. The elders should involve kids in their colonies and mohallas to use community kitchens and teach them how to share and love each other. This act also inspires nationalism in people, and a great sense of bonding, which is even more necessary in this age of nuclear family and individualism. On occasions like Diwali, Holi, Pongal and Eid, schools and mohalla / colony samitis should hold special programmes to use the service and skills of dadis and nanis, and hands of the kids to prepare the traditional foods. The government should create a National Register of such foods and make it available online, and create awareness programmes to popularize the same. An ideal nation is one, where old and new exists side by side; where tradition and modernism have no conflict. This spirit should be reflected in food as well.

Interview

Sourcing materials for export market directly from the farmer is the best possible solution, says Apurva Shah Mumbai-based Jalbindu Agritech is a leading grower and exporter of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. Its basket includes figs, pomegranates, grapes and dates. Dates are grown on many acres of land. The plants are brought from Israel and Jordan. Its future plans include establishing date palm plantations in Kutch on commercial basis and using hi-tech technologies like computerised irrigation control system. It is also planning to market dates in India as well as abroad and want to take Kutch dates all over the world and make it globally famous. In a brief chat with Agri Business and Food Industry, its Director Apurva Shah spoke about the overall business scenario, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cold chain problems and his future plans. Excerpts: Jalbindu Agritech sounds like a company dealing in agriculture technology. Do you have any other activities apart from fruits and vegetables? Mainly we are into growing and marketing of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. We are the first to introduce Barhi variety of fresh dates (registered and known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Golden Datesâ&#x20AC;?) in India. We have successfully grown dates at our model farm near Ratnal village at Kutch and opened a new window for local farmers for sustainable and commercial farming of dates. The Golden Dates is known for its quality in India as well abroad. However, currently our main focus is on development of proper marketing chain for perishables. What is overall market scenario for fresh fruits and vegetables? India itself is a huge market for its produces. The only thing it lacks is infrastructure which includes basic requirements of Post Harvest Managements / Technologies, Efficient supply chain and Fair Business Practices. Most of the time, middle men in the supply chain are earning more than the farmer. India is also a second big importer

of fruits and vegetables, buying from Australia, US and China. Do you see any export-import gap? What is your thought on it? Indian fruits and vegetables are banned in Australia and US. US started importing mangoes from India but the import procedure is very lengthy that it affects the quality and cost of produce.

only professional but also personal relations. They are well aware that our reputation is theirs and vice versa. Also, we visit them regularly and make sure that such practices are not adapted by farmers. Moreover, if a farmer is getting sustainable price for his produce then why one would adapt such practices.

Domestic prices of fruits and vegetables are higher. Do you face problems in sourcing the material for exports? There is a huge gap between what a final consumer is paying and a farmer (grower) is realizing. Sourcing a material for export market directly from the farmer is the best possible solution. By doing so, not only the farmer and the exporter will be in win-win situation, but also the wastage will be reduced substantially as there will be less and proper handling of perishables.

India is suffering from lack of cold chain, due to which 30-40% of the horticulture produce go waste, as they are highly perishable. What do you think should be done to address this issue? Very rightly said, we are lacking post harvest management badly and farmers are paying price for it. Also, as an alternative, air transport system is used which is very expensive. Temperature controlled or separate section for Fresh fruit and vegetable in Railway luggage coaches is a good and cost effective suggestion. This issue needs an urgent attention.

Due to education, Indian consumers are becoming very health-conscious. The vegetables and fruits are said to have pesticide residue, and growers are even using hormones to fatten the size and make the colour attractive. Consumption of these products is highly unhealthy. How do you monitor this dangerous practice? With our growers, we do not share

What are your future plans? Wish to establish a system through which farmers get sustainable prices for their produce and a consumer gets value for the money he is spending in terms of residue free hygienic produce.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Corporate

Sameer Suneja: Perfect for Perfetti – Vinay Kamath & R. Ravikumar

ameer Suneja. Doesn’t ring a bell? Perfetti Van Melle? No? The maker of Alpenliebe candy and Big Babol gum for kids; it won awards at Cannes for its iconoclastic ‘palace lighting’ ads for Happy Dent whitening gum. Aha, now we know! Most avid TV watchers will surely not forget the whacky gum ads, like the one of the photographer using his assistant’s teeth as a flash. Yes, says the slim, boyish-looking, 40-year-old Suneja, Managing Director of confectionery major Perfetti. The Italian company prefers it that way: low profile but let its brands do the talking, he points out. “Advertising has played a very important role in our success,” says Suneja. And how! It’s propelled Perfetti to market leadership in a highly competitive category. Suneja points out that all of Perfetti’s advertising were clutter-busters, right from the initial days of Alpenliebe’s successful launch with the jee lalchaye raha na jaaye and the Lage Raho ads. “If the advertising is really working for you in terms of top-ofmind awareness, then consumers will tend to pick up your brand vis-à-vis

another brand or even if they didn’t intend to,” he explains. Suneja has a flight to catch from Chennai so we meet him for a quick lunch at Radisson Blu, an airport hotel. Lunch is light: some lemon juice, grilled chicken sandwiches, phulkas and dal makhani is what we quickly order. We wonder if the CEOs we meet are getting even younger, considering that our last luncheon meeting was with truck maker Ashok Leyland’s 45-year-old MD! Jar’s the Thing We ask Suneja, who’s going to move soon to a global role in the Netherlands, what else has worked to make Perfetti brands a roaring success, apart from its cutting-edge advertising. Good products and the right price, though it’s not as simple as that, obviously. “The other differentiator in this category is distribution, because the reach has to be there, both in urban and rural,” he explains. Tearing off a piece of a soft phulka, Suneja says it’s the jar that’s most important. “We believe a lot in the value of the jar (stuffed with gums and candies) to give us visibility. And, it has to be at the kids’ eye level because it’s lower down from ours.” And, at Perfetti, getting this visibility right is critical. Dedicated teams from merchandising, trade and marketing go to thousands of retail outlets to ensure this. Perfetti brands, he says, reach over three million outlets. “We can’t do perfect merchandising in all those places, it’s impossible, so we rely on our distributors’ salesmen who we train,” he explains. All those moves have evidently

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

worked for Perfetti as sales have topped Rs 1,500 crore and Suneja says the company’s three plants are running to capacity and there are plans to set up one more plant. Perfetti India is evidently a star in the global network of the Italian company as it has allowed the Indian affiliate to develop and launch snack foods in a highly contested market where Frito Lay, ITC, Haldirams, Parle, Balaji and more of their ilk are slugging it out. Its first snack brand, Stop Not, an extruded snack, is in the market now and Suneja points out that it’s still in the test market phase. “We are still learning as it’s a different category in terms of distribution, visibility and shelf life,” he explains. Currying Flavour We ask Suneja how Perfetti India has been customising all those brands it gets from its parents to an Indian palate. It’s happening all the time, he explains, including experimenting with many local flavours. Even the Happy Dent gums range needs to be customised, he points out. “In India, you may add more sugar but not add an intense mint flavour. If you eat gum in Europe or in the US it’s very strong, very minty. Here, if the product has a very strong nasal impact and if we go down that path, you can find it bitter and consumers can reject it,” he elaborates. The same goes for candy; the flavour or the profile in India is definitely different from China or even home country Italy where they may want it creamier, or some may want it more caramelised. As Suneja is just 40, we ask him if he’s younger than every other senior person in the company. “I’ve been the youngest

Corporate in the management team for years,” and getting the gist of our questioning, adds, “I have been very lucky; it would have been a bit of a problem if I had come from the outside. In this case, I did not have any showdowns, working relationship problems … I believe in being like a football captain rather than being like a cricket captain. So, I think it works out very well.” Suneja says his team is full of seasoned pros with whom he shares a good working relationship and “we all bring it (the experience) for the business and it is not that ‘I am here, and you have to listen to what I am saying, because I am the boss’!” Candy Truths The Perfetti MD, an MBA from IIM, Bangalore, has spent 15 years in various positions in the company after stints in Colgate and Pepsi. After a two-year assignment in international marketing in Italy, Suneja returned as head of marketing in India before being anointed

“We believe a lot in the value of the jar (stuffed with gums and candies) to give us visibility. And, it has to be at the kids’ eye level because it’s lower down from ours,” says Suneja, MD, Perfetti MD four years ago in 2008 when he was just 36-years-old. We ask Suneja the secret of his slimness and youthful looks. He grins broadly, “I’ve been blessed with this constitution. But I also make it a point to play badminton and football with kids at least two to three days a week near my home in a sports complex.” Apart from intense exercise, Suneja says spending time with youngsters, the major consumers of his brands, gives him a lot of insights into how they consume. “Organised research is one part of it, but I personally like spending a lot of

time with youngsters. Playing with them in their own environment, you learn about their likes and dislikes or what goes on in their minds,” he avers. Suneja also values the time he has spent in rural areas, small villages, which are also big consumers of his candy, for the insights he can garner not just on his products but on how they lead their lives. Their rationale for what they do and say is very different from urban dwellers. He remembers the time he was in a small village and asked the local youth who the hottest star in movies was; this was at a time when Salman Khan wasn't on top. “Salman bhai,” they replied. “Why?” “Because he has the best body and the hottest girls around,” was their reasoning! Suneja, as his job demands, has to travel a lot as Perfetti has direct operations in 35 countries and sales to over 150 countries overall. Courtesy: Hindu Business Line

Chocolate consumption in India trebles

hocolate consumption in India has nearly trebled since 2005 and yet there’s a lot of room for growth — which is why leading chocolate companies are now investing in bringing well known international brands such as Toblerone to India. Cadbury India will be rolling out the iconic triangular chocolate in India from parent Kraft Foods’ stable to compete with the likes of Ferrero Rocher, Hershey’s and Lindt. The per capita consumption of chocolates in India, according to Chandramouli Venkatesan, a director at Cadbury India, has increased from 40g per person per year in 2005 to 110-120g per person per annum. The iconic triangular chocolate is understood to be the leading brand across duty free stores at airports across the world. Toblerone, which is present in certain pockets of the grey market, would now be imported by Cadbury India to compete with the

likes of Ferrero Rocher, Hershey’s and Lindt. To some extent, industry experts believe it could even cannibalize Cadbury Silk’s share. “100 gm constitutes two bars of Silk chocolate in a year, which is very low. While the growth in per capita consumption is significant, the best is yet to come. Our job is to grow the market and the launch of Toblerone is one part in the sequence of steps we’ve been taking in that direction,” said Chandramouli. Chocolates form a Rs 3,200-crore category, where Cadbury India has a 70% share while around 20% is held by Nestle India. Modern trade constitutes about 10% of the overall chocolate category, or roughly Rs 320 crore, according to Nielsen. Of this, brand Cadbury Dairy Milk has a share of 35%, while Bournville and Silk together account for 18%. However, the launch of Toblerone is in line with Cadbury India’s business objective of growing the premium-gifting chocolate market. Gifting is a Rs 15,000-

crore category in India, of which branded chocolate gifting is about 6%. Cadbury India’s share in branded chocolate gifting is 80%. The Swiss chocolate is being priced in the range of Rs 65 (50 gm) to Rs 430 (400 gm).

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Desserts

Indian desserts

Major brands use vegetable fats instead of dairy fats? Led by Hindustan Unilever’s Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza Ice Creams and Cream Bell, frozen desserts--served in identical cups, cones and sticks as ice cream, and are made of vegetable fat and not dairy fat--have 40 per cent share in the Indian ice cream market. The segment has found a strong foothold in the country in less than two decades since Kwality Walls introduced them

rozen desserts, which look and taste like ice cream but are made out of vegetable fat, have silently grabbed 40 per cent share in India’s Rs 1,800 crore organised ice-cream market. And most of the consumers have no clue that they are eating vegetable fats and not dairy fats. Led by Hindustan Unilever’s Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza Ice Creams and Cream Bell, frozen desserts--served in identical cups, cones and sticks as ice cream, and are made of vegetable fat and not dairy fat--have 40 per cent share in the Indian ice cream market. The segment has found a strong foothold in the country in less than two decades since Kwality Walls introduced them. But food authority officials and original ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy feel these companies are misleading consumers by masquerading frozen dessert as ice cream. While real ice cream is made with milk fat, frozen dessert is made with vegetable fat, which is almost 80 per cent cheaper. “The clandestine manner in which the labelling (of frozen desserts) is done and the way they are marketed in television commercials are a matter of concern,” said H G Koshiya, commissioner of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration. He added the state authority plans to bring the issue to the notice of the

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Central Advisory Committee of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. “Let consumers know what frozen dessert is all about and then if they consume it, it is a matter of choice”. Ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy that use only dairy fat said frozen dessert makers have been misleading consumers by passing them on as ice cream. “Consumers have been eating frozen desserts presuming them to be ice creams,” said Munish Soni, head (dairy product division) at Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board. Amul, the category leader in ice creams with 40 per cent market share, said companies are misleading consumers by not mentioning upfront they are frozen desserts and pricing them as much as ice cream despite lower costs. “Consumers are fooled into buying frozen desserts. It is a look-alike category. Most brands mention frozen desserts in small letters and push the category instead of advertising it as dessert,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns Amul brand. He added dairy fat costs Rs 300/ kg, while vegetable fat is Rs 50-60 a kg. “Frozen desserts play with huge margins and cheat consumers.” Consumer rights activist Pritee Shah said frozen dessert is masquerading itself as ice cream. “They must mention frozen

Desserts

Regulator asks HUL to remove ‘ice cream’ word from Kwality ads

ndia's advertising regulator has told consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever to stop mentioning its Kwality Walls brand as 'ice cream' in certain advertisements following a complaint by top ice-cream brand Amul. Kwality Walls is frozen dessert, which looks and tastes like ice cream but is made with vegetable fat and not milk fat. Hence, under Indian laws, it does not qualify as ice cream. "The consumer complaints council has concluded that the mention of Kwality Walls as an ice cream is misleading," said Alan Collaco, secretary general ofAdvertising Standards Council of India, the self-regulatory body of advertising industry. The advertisements in question are in the form of advertorials, or advertisements designed in the style of editorial matter. HUL published three print advertorials, each featuring a celebrity talking about Kwality Walls brand, complete with heading, extensive text and photograph. They feature singer Shaan, chef Sanjeev Kapoor and TV actress Smita Bansal along with their families. An HUL spokesman said the company will replace the word 'ice cream' with 'frozen dessert' in the ads. "We have agreed with ASCI that wherever the word ice-cream appears in the said advertorial, it should be considered as an expression of opinion of the celebrity featured in the advertisement. However, with a view to close the issue amicably, we agreed with ASCI to include the words 'Kwality Walls frozen dessert,'" he said. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets Amul, had complained toASCI that the mention of Kwality Walls as ice cream was a deliberate attempt to mislead people.

dessert upfront in their advertisements and the products in lieu of which it amounts to cheating the consumer,” said Shah, who is the chief general manager at Ahmedabad-based consumer group Consumer Education and Research Centre. No Health threat Nutritionists say there is nothing terribly wrong about vegetable fat. After all, edible oil is regularly used in Indian cooking and snacks. But it could be more harmful than milk fat. Mumbai-based consultant nutritionist Niti Desai said although vegetable fat contained in frozen desserts is generally unsaturated and hence, healthier, the catch is that the plant fat used will be generally hydrogenated or trans fat. “Trans fats can raise cholesterol levels as much or

"The advertorial makes a clear mention to Kwality Walls Strawberry Cheesecake being an ice cream when in reality it is a frozen dessert," Nitin Karkare, COO of ad agency DraftFCB Ulka that represents Amul, wrote in a letter to the regulator soon after HUL released the first ad featuring Shaan. "This is a case of a deliberate attempt at misleading the consumer, considering that the term has been strategically highlighted and hence cannot be a case of oversight," Karkare said. The ice cream-plus-frozen desserts market in India is estimated at about 1,700 crore, with market leader Amulholding about 40% share. Other big players include Kwality Walls, Ahmedabad-based Vadilal, NDDB's Mother Dairy and Ravi Jaipuria group's Cream Bell.

more than saturated fat, and increases the risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes”. “In the West, it is mandatory to mention trans fats used in packaged foods,” Desai added. While most manufacturers in India use palm oil, which is the cheapest, to desserts, some may use coconut oil. Happy and Growing Frozen dessert makers are, meanwhile, upbeat about the prospects of this category. Hindustan Unilever’s Kwality Walls, which makes only frozen desserts and does not use milk fat, said the category is growing on the strength of a series of exciting products. Nitin Arora, CEO of Cream Bell, an ice cream and frozen dessert brand of

RJ Corp’s Devyani Food Industries, said that frozen desserts account for 50 per cent of its sales. The company entered the category in 2006. “There is no dearth of takers for frozen desserts in the Indian market now. For us, both categories are growing at 25-30 per cent. Indian mindsets have changed towards frozen desserts and the consumer is comfortable in consuming them,” he said. South Indian ice cream player Lazza Ice Creams, which introduced frozen desserts a decade ago, has seen the vegetable stuff overtaking ice cream in the last five years when it has been growing 50 per cent yearon-year. Frozen desserts accounted for 55 per cent of Lazza’s turnover of Rs 150 crore in 2010-11.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Profile

Sifter International

S. C. Sharma

elcome to Sifter International, a legacy of trust, reliability and honesty along with new mantra of youth, dynamism and aggressive â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a company that is committed to bringing world class agro based food processing machinery to its customers. Sifter International is a leading manufacturer of agro based food processing machinery which started in 1978 in India. With the experience of more than 3 decades and a team of more than 300 people, Sifter International is a renowned name worldwide which has successfully exported machinery in more than 40 countries like USA, Ukrain, Iran, Iraq, Syria, UAE, Balgium, Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Spain, Mozambique, Malawi, Republic of Sierraleone, Borkinofaso etc. Sifter International an ISO 9001 (Quality Control) & ISO 22000 FSMS (Food Safety Management System) Registered Firm & Group companies are equipped with state â&#x20AC;&#x201C;of the-art production plants in the heart of industrial town Faridabad, Haryana. The company is having CE certification

for supplying the machines to European countries. The company has been engaged in the manufacturing of wide variety of agro based food processing machineries like: 1. Rice Mill 2. Wheat Roller Flour Mill 3. Dal and Besan Mill 4. Dehulling of Seeds 5. Essential Oil & Oleoresin 6. Cattle Feed Machinery 7. Maize Starch, Grit Machinery 8. Guar Gum Powder Machinery 9. Spices Machinery 10. Extraction From Herbs 11. Fruit Juice Machinery 12. Tomato Processing Machinery 13. Potato Chips Machinery 14. Solvent Extraction Machinery 15. Basic Drugs From Roots Our manufacturing facilities are equipped with latest machines like CNC Laser Sheet Cutting, Bending, Punching Machine, CNC Turret Punch Press, CNC Press Brake, NC Shearing Machine, Universal Milling Machine, Dynamic and Static Balancing Machine & Grinding Machine to keep pace with changing technology and requirement. Our R&D unit of Sifter International is equipped with the state f art technology & professional from the different field of engineering. With the feedback and suggestion from the global customer sifter continuously work on improvement and innovation of technology. In sifter R&D unit various activity such as development of new technology, improvement of existing machines, development of new process technology, process optimization etc. have been carried out to meet the

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

SIFTER INTERNATIONAL, INDIA received the World Quality Commitment Award in the Gold Category

demand of our esteem customers. At this unit demonstration of various process and machineries have been carried our from time to time. It also organizes various demonstrations on clients request. In our R&D unit w have installed complete cleaning & grading plant of any type of cereals, de-hulling machines for various seeds, different types of dries like tumbler drier, spray drier, spin flash drier, vacuum drier, scrap surface drier, three stage evaporator, fludized bed drier, ACM grinding system, dall mill, rice mill machines and degerminator & dehulling machine. At Sifter International, it has always been our endeavor to provide quality, consistency, and excellent service. Business Initiative Directions is the leading organization awarding companies worldwide. We are awarded for the WQC (World Quality Commitment) International Star Award in the Gold Category at Paris, France 2009, We received Global award for Perfection Quality and Ideal Performance at Berlin (Germany) for the year 2010. www.sifterinternational.com

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Profile

Duke Thomson’s India Pvt. Ltd.

Innovating technologies for healthier food products! Joseph Thomas, MD

uke Thomson’s India, a premier food and dairy diagnostics company, is located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Nature and quality conscious, and with a mandate of protecting people’s health by helping food brands in eliminating all the organisms in their food products and enhancing products’ shelf-life, Duke Thomson’s truly understands that Time is Money. Duke Thomson’s also believes in saving the time of its clients. Keeping pace with the development across the world in the filed of biotechnology, microbiology, enzymology and food technology, the technocrats at Duke Thomson’s India innovate ideas and technologies that are suited best to its customers and familiarize them with it. It ensures that every product made by its customers are at par with international standards. Duke Thomson’s works as sole distributor and technical support unit for various Multi National Companies, which are dedicated international specialists in the respective fields. Its product line has been categorized under two major divisions: Food Diagnostic and Food Ingredients. On need basis, it is further categorized into Tests, Cultures, Ingredients and Preservatives. All its ingredients are natural. It has a dedicated, young, talented team of technocrats who are professionally qualified, experienced and vibrant. Coupled with the expert guidance from company’s suppliers and R& D facility, they are able to meet with the best of product requirements of its customers. It is one of the best referred Food Diagnostics & Ingredients companies of India, a very familiar name among the quality conscious Dairy & Food Industries of India. Within a short span of time, it has been able to touch practically every food industry, and has maintained ethical relations with its client companies. The three pillars of its business and success are: Quality, Economy & Promptness.

Dairy Ingredients Cultures There is a large variety of cultures used in making cheese and other dairy products such as buttermilk and yogurt. Duke Thomson’s supplies advanced range of starter cultures for all cheese and fermented milk applications. It offers a range of lactic acid producers and specialty cultures. Its dairy culture systems are designed to deliver performance, reliable results and cost effectiveness. Its starter cultures service coupled with technical support has enable the dairy producers to innovate and maintain a high level of product consistency. It has developed a range of both DIRECT-SET™ and BULKSET cultures. Natural Dairy Concentrate To create flavorful and natural dairy concentrates, it employs enzyme modification, flavor compounding, and encapsulation technologies. It uses enzyme-modification on real butter, cream, and cheese to release their full flavor potential. Unlike chemical-based flavorings, its products go beyond top notes to provide dairy richness, fatty mouth-feel, and masking of off-notes. The result is a product that provides a more satisfying eating experience with better nutritional profiles, produced at lower total ingredient cost. Its flavors are available in shelf-stable powders that do not require refrigeration, and in easy-touse paste form. Natural Preservatives Its NISIN is a natural, toxicologically safe, antibacterial food preservative. It is a polypeptide produced by certain strains of food grade Lactic Acid Bacterium. It extends shelf-life of food products and protects them from temperature abuse apart from enhancing product quality. It is good for oils & fats, food and snack industry. ButterBuds Food Ingredients It is a natural dairy concentrate that enhances mouth-feel and richness, masks off flavours and reduce costs. It is used for flavour improvement for various products

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

like dairy products, nutritional drinks and confectionery. Food born Pathogens Diagnostic Kits Its Food Born Pathogens Diagnostic Kits are good to test the presence of Salmonella, E - Coli 0157, Listeria, Listeria Monocytogen, Legionella, Pseudomonas, Campylobactor, Staphylococcal Aureus, Staphylococcal, Enterotoxin and Bacillus Diarrhoeal Enterotoxin. Visual Immunoassay {VIA} It is a rapid and specific screening test for the in vitro detection of Pathogens in food, food related and environmental samples after enrichment. VIA is an Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) performed in a "sandwich" Configuration. It utilizes antibodies which recognize all relative pathogens strains. Food Diagnostic Division Tests The list of its Food Diagnostic Division Tests include routine microbiology and pathogens, anti-biotic residues in milk, meat, egg, sea foods and honey, mycotoxinsaflatoxins in various food matrices, hygiene monitoring system (EnSURE/Luminometer) to check surface, water, pasteurization and specific bacteria, micro-snap for enumeration of enterobacteriaceae and E. Coli (result in 7 hours), ZympSnap to detect phosphatases, proteases and other enzyme activity (check pasteurization in 3 minutes), SuperSnap, a high-sensitivity reagent swab device for higher standard of surface hygiene monitoring. Other Testing Tools by Duke Thomson’s include Spotcheck+ (rapid food residue test), Pro-Clean (rapid protein food residue test), Q-Swab (quick and easy environmental sample collection system) and Ultrasnap+ and ATP Water Aquasnap (high sensitivity reagent swab device for surface and water hygiene monitoring). Stabilizers It also makes Stabilizers for ice-cream, chocolate milk, soups, sauces and desserts. Duke Thompson’s values its reputation for providing flavors and food ingredients that are delicious, healthy, and enhance companies’ products. It is committed to using only the highest quality natural ingredients.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Profile

Agrosaw showcases latest technology in horticulture

saw Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. (Agrosaw), a post harvest equipment manufacturing company, based in Ambala Cantt (Haryana), has recently demonstrated latest technology in horticulture Equipments segment under exclusive manufacturing collaboration with BMC Engineering of New Zealand. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Dr. Kumar Bhatia, Former MD, NSC, and the Chief Speaker was S.P. Singh, Vice President, Agronomy, ITC Group. The event was organised by Agrosaw on 4th August. At the event, Agrosaw-Bmc showcased their products range related to potato, onion garlic, apple, tomato and other vegetables. AGROSAW, incepted in 1984, is engaged in manufacturing of wide range of Post Harvest machines for Pre-cleaning, Grading, Sorting & Handling of different kinds of seeds, grains, spices, pulses, oilseeds,

fruits & vegetables etc. It also offers turnkey and customized solutions for Electronic Sorting-grading line for fruits & Vegetables. The company has global exposure of more than 70 countries. BMC ENGINEERING LTD is based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is an engineering company involved in design & manufacturing of machineries for Harvesting, Grading & Packaging of Vegetables & Fruits for more than 35 Years. BMC also exports its machines to several parts of the world, having clients throughout the pacific, Australia, North America and Asia. It also offers product design and consultancy service List of products displayed: Capacity Agrosaw Bmc Weigher & Bagger cap up to 8 tph: This machine can be used for packaging of potato onion, beet root and garlic other similar products. Agrosaw-Bmc Potato Digger: This machine can be used for digging of potatoes.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Agrosaw-BMC Bulk Hopper: This machine is used for unloading of products into bulk quantity. Agrosaw Mobile Grading Plant up to 10 tph: Movable plant which can be used for sorting-grading of various vegetables. Agrosaw Round Fruit Grader RF-16 cap up to 1 tph: This machine can be used for grading of apple, tomatoes and other similar round fruit & vegetables. Agrosaw Potato loading and unloading conveye: Machine can be used for loading and unloading potatoes bags in cold storages. Agrosaw Screen Sizer cap up to 20 tph: This machine is suitable for perfect grading of potato, onion, garlic. Lift Roller Sizer cap up to 20 tph: Machine is suitable for diametric sorting of a number of products like potato, onion, garlic, carrot, beetroot, capsicum, brinjal, lemon, amla and other similar products. www.agrosaw.com

Profile

Asia Fruit Logistica 2012

FGA’s first participation focuses on new partnership

argeting new markets in Asia, Fresh Green Agro (FGA) Group has signed up to exhibit for the first time at Asia Fruit Logistica. “Our main aim of participating in Asia Fruit Logistica 2012 is to establish new partnerships with Asian countries and increase our stable partners in this market,” said Murat Kurshu, VicePresident of FGA Group. “We believe attending such a prestigious trade show will open doors in Asia for us.” Asia Fruit Logistica 2012, a leading fresh produce trade show, will take place on 5-7 September 2012 at its new home, the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. The extremely positive response from the market so far, evident in the surge in

sales of exhibition space in comparison to last year, points to this year being bigger and better than it has ever been. The latest companies signing up to exhibit include K Fresh (Thailand), Alquimia Fruits (Spain), and Locate and Grow (Singapore), among others. South Africa and Argentina are set to join Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Korea, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru and USA in hosting their own respective country pavilions and further showcasing their services and products to Asia and the rest of the world. This year more than ever, fresh produce companies from every corner of the globe are setting their sights at

the show as the gateway to success in the vital Asian market. Around 350 exhibitors from 30 countries on five different continents will be showcasing their products and services with an aim to close deals there and then. "This show has done wonders for our business in terms of making new contacts,” revealed an exhibitor. “It's not just the exchange of business cards; it's the conversion rate into actual business that makes the event so wonderful. You meet the serious people from right across the industry."

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Retail

News States have no interest in FDI in retail

Oommen Chandy Chief Minister, Kerala

tates may be for majority foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail but are not willing to commit in writing. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is yet to get any response from the States to its letter seeking their views on this move. India Inc has been lobbying hard for FDI in multi-brand retail. On November 24, the Cabinet decided to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. However, the political uproar that followed forced the Centre to put the decision on hold. Since then, the Centre has been trying to build a consensus on the issue. According to a highly-placed government source, the Secretary of DIPP wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all the States almost a month ago. But till date, no State has responded — even those ruled by the Congress or its allies in the UPA. “The political set-up has to take a call. The Chief Secretary will seek views from the political leadership in the States and frame an appropriate response and send it back to the Centre. The Chief Secretaries cannot be asked to send the response by a particular date,” the source added. As for the Congress-ruled States, the source clarified that since some of those Chief Ministers had aired views in public about the issue, the Chief Secretaries of those States might not have thought it proper to send the response. At present over a dozen States have Chief Ministers belonging to the Congress or its allies in the UPA. Opposition from the BJP ruled States and that of the Trinamool Congress is well known. The source

said that though Gujarat had shown initial support, it has now adopted the BJP line. Another government official said that any policy on FDI is the prerogative of the Centre. So, this seems unusual that the Centre is awaiting States’ views before implementing any policy decision on FDI. “Do remember, it is the local authorities or departments of the State Government that give the various permissions to start a venture. So you have to bring States on board before implementing such a decision,” he added. Kerala CM says No As the Prime Minister gets ready to fast-track reforms to bring in more foreign direct investment into the country, a senior party colleague has raised a red flag on multi-brand retail. The Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, said here on Monday that the State was not ready for FDI in the retail sector. The Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, had recently claimed that all Congress-ruled States, including Kerala, were in favour of FDI in the sector. At an interaction with industry chamber Assocham, Chandy said the State had expressed its reservations to the Centre on the issue. He said there were two reasons for the opposition. “Lakhs of people are engaged in retail business in the State. The FDI will affect them. Second, even in the villages we have a very good retail system. So, at this stage, we don’t think FDI in retail will be a good step in Kerala,” he said. Chandy said the Prime Minister will inaugurate “Emerging Kerala”, a threeday event to woo foreign and domestic investors. “The past is past. Kerala has now an investor-friendly atmosphere. A set of new policies is being implemented in various sectors to invite investors,” he added. He said trade unions were also helping the Government create an investor-friendly atmosphere. “Kerala lost the least number of working days due to strikes and lock-outs compared with other States,” he said. He invited the Chamber for the event, which will begin on September 12. He said the State was planning mega projects, including a high-speed rail corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. “We are encouraging

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

private participation in all these projects,” he said. The Kerala Finance Minister, K. M. Mani, said the State Government was creating special zones for industries, for which a special package was being provided to acquire land. “If you are not investing in Kerala, you are missing an opportunity,” he said. Chandy also released a study report by the industry body, ‘Kerala —Roadmap for Inclusive Growth’, which provides insights into various sectors in the State. No FDI in retail if it hurts farmers: UP CM The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, said the Samajwadi Party had reservations over allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail before addressing farmers’ issues. “FDI in retail should not happen till the farmers and their products are protected,” he said in an interaction with members of FICCI Ladies Organisation. With TV channels reporting that Yadav was contradicting his father Mulayam Singh Yadav’s stand opposing FDI, senior party leader, Ram Gopal Yadav pitched in to say the party was opposed to FDI in retail. “Lakhs of families will be affected by this (FDI in retail) and even if Government introduces this, we will not let it come into force in UP,” he said. The Chief Minister pointed out that when some multinational companies had opened fast food chains in the country, it was said that potatoes produced by Indian farmers would get a good buyer. “But that did not happen. There are many such issues. My party and Netajji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) have said that as long as the interests of farmers and small shopkeepers are not protected, our opposition to it (FDI in retail) will continue,” the Chief Minister said. Yadav, who was accompanied by his wife and first time MP, Ms Dimple Yadav, said, “We are not opposing it. All States want that investment comes to them. We are not against FDI. We want that if FDI in retail comes, it should not damage the poor farmers,” he said. The Chief Minister said, “If our manufacturing sector is not strong, finally this (FDI in retail) will damage our market….Retail in FDI is a big issue. There is a need for discussion,” he said.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Retail

News Hyderabad to have a retail school

ven as India is clearing decks for foreign direct investment into multi-brand retail, the country's first retail sector focussed business school is coming up at Hyderabad from Global Retail Education and Training (GREAT) India in partnership with the Australian Retail College (ARC). Apart from providing technical expertise, ARC will assist GREAT (India) with program content, facilitate visits of expert teaching staff and also explore opportunities for graduates with the Australian retail employers. The B-School, with its campus at

Gundlapochampalli in the Hyderabad outskirts, offers intensive one year full time post graduation programs in retail management and retail entrepreneurship. Addressing the media in Hyderabad the ARC chief executive officer Mike Wallace opined that the retail sectors in India and Australia shared a number of similarities and offered similar challenges and opportunities. "India will require an additional 17 million retail staff by 2022. The retail industry faces challenges in attracting and retaining career staff and competes with other high growth sectors for skilled

recruits. The rapid growth in demand for staff in the sector and the subsequent skilling of these people to a globally competitive level will continue to be a real challenge for the retail sector in the future," he said.

Reliance Retail forms JV with UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2SFG to introduce chilled frozen foods

eliance Reliance Retail has entered into a back-end joint venture with 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG), a UK-based meat-processing company owned by entrepreneur Ranjit Singh, to introduce chilled and frozen foods at its food & grocery outlets. Singh plans to stamp his presence in the Rs 7,000-crore organised Indian food services market with a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain. His restaurant will be called 'Chicken Came First', three people with direct knowledge of the development said, a take on the age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg. A Reliance Retail spokesman said the company wants to bring multiple food options to its customers and has already invested in a state-of-theart food innovation lab to support new products. Two food industry executives aware of the plans said Reilance Retail and 2SFG are setting up a plant to process chilled food. "We have been exploring

collaboration opportunities with multiple companies involved in food innovation, technology and manufacturing in order to address the evolving needs of Indian customers. We continue to have discussions with some leading Indian and international players in this domain," said the Reliance Retail spokesperson. Rishi Negi, a former COO of Fame India, is listed as business head, QSR at Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, on professional networking site LinkedIn since last April. However, the Reliance Retail spokesperson added: "As of now Reliance Industries is not setting up a QSR on its own." Andrew Hanson, head of communications at 2SFG, declined to comment on ET's queries in May but said "in the months ahead we or Reliance may want to talk a little further about our plans." Chicken Came First is scheduled to open in a Reliance hypermarket at Phoenix Market City mall in Mumbai's Kurla suburb and at Euro Park in Sahibabad, NCR. However, it is unclear whether Reliance will have any direct ownership in the restaurant business. Headquartered in Birmingham, the privately-owned 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) supplies chilled and frozen poultry

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

and fish products across chains such as Asda Stores, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose in the UK. 2SFG claims annual sales of 2.1 billion pounds, after acquiring bakery and chilled foods maker Northern Foods last year. Reliance Retail operates close to 700 food and grocery stores across the Fresh, Super, Delight and Mart formats. Unlike the string of westernised, fried-chicken brands that have built the category in India, Chicken Came First is expected to differentiate with an Indian menu. "The attempt is to introduce a desi version of chicken to suit Indian preferences. But it will not be curries," an executive aware of the chain's plans said. Analysts say this is a segment meant for "big boys" as it involves heavy investments in building a supply chain and standardised service across outlets. Sharp pricing and the ability to operate like clockwork is the clincher. Analysts make a case that QSRs are growing the fastest among eating-out formats such as cafes, kiosks, ice cream parlours and food courts India. QSRs grew 38% by revenue and 25% in terms of number of outlets on a compounded rate between 2008-09 and 2010-11, a recent report by Booz & Company titled Food Services Retail in India, says.

Retail

News Bharti Walmart to spend Rs 104 cr

holesale retailer Bharti Walmart plans to invest Rs 104 crore this year in expanding its outlets across the country. The US retail chain Walmart and New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises joint-venture company have raised these funds last year, they said in a filing to the Registrar of Companies. Having doubled its store count to ten outlets in 2011, the cash-and-carry major has added two stores in the last six months. In all, Bharti Walmart has about 17 stores in the country. Simultaneously, the company has been investing in logistics and improving its back-end supply chain system. The company also mentioned that it has incurred a loss of Rs 765 crore in calendar year 2011, even as sales doubled during the period to Rs 1,876-crore. However, the company seems to be optimistic and upbeat about the business outlook in the future given the fact that the wholesale business – or trade between two businesses - has considerable scope for growth going ahead. The fresh equity infusion could also be a signal that the retail segment is set to witness reforms in foreign direct investment norms, observe industry-watchers. “Indian retailers are making steady strides in rationalising their retail network and learning the nuances of organised retail,” said Mohit Bahl, Partner, KPMG India. “In cash-and-carry segment, where FDI is already permitted, international players making investments in establishing their network though these are still very muted. However, with expectation of FDI in retail opening up – should that happen, the flood gates should open,’’ he added. Bharti Walmart has also raised about Rs 500 crore in short-term loans from banks including Citibank, BNP Paribas, HSBC. The fresh capital infusion by Bharti Walmart also indicates the company’s massive expansion drive that is in line with the huge competition in the cash and carry segment. The world’s second largest retailer Carrefour has also opened its first cash-and-carry store in India in December last, while Germany’s Metro AG entered its tenth year of operation in India with eleven stores this year. Corrupt vendors to go Walmart Stores plans to snap ties with companies that supply products to its stores if they are involved in any kind of

corrupt practices, making it the first retail company to undertake such a stringent initiative in India. Stung by the bribery scandal that surfaced recently in Mexico, the world's largest retailer has recently hired consultancy firm KPMG to conduct due diligence on hundreds of existing vendors as well as potential future suppliers to ensure that they are not involved in any unethical or illegal activity. Bharti Walmart, the equal wholesale retailing joint venture between the US retail chain and New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises, sources supplies from vendors ranging from multinationals such as Hindustan Unilever and Colgate Palmolive to hundreds of small and medium enterprises. As companies in India, like in Mexico, are susceptible to pay bribes at various levels to get reams of licences required to start and operate businesses, Walmart wants to make sure they do business with only those vendors who don't indulge in such activities. This is second such anti-corruption initiative launched by Walmart in India in recent months. Earlier, the world's number one retailer mandated KPMG to educate and create awareness among the Bharti Walmart's staff about anticorruption practices. As an American multinational, Walmart is bound to abide by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US law that prohibits companies registered in that country and its subsidiaries across the globe from indulging in any sort of corrupt practices. A company spokesperson said this move was part of its "previously announced" worldwide review of its anticorruption programme that was initiated in March 2011. "This includes developing and implementing recommendations for FCPA training, anti-corruption safeguards, and internal controls," said the spokesman. The latest initiatives by Bharti Walmart are the direct fallout of the bribery scandal in Mexico, a person with the direct knowledge of the situation said. Earlier this year, a scandal surfaced in Walmart's Mexico unit accused the subsidiary of bribing government officials in almost all the provinces in that country where the Bentonville-based retailer has operations. The US Justice Department has started its own probe against Walmart over the

allegations of the systematic bribery to obtain licences in Mexico. In India, KPMG will scrutinise the vendors and classify them in three categories of red, amber and green, the person quoted above said asking not to be named. Bharti Walmart will continue to do business with vendors rated 'green" by KPMG while it will immediately snap ties with retailers rated 'red'. It will be Bharti Walmart's choice to engage with vendors that are placed in the 'amber' category by KPMG. A KPMG spokesman said the firm does not comment on "companyspecific matters". The head of one of Bharti Walmart's local vendors said his company has already passed the KPMG test more than a month ago and he added that such a scrutiny has happened for the first time in the last few years that his company has done business with the cash-and-carry joint venture. "It's a very good step. It will help the retail industry if more and more companies undertake such initiatives," says Saloni Nangia, president, Technopak Advisors, a consultancy firm. "Supplying goods to modern retailers are a huge opportunity and the vendors will not jeopardise this opportunity with companies like Walmart by not complying." After unsuccessfully lobbying with various Indian governments to open the country's closed retail sector, Walmart finally entered the country in 2007 through a joint venture with Bharti in the cash-and-carry or wholesale retailing segment, an area where India allows fully-owned overseas ownership. So far, Bharti Walmart has opened 17 Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in various cities, which sells multi-branded products, but only to other retailers and businesses.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Corporate

News

AIREA calls for subsuming all taxes within GST

ll India Rice Exporters’ Association (AIREA), in light of the new Goods and Services tax which is being introduced by the government, proposes that certain additional taxes levied by state governments must be subsumed within the GST. Taxes such as, • Purchase tax ------- 4% • Rural Development Cess --- 2%, • Mandi Tax ---- 2% • PIDF, Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund ------- 3% The government’s policy of Zero terminal tax on Food grains gives the impression that the consumer is not paying any tax on food grains, while in fact over 11% tax is already embedded in the product which is not visible to the final consumer. Unlike Punjab, Haryana and other states, Delhi, does not impose all these taxes (imposes only Market Fees of 2%). This and non inclusion of

the aforementioned taxes into the GST gives an opportunity of channelizing money away from the tax stream, in other words encourages malpractices which neither helps the farmer nor consumer. It is for these reasons that paddy must enter the GST chain as soon as it leaves the farmer. The primary concern of states is that the tax they will receive under GST will be lesser than that under the current tax regime. This worry is unfounded as a calculation performed shows that not only does the tax to the State increase, but the price impact at retail point remains unaffected. The tax generated by 1000 metric tonnes of rice under the current tax regime is Rs 1861 whereas the tax generated on the same quantity of rice if Purchase tax, MDF, RDF, PIDF,

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Auction Charges are subsumed into the SGST would be Rs 2114.41. This reflects an increase of 13.69% on the current tax regime. With GST, the Centre will get a new and additional tax stream from the distributive chain of food grains within the state. Therefore the Centre can either transfer the CGST portion received within the state to the State (as in currently does in the case of CST) or it can be the pool from which the Centre can compensate the State in the very remote possibility of a drop in overall revenue collection. This will more than compensate the states for the SGST credit they will be offering to the importing state to allow for a seamless set off in that chain of transactions. Agreement on this matter between Punjab, Haryana and UP will show to the world that three different states ruled by three different political persuasions can come together for the good of the aam aadmi.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Corporate

News

Beef Exports get boost due to cheap availability

eef exports have doubled in three years between 2008 and 2011 and are set to scale further heights. In 2011, India edged out the US as the third largest exporter of beef. Buffalo meat, known as carabeef in the global market, is shipped out of the country as beef. Technically, buffalo meat is treated as beef export, though questions are being raised whether all consignments shipped are buffalo meat, official sources say that 99 per cent of the shipments are buffalo meat. Moving up the list This year, the US Department of Agriculture says, India is all set to end as the top beef exporter. India could export 1.5 million tonnes of beef compared with 1.28 million tonnes last year. This marks a significant growth since 2009 when 0.61 million tonnes were shipped from the country. (See Table) “India is forecast to become the world’s leading beef exporter in 2012 due to an expanding dairy herd, efficiency improvements, increased slaughter and price-competitiveness in the international market particularly vis-à-vis Brazil,” the USDA said in its report in April. “Indian buffalo meat is rising due to its competitiveness. Global buyers are also assured of our quality,” said Dr Tarun Bajaj, General Manager, Livestock Products, Agricultural and

Processed Food Exports Development Authority (Apeda). “International demand is rising and the growth rate in Australia, Europe and the US is static,” said Dr Bajaj. “We exported Rs 8,000 crore-worth beef in 2010-11 and it could have easily topped Rs 13,000 crore last fiscal,” said the Apeda official. (Full details of 201112 exports are not available yet). Though there has been a drop in the value in the rupee, Mr Bajaj said it could at the most contribute an additional Rs 1,000 crore. Global scenario According to the USDA, global beef production in 2012 is likely to be 57 million tonnes, up marginally over 56.8 million tonnes produced in 2011. Exports, on the other hand, will likely be a record 8.7 million tonnes fuelled by India, Columbia, Australia and New Zealand. “India’s beef production is projected at 3.5 million tonnes based on an expanding dairy herd, increased slaughter and pricecompetitiveness in the global meat market compared to Brazil. As exports account for 44 per cent of production, growth in exports underpins production increases,” said the department. According to 2007 livestock census, buffalo makes up one-third of the bovine herd in the country. Buffalo is preferred to cow due to its adaptability to climatic conditions and high milk fat content as dairy production is fuelling the bovine sector. Since slaughter of cow is banned, beef

Gaining Prominence

(in ‘000 tonnes)

Country

2008

2009

2010

2011

India

672

609

917

1,220 1,525

2012

Australia

1,407 1,364 1,368

1,410 1,425

Brazil

1,801 1,596 1,558

1,340 1,350

905

878

1,043

1,265 1,236

New Zealand

553

514

530

503

544

Source: USDA

production is driven by buffalo slaughter which is allowed. However, the slaughter is restricted to males and unproductive females. “We are experiencing good growth in the Gulf, Africa and the Far-East,” said Dr Bajaj. “Our exports are rising since we have surplus meat. Also, our people due to rise in their income are shifting to lamb and other meat products, including poultry,” he said. Pushing down Brazil The USDA said Indian export have made inroads in West Asia, North Africa and South-East Asia, which is a key market for Brazil, as buffalo meat is priced lower in the price sensitive markets and is produced according to halal standards (meat prepared as prescribed by Islamic dietary law). On the other hand, Brazil, which is seeing a constant decline in its beef exports, is dogged by shrinking availability of lands for grazing due to expansion in sugarcane and soyabean cultivation. Higher transport costs to get the produce to the ports are adding to the cattle sector woes.

China ignores Indian traders, imports Pak mangoes

hina has begun importing Pakistani mangoes with the first major shipment leaving Karachi recently, reports quoting an exporter in Pakistan said. The move is seen as a setback to Indian exporters, who were hoping that a recent India-China agreement on import of mangoes to China would benefit them. The agreement allowing import of Indian mangoes came after nine years of deliberation on both sides. The two governments had signed the protocol of phytosanitary requirements for exporting mangoes

from India to China during then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

China in 2003. “The first shipment of 40 tons of mangoes is being exported to China in two 40 feet containers valued at $60,000,” Pakistani media quoted A Q Khan Durrani, chief executive officer of exporting firm, Durrani Associates, as saying. He said China could soon become the biggest market for Pakistani mangoes. The move comes years after the China cleared Pakistani mangoes for import. But China has been reluctant to import vast quantities from Pakistan by sea until now. Only small amounts are sent through the air route.

F&B

News MTR Foods launches Rasoi Magic nationally domestic market and is also exported to markets like USA, Canada, UK and Australia.

MTR

Foods, a brand with 85 years of heritage in authentic Indian vegetarian cuisine and having presence in the breakfast, dessert and snacks categories, has launched Rasoi Magic brand of meal mixes nationally on in the last week of July. Rasoi Magic is a market leader in western India in the meal mixes segment. MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. acquired Rasoi Magic Foods (India) Pvt. Ltd. in April, 2011, in line with their plans to expand into the meals segment. Meal mixes is a nascent category valued at Rs. 60 crores in 2011 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 45% in the 2012 – 2014 period. (Source: Internal estimates). Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, said “Rasoi Magic has strong brand equity in West India and our ambition is to build on this and extend it nationally. With this launch, we’ll gain a larger share of the consumer’s meal space.” Vikran Sabherwal, Vice-President, Marketing, MTR Foods stated “Consumers prefer the powder format to paste. Rasoi Magic meal mixes are in a powder format and the consumer just has to add fresh ingredients such as vegetables, paneer, milk, etc. Rasoi Magic brings home the magic of popular restaurant dishes such as Paneer Butter Masala, Paneer Makhanwalla and Methi Mutter Malai, and that too in just 3 easy steps and in just 15 minutes.” The Rasoi Magic range consists of 21 regular dishes and 9 No Onion No Garlic products. A pack of Rasoi Magic serves four and is priced between Rs. 36/- to Rs. 42/-. Rasoi Magic Foods (India) Pvt. Ltd. that has its plant in Pune has a loyal

Our aim is to develop ethnic snacks for specific markets: Sanjay Sharma Five years after Bangalorebased MTR Foods was acquired by Norwegian foods group Orkla Brands International for about $100 million (approx Rs 430 crore then), the Indian breakfast mixes, spices and snacks maker is in no hurry to bring in Orkla's products such as frozen pizzas and chocolates to India. In Delhi while announcing the launch of meal mixes under the Rasoi Magic brand, MTR Foods CEO Sanjay Sharma said that the eight-decadesold firm is looking for local buys and doubling spends to compete with rivals like Britannia.

more value for MTR first. We will invest in these categories depending on how they evolve. Take frozen foods-maybe 0.1% consumers in India buy frozen foods. The category has a long, long way to go. Compare that with spices-branded spices itself is a Rs 8,000-crore business. This is the big space for us right now. Meal mixes is another category we are bullish on. It is nascent-at about Rs 60 crore now, but we expect it to triple by 2014. Internal estimates suggest that the category can grow at a CAGR of 45% in the 2012-14 period. We are going aggressive on advertising, for one. We've doubled ad spends. From a ratio of 8% to sales last year, our spends have gone up to 16% of sales. We are testing ready-toeat ethnic snacks in Karnataka. The category is still under development. Our aim is to develop ethnic snacks for specific markets. A pan-India presence in ethnic snacks could take us 5 years.

Excerpts from his statements given to media: O r k l a operates in many categories like frozen pizzas, chocolates and confectionery. But we have decided not to bring in Orkla brands into India, at least in the next few years. That's because we believe MTR is still quite an under-leveraged brand. We need to create a lot

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

F&B

News Cocoberry introduces the delicious Mango Yogurt this summer

Ramzan coincides with the season of peaches, apricots & plums in J&K

ocoberry, India’s premium frozen yogurt chain, has launched its new luscious mango yogurt. The succulent yellow fruit flavored chilled yogurt with an array of exotic fresh fruit toppings, makes out a perfect combination for a summer treat. Known for its fresh fruity range, Cocoberry continues to please dessert lovers and fitness buffs alike. Apart from its mouth watering taste, now customers can savor the health benefits of the new mango yogurt. Keeping the health conscious Indian generation in mind, Cocoberry introduces an ideal health supplement to summer diet. Its probiotic mango yogurt contains natural nutrient value to beat the heat. This tasty alternative to ice cream is delicious and has low calorie and fat. G. S. Bhalla, Founder & CEO, Cocoberry, said, “Our conscious effort is to always set new healthy trends through our frozen yogurt range. By infusing the universally loved flavour of the mango, we wish to entice mango lovers this season to further indulge their craving with Cocoberry’s MangoYogurt.” The prices are: Tiny-Rs 34, SmallRs 59, Medium-Rs 129, and Large-Rs 179. It is available at all Cocoberry outlets across the country.

or the first time in nearly 30 years, the month of Ramzan has coincided with the harvest of Kashmir’s prized local fruits--plums, peaches and apricots. The holy month of Islam has triggered a huge demand for apricots. "I think we've sold not less than 750 tonnes of apricot this season, so far," said Bashir Ahmad Bashir, who heads the city's only fruit market in Bemina. "Most of it was in the first week of fasting because its season concluded within the first 10 days of Ramzan." Kashmir has a huge fruit basket. Apricot is the main bread and butter for Kargil and along with Leh, more than 8,000 million tonnes of apricot are produced a year. But the arid region, despite being India's major apricot producer, lacks the infrastructure for marketing the fruit. For reasons of preventing the spread of Cordly Moth, apricots from Ladakh are not allowed to be marketed outside the state, including Kashmir, since 1968. Nobody in the state government knows if the disease still exists. The only available option is to dry the crop. Since Kargil has only one plant with a 15 tonnes a month capacity, sun drying is the only option. With apricots over, peaches and plums

have taken over, as a result bananas and mangoes are playing second fiddle to them. Bashir says they market 25 tonnes of peaches and 10 tonnes of plums daily for Srinagar city alone. "This year, there has been a four-fold rise in production of peaches compared to last year, which has made them affordable. As far as centrose plum is concerned, it is shipped out mostly because it fetches a better price in Mumbai, Gujarat and Punjab." Kashmir supplied 3,261 tonnes of plums to markets outside the J&K in 2011-12 which is slightly less than the preceding year. But the iftar-time has not disturbed Kashmir's date with the dates, the desert fruit. From PoK through LoC to Kandla and Mumbai ports, Kashmir is getting a trickle of high-end dates from Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, Omar and Jordon. Some of these dates are as expensive as 1,600 to 3,000 a kg. "It has wide dispersal, but the volumes are not huge," says Waseem Ahmad of Khurheed Enterprises. "This year, Kashmir should consume around 320 tonnes of dates." This season, Kashmiris have started consuming a costly Chinese apple, which is marketed in Pakistan under the brand name 'Fahad'. "You get less than 30 apples for a thousand rupees. While some up-market chains consume good volumes, most of it goes to the Indian plains," said an LoC trader on conditions of anonymity.

Indian tea at London Olympics The Tea Board has drawn up a plan at an outlay of £1,52,500 (about Rs 1.17 crore) to promote Indian tea during the London Olympics. This comprises £37,500 for branding inside the Olympic venue and Heathrow airport; £25,000 for events at South Hall; £10,000 for exhibition at South Bank Centre; £5,000 for the buyer-seller meet; £5,000 for publicity; and £7,000 for generic India brand promotion. “The Board is making arrangements for visitors to taste Nilgiris orthodox tea, Darjeeling, Assam and Kangra teas. Gift hampers of tea, coffee and spices will be distributed. Indian tea will be served

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

to dignitaries at the Heathrow Airport by women wearing specially-designed Indian silk sarees and apron bearing Indian tea logos,” Tea Board member, Dr S. Ramu, said. “The Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, will host the ‘India Tea Dinner’ for which heads of delegations and office bearers of Olympics Associations and important players in the tea market of the UK and Europe will be invited. Promotional films on Indian Tea will be screened during the event,” P. Viswanathan, representing the Lok Sabha on the Board, said.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

F&B

News CII wants to create TN Banana Brand

he Confederation of Indian Industry has proposed to make a brand out of the bananas grown in Tamil Nadu along the lines of Florida oranges and California apples. Seeking the State Government support for this initiative, the apex industry body has suggested ways and means to educate all stakeholders in the supply chain, from the farm gate to the retail end on technologies available for proper post-harvest management. B. Thiagarajan, CII Co-Chairman of Agriculture and Food Processing Sub-Committee, said that the State produces different types of bananas, which collectively account for 25 per cent of the country’s total banana production. By formally educating farmers and other stakeholders, the State can promote these bananas in the domestic as well as overseas markets in a big way. There is a huge amount of wastage in the farm sector in India, which according to him is to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore a year and the body suggests creating a model banana cold chain in the State. Thiagarajan said that as of now, not even a small percentage was sent to other States, “leave alone exporting them”. They are either consumed or wasted in the State itself. By adopting a suitable technology the State can save up to Rs 6,000 crore annually by setting up cold chains. It also proposes to hold a banana festival in Chennai in December this year, in association with the State Government, farmers, traders, equipment manufacturers and investors.

Pizza getting popular in smaller cities

hose cheese-topped pizzas may soon give our traditional food items such asidli, vada, dosa and parathas a run for their money in tier 2 and even tier 3 markets. Many fast-food chains such as Pizza Corner, Coffee World, Domino’s and Café Coffee Day are looking at these towns for their next phase of growth. Joseph Cherian, CEO of Global Franchise Architects (GFA), says there is a huge opportunity for growth in tier 2 and tier 3 towns such as Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Visakhapatnam, Mysore, Mangalore, Manipal, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. Global Franchise Architects (GFA) is a Switzerland-based group that builds, operates and franchises a portfolio of food service brands such as Pizza Corner, Coffee World, Cream and Fudge and The

Donut Baker. He says till a few years ago, there were not many stores in these smaller towns. But, in the last two years, “our growth in these towns has been phenomenal.” Currently, GFA has 91 stores across its four brands in the country. And of this, 20 per cent are now in tier 2 towns. The company’s future expansion plans has mapped many such small towns. “Going forward, the number will grow manifold as we see great potential in these towns,” says Cherian. Quoting a market study, a city-based analyst says tier 2 and tier 3 markets are proving to be a huge platform for these fast-food chains to grow as the penetration is still low. The consumer behaviour patterns are fast changing thanks to increasing literacy rates, disposable income and aspirations driven by greater media exposure, she says.

Godrej Nature’s Basket ties up with Via Milano for gourmet food

rom the French countryside to the coast of Italy, Godrej Nature’s Basket brings gourmet food to the Indian consumer’s doorstep. In August, the gourmet retailer tied up with Via Milano in Bangalore and Hyderabad for a workshop on soups from around the world. On August 8, consumers tasted a wide array of soups at Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills store. On August 22, soups from across the world were showcased at the Koramangala Store in Bangalore. The gourmet retailer has been tying up with chefs and celebrities in a year-long event to bring Indian consumers closer to epicurean food. “We decided to get in to high-end food retailing to be distinctive. It is important to hand-hold people into increased consumption of these types of food,” said Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and President, Marketing division of the Godrej Group. Globally, gourmet foods are a $16billion market. In India, it is currently pegged at Rs 6,500 crore, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent. With the market set to cross

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Rs 13,700 crore by 2015, according to Technopak, gourmet sampling appears to have taken a quantum leap. “Though many Indians are exposed to gourmet food, it is new for most people here. We feel the Indian consumer is ready for high-end foods, especially the youth, who are driving consumption pattern changes,” said Dubash. Nature’s Basket has hosted several international festivals, cooking demos and cheese as well as wine tastings, all of which have kept the retailer buzzing. A first-of-its-kind store that started off at Warden Road, South Mumbai, has now spawned across the country. To realise its expansion plans, the gourmet retailer has, for the past year, been donning several hats. Last March, Godrej Nature’s Basket teamed up with the French Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries to showcase the finest French wines and cheeses. “We have 20 stores now. Though we don’t have a particular strategy…. we are keen to add,” Dubash added.

Health & Nutrition

News Popcorn is healthier than fruits: Study

opcorn - your regular partner every time you hit a movie theatre - seems to be the latest "nutritional gold nugget". Scientists report that popcorn, which is a 100 per cent unprocessed whole grain, contains more of the highly healthy antioxidant substances called polyphenols than fruits and vegetables, if it isn't dipped in butter, oil or salt. The hulls of popcorn - the part that everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in the teeth - has been found to have the highest concentration of polyphenols and fibre. The levels of polyphenols rivaled those in nuts and were up to 15 times greater than wholegrain tortilla chips. Joe Vinson from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, who has been a pioneer in analyzing healthful components in chocolate, nuts and other common food items, presented these findings at the American Chemical Society's (ACS) scientific society. Vinson said one serving of popcorn will provide more than 70 per cent of the daily intake of whole grain needed by an adult. "Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It is 100 per cent unprocessed whole grain as against all other grains which are actually processed and diluted with other ingredients - meaning only 51 per cent of the weight of the product is whole grain. The average person only gets about half a serving of whole grains a day, and popcorn could fill that gap in a very pleasant way," Vinson added. Jyoti Arora, head of nutrition at Artemis Health Institute, said popcorn's high content of fibre makes it nutritious and healthy. "Whole grains like popcorn are high in fibre that helps in relieving constipation and leads to weight loss, better blood sugar control besides keeping cholesterol

levels under check," Arora said. Previous studies found low concentrations of free polyphenols in popcorn, but Vinson's team conducted the first study to calculate total polyphenols in popcorn. "The amounts of these antioxidants were much higher than previously believed," he said. The new study found that the amount of polyphenols found in popcorn was up to 300 mg a serving compared to 114 mg for a serving of sweet corn and 160 mg for all fruits per serving. Besides, one serving of popcorn would provide 13 per cent of an average intake of polyphenols a day per person in the US. Fruits provide 255 mg per day of polyphenols and vegetables provide 218 mg per day to the average US diet. Polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages only about 4 per cent water, while polyphenols are diluted in the 90 per cent water that makes up many fruits and vegetables. Vinson explained that the same concentration principle applies to dried fruit, which holds a polyphenol edge over regular fruit. Caution Vinson cautioned that the way people prepare and serve popcorn can quickly put a dent in its healthful image. If cooked in a pot full of oil, slathered on butter or the fake butter used in many movie theaters and poured on salt and eaten as kettle corn, the end result could become a nutritional nightmare - popcorn suffused with fat and calories. "Air-popped popcorn has the lowest number of calories. Microwave popcorn has twice as many calories as air-popped, and if you pop your own with oil, this has twice as many calories as air-popped popcorn. About 43 per cent of microwave popcorn is fat, compared to 28 per cent if you pop the corn in oil yourself," Vinson added. Vinson, however, cautioned that the finding should not make people give up fruits and vegetables. "Popcorn cannot replace fresh fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and other nutrients that are critical for good health, but are missing from popcorn," he added.

Dark chocolates are good for heart: Study

ustralian researchers have found that eating a block of dark chocolate daily over 10 years has “significant” benefits for high-risk cardiac patients and could prevent heart attacks and strokes. A study of 2,013 Australians conducted at Melbourne’s Monash University found that the consumption of 100 grams of chocolate with a 70 per cent or higher cocoa content every day was an effective measure to reduce risk. Lead researcher Ella Zomer said the team found 70 fatal and 15 non-fatal cardiovascular events per 10,000 people could be prevented over 10 years if patients at risk of having a heart attack or stroke ate dark chocolate. “We’ve predicted health benefits of eating 100 grams of dark chocolate every day over a 10-year period,” Zomer said. “Our findings indicate dark chocolate therapy could provide an alternative to drug therapeutics in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease.”

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Commodity

News

Centre okays Punjabâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand of exporting wheat to Pak

Cotton Association to stop trading

he Union government, in principle, has agreed to export wheat to Pakistan. The empowered group of ministers on food has asked the Punjab government to work out a proposal for exporting wheat to Pakistan through the Integrated Check Post (ICP) on the Attari border. The decision came after the Punjab government sought the commerce ministry's permission to export wheat from its choked warehouses to Pakistan. "We are facing a wheat glut here with no more space to store grains. We have asked the Union governmentto allow us to export wheat directly. We are waiting for the Union government's decision," said Punjab food and civil supplies secretary DS Grewal. Wheat procurement in Punjab has touched an all-time high of 128 lakh tonne forcing the state government to press for exports from Punjab-based central warehouses. "We have a stock of around 165 lakh tonne of wheat. We need to move the grain fast to create storage space," he said. Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been demanding that shipments be allowed to Pakistan and other CIS countries through Attari. "If we can allow exports of sugar and cotton, why the Union government can't take a bold step of allowing wheat exports through the land route," he had said in a public meeting.

he Cotton Association of India, earlier known as the East India Cotton Association, was the first to be given permission to launch cotton futures in 1997. This was after the then National Democratic Alliance Government decided to resume futures trading that had been banned since the late 1960s. Now, the association wants to get out of trading of any sort, be it futures or forward delivery. A resolution to this effect was passed by the Cotton Association of India (CAI) extraordinary general meeting recently. It was decided that CAI should be derecognised as a trading body. The emergence of a vibrant online platform for futures trading in cotton has led to lack of trading interest in the CAI platform. M.B. Lal, CAI board member appointed by the Forward Markets Commission and former Chairman of Cotton Corporation of India, said a resolution was passed for derecognising CAI as a trading body at a recent special general body meeting. The move will enable CAI to come out of the purview of the commodity market regulator, Forward Markets Commission. The association has not been able to register even a single trade for the last few years, according to data available on the FMC Web site. Besides CAI, the other single

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commodity regional exchanges that have not registered any trade include the Surendranagar Cotton & Oilseeds Association and Sangli-based Spice & Oilseeds Exchange , according to FMC data. The CAI and the Spice & Oilseeds Exchange are recognised as permanent members. It will now require the Ministry of Consumer Affairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; permission for derecognition. Earlier, the board had approached the Forward Markets Commission for de-recognition, but was advised by the regulator to get the approval of the members at the general body meeting. CAI has about 400 members from the all segments of cotton trade and textile industry including mills, growers, ginners, brokers, merchants, importers and exporters. It was established in 1921 to facilitate cotton trade and regulate cotton futures in Mumbai. Currently, cotton futures are traded on online commodity exchanges such as the NCDEX and MCX. The Association played a pivotal role in development and promotion of cotton in India. In 1952, CAI was granted permanent recognition for conducting futures trading in cotton throughout the country until the ban. However, forward trading was allowed as Non Transferrable Specific Delivery contracts. The East India Cotton Association was renamed Cotton Association of India in August 2007. Members of the Association used to negotiate over phone and book their consignments in other cotton growing States such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Seventeen regional cotton associations and four cooperative marketing societies representing all cotton producing regions are affiliated with the CAI and have representation on its Board as associate directors.

Commodity

News

Spices exports touch $2 billion, cardamom, chilli top items

pices exports crossed the $2-billion mark in 2011-12, thanks to the phenomenal growth in cardamom exports in value and volume. “Cardamom, the queen of spices, is inching up to regain its lost position in international trade fetching more value and volume contributing to the upswing in spices exports,” said Dr A. Jayathilak, Chairman, Spices Board. He said that cardamom export registered phenomenal growth of 296 per cent in volume and 175 per cent in value aiding the spice export to increase nine per cent in volume and 43 per cent in rupee terms compared with previous year. The total spices export for the year stood at 5,75,270 tonnes, valued at Rs 9,783.42 crore ($2,037.76 million). The export marked a rise of 36 per cent in dollar terms. The domestic spice industry could realise its target for the year and the achievement is 115 per cent in quantity, 151 per cent in rupee value and 141 per cent in dollar terms, the Chairman said. According to Jayathilak, the record rise

in exports of cardamom and sharp rise in the value of chilli exports contributed to a record achievement in spices export. Cardamom exports totalled 4,650 tonnes, valued at Rs 363.22 crore. A quantity of 935 tonnes of large cardamom valued Rs 68.30 crore was exported, up 21 per cent in volume and 53 per cent in value than the previous year. The UAE, the UK, Pakistan and Kuwait were the major importers of cardamom. Chilli export exceeded more than 40 per cent in value compared with the previous year though the increase in quantity is negligible. The US is the main importer of Indian spices contributing to 16 per cent of total export value followed by China (9 per cent), UAE and Malaysia (six per cent), Saudi Arabia, Germany, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the UK (four per cent each). Mint and mint products, chilli, spice oils and oleoresins, pepper, turmeric, cumin, cardamom (small) and so on, were the key contributors in achieving the target, he said. Export of all the major spices such as pepper, ginger, turmeric,

cumin, fennel, fenugreek, mustard, aniseed, ajwan seed, nutmeg and mace and so on, increased both in terms of volume and value. Export of mint products spice oils and oleoresins increased in terms of value whereas export of coriander, celery and garlic for the year showed a decrease both in terms of quantity and value.

25 MT sugar output for 2012-13: ISMA estimate

he Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has forecast an output of 25 million tonnes (mt) for 2012-13 season starting October. This is one million tonne lower than the 26 mt projected by the industry body for the current year. The lower forecast, despite higher cane acreage, is mainly on account of inadequate rains impacting yields and recovery in the key States of Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Agriculture Ministry data indicate that sugarcane has been planted in 52.22 lakh hectares (lh) in the 2012-13 season, about 2.30 lh more than previous year’s 49.92 lh. “It is slightly early to make a good estimation of sugar production since the rainfall in the next couple of months would be crucial to firm up estimates on the yield, recovery and sugar production,” ISMA said in a statement. Of the projected 25 mt for 2012-13, Uttar Pradesh is likely to produce 7.8 mt and Maharashtra 7.6 mt. Karnataka may produce 3 mt and Tamil Nadu 2.5 mt. States such as Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are expected to produce 1 mt each and the balance by other States.

ISMA felt yields and recovery in Northern States may be slightly better, whereas monsoon in next few months in Maharashtra and Karnataka could result in better output. It expects to review its forecast after the end of monsoon. The actual sugar production in the current 2011-12 season, up to end June-2012, stood at 25.7 mt. ISMA, sticking to its forecast of 26 mt, expects a production of another 3 lakh tonne in the next three months, mainly in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The sugar body expects the exports to touch 3.5 mt by end-September and that the country will have a comfortable opening balance for 201213. It expects the county to remain a net exporter of sugar next year too.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

Marine

News India exports most of its seafood to Southeast Asia

Export potentials force Govt to focus on shrimp farming

ndian seafood exports touched Rs 16,500 crore in 2011-12 with Southeast Asia toppling Europe as the largest buyer of Indian marine products. A shortage in Southeast Asian countries due to natural calamities has led to higher purchases from India while Europe's economic turmoil has crimped demand. According to provisional figures provided by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), seafood exports recorded a 27% rise in rupee terms. However, the increase in quantity was limited to 5% at 8.5 lakh tonne. In dollar terms, shipments touched around $3.3 billion, up from $2.85 billion in the previous year. According to MPEDA sources, a shortage in production across Southeast Asia and natural calamities such as flooding in Thailand led to increased buying from India. Demand was particularly high for the Vannamei shrimp. "As a result of the economic worries in Europe, importers were not able to pay a higher price for our products. And the euro was weak. Countries like Vietnam imported a lot of marine products for re-export to other countries," said Anwar Hashim, managing director of Abad Fisheries. The Vannamei production increased from 12,000 tonne to 40,000 tonne because of the demand. The shrimp fetched $8-12 a kg in the overseas markets. The Black Tiger shrimp too was in demand. "Exporters are focusing on Vannamei. It is easier to culture this shrimp and it provides better yield and price," said Nobert Karikkaseri, the Kerala president of Seafood Exporters Association of India. MPEDA was expecting the export turnover to touch $4 billion for the year. But lower buying from China led to a dip in exports. While purchases from China are down by nearly 40%, the US and Japan continued to be strong buyers. There was an increase in the business of shrimp culturing along the eastern coast but wild catches, especially on the western coast, dipped. Exports of squids and cuttlefish didn't show much improvement. With quality issues with China having been settled, exporters see an increase in buying from the country.

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he Centre is planning to rope in global companies for the revival of Black Tiger shrimp farming in the country. This variety was marketed as 'brand India seafood' before the outbreak of a viral attack - white spot syndrome - that cleaned up its population in some parts of the country in 90s. "We are exploring partnership with global entities for the culture and domestication of Black Tiger shrimp," said a senior official of animal husbandry and fisheries department. "Firms from Hawaii and Thailand have shown interest; we are evaluating their credentials. We want them to introduce seeds that can increase the yield of Black Tiger shrimp, which is as low as 0.5 tonne to 1 tonne a hectare." This variety, also known as giant tiger prawns, is the most popular item in the Asian, European, and American markets. But the higher cost of production and its vulnerability to marine diseases forced domestic hatcheries to switch over to higher-yielding varieties like White Leg shrimp, which produces 5-10 tonnes per hectare. India had been the only producer of Black Tiger variety, a native to the Indian and Pacific Ocean. Its reintroduction into the country's aquaculture farms is likely to boost the shrimp exports, which are growing at a rate of 20-22% annually. "In 2009-10, India exported around 6.78 lakh tonne shrimp. It grew to 8 lakh tonne in 2010-11, earning forex worth Rs 12,901 crore. In the last fiscal year, the export is likely to be around 10 lakh tonne. We expect the trend to continue in the current fiscal year also," said another official of the department. Shrimp, which tops the list of favourite seafood, is exported to the US, EU, China and Japan. The government is now exploring new markets to fuel the exports.

High prices of Hilsa pinch Bengalis as supply sinks

he rain- special fish Hilsa, much loved by Bengalis, is now selling at sky-high prices (Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500). The reasons are weak monsoon and decline in imports. A temporary ban on its export by Bangladesh has compounded the misery. "The spurt in the prices has been mostly because of the alarming decline in the supply of the fish from both internal and external sources. The rupee fall has also contributed as imports from Bangladesh are paid for in dollars," Bengal fisheries minister Abu Henna said. "The fish is spawned mostly in the Hooghly in the east and Narmada in the west. The scanty rainfall has resulted in a sharp decline in their breeding," said Henna, adding that the catch from Hooghly this year has gone below 20,000 tonnes, while the previous year it was close to 60,000 tonnes.

Dairy

News NABARD White revolution in Sinnar

he milk collection centre at Harsule, located about five kilometres from Sinnar that is located on the outskirts of Nashik, has brought about a positive change in the lives of the local people. This centre is a good example of communitybased intervention for sustainable living. Taking a cue from Anand in Gujarat, milkmen of Sinnar have cut middlemen to sell milk directly to the cooperative society here. This ensures quality and value for money for both, the milkmen and the customer. The milk is unadulterated, clean and healthy. The milkmen are paid directly by cheque. In fact, a fourmonth course on dairy development management has also been started by the society for these enterprising milkmen. The people behind this white revolution are Sunil Pote, president of Yuva Mitra, a non-governmental organisation and his wife Manisha Malpathak, the programme coordinator. "The milk collection centre is one of its kind in Nashik. "Milk is delivered by milkmen, which is scientifically tested for quality of fat. The milk is filled in a tanker and sent for delivery. The payment is made according to the quality and exact quantity of milk," informed Manisha. The payments of the farmers are deposited in the banks to ensure absolute transparency. Around 100-150 milkmen take their milk daily to the milk collection centre. All of them are registered at the centre. Code numbers have been given to the milkmen. The number of milkmen visiting the centre varies daily according to availability of milk with the respective milkmen. "In February 2011, we tied up with

Cyber Dynamic Dairy at Baramati which sends a tanker everyday or every second day to take the milk. Daily, about 1000 litres of milk is generated. During season time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is from monsoon to February when the grass is green â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it is more than 2,000 litres of milk. The quantity and quality of milk is checked and if the quality is not good, it is sent back," informed Sanjay Shinde, one of the volunteers of Yuva Mitra, who looks into the affairs of the milk collection centre. "Fat is calculated in the fat machine and lactose checked in the lactometer. Milk is frozen for two hours. When the temperature comes down to four degrees the freezing automatically stops and consequently, the bacteria also stops growing. The milk is sucked into the tanker using an electric motor and transported," informed Shinde about the process of collection and transfer of milk. Recently, a training centre has been started here for the milkmen which teaches them how to take good care of cattle to make them produce a better quality of milk; how to recognize symptoms of illness in the animals and provide first aid in case of emergency; how to maintain quality of milk; the market price and solve queries if any. Sharing the advantages of the milk collection centre, Hiraman Avhad, a milkman from Vadgaon said, "The best part is that we get the receipt immediately and the payment is made through cheque which is deposited directly in our bank account. We don't have to sieve the milk; it is checked and stored here. The quality and fat content is checked according to which the market price is decided."

S a m p a t Ghuge, a milkman from Pachte said that only if the quality of milk is good does it fetch a good price. "If we give low quality how will we get good money? The best part is every ten days our salary is deposited in the bank. We get full value for the milk given," he said. Shankar Bodke from Jamgaon said that he is happy to get money for even small quantity of milk. "The recent training programme started here for us is also a very helpful. It teaches us many things and also trains us in management and entrepreneurial skills. A veterinary doctor comes to teach us to keep our animals in good health. Food for cattle is also provided at the centre," he said. Madhukar Shinde from Sonamde said that they get all the facilities here, like checking the quality of milk, its fat content and transparency in payments. "Milk is stored in freezers so there is no fear of it getting spoilt. I am satisfied with the way things are handled here," he said. The brain behind these projects, Sunil Pote said that training the milkmen has also built their confidence levels in addition to teaching them basic things. "Yuva Mitra works on three concepts - we will do the kind of work that would help the community evolve according to the needs of the people, our work should result in knowledge building and whatever we do has to be sustainable," said Sunil Pote.

MP registers increased milk collection

adhya Pradesh has set a new history in white revolution by purchasing milk from two lakh milk producing farmers. In comparison to 1993-2003, the number of active cooperative milk producer societies has also increased considerably in the state. The active milk producer cooperative societies were 2210

in year 1993 and rose to 2767 in 2003. However, their number has increased to 6,000 from 2004 to 2012. Similarly, the number of milk providers rose from 66,880 to 77,913 between 1993 and 2003 whereas it went up to 2,10,000 from 2004 to 2012. The daily milk collection in the state was 2,57,000 kilogram (kg) in 1993 and rose to 9,50,000 kg in 2012. Much more

increase has been registered during the last 8.5 years and now the quantum of daily milk collection stands at 6.50 lakh liters per day. During last year 2011-12, 7.21 lakh liters of milk was purchased daily from milk producers through milk societies.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

DAIRY

News Ban on import of milk & milk products from China gets extension

he government has extended ban on import of milk and its production from China for one more year. A notification to this effect was issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade which says that milk and its products would continue to be banned from China until June 23, 2013 or further orders, whichever is earlier. The prohibition of import includes chocolates and chocolate products and candies/ confectionary/ food preparations with milk or milk solids as an ingredient. The prohibition on import of milk and its products from China was originally imposed September 24, 2008 with reports that the milk products imported from China contain melamine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a banned substance injurious to health. The ban was extended since then time to time. There were reports that milk sold in China was laced with melamine. Unfortunately, it is possible accumulates in the body and causes toxicity problems - basically damaging the kidneys and forming

stones (solid deposits within the kidneys or bladder). Infants fed regularly with milk containing melamine will be particularly susceptible to these effects. As we have seen tens of thousands have been affected and several have died in China. Why this problem is not more widespread, given the rather large number of infants potentially having been drinking contaminated formulamilk for months is unclear. Dairy farmers have been feeling the squeeze for years, particularly in parts of the world where technological advancement has been slow in coming and so their profit margins on their milk output have not been lifted by improved efficiency. In order to boost profits milk has been diluted. However, this brings with it the problem of falling quality - dilute with water and measurable concentrations of milk proteins, fats, and sugars fall. Dilution by up to 30 per cent has not been uncommon, which is where melamine comes in. Melamine is a small organic molecule with a high nitrogen content that can easily fool the quality control equipment into thinking that nitrogen (from protein) is present at

normal levels and so the milk is passed as good. Acting on reports by the food standard authority in the US, the American regulator also banned imports of milk and its products from China in 2008. Despite repeated clarification from the Chinese Authorities of resolving melamine issue, the ban on imports of milk and its products continued in India which saw similar ban on import of Indian seafood into China. The move came over a week after the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) had recommended extension of ban on milk and its products on June 22 in view of reports of poor quality standards of milk in China. The DGFT was awaiting a nod from the Ministry of Commerce for extending this ban further despite the previous suspension period expired on June 24.

Low-fat milk foods are good for heart: Study

eople who drink low-fat milk and eat low-fat yogurt and cheese are at a lower risk of stroke as compared to those who consume full-fat dairy foods, a new study has claimed. In a Swedish study, among 74,961 adults 45 to 83 years old, those who ate low-fat dairy foods had a 12 per cent lower risk of stroke and a 13 per cent lower risk of ischemic stroke than those who ate high-fat dairy foods. Participants were free of heart disease, stroke and cancer at the start of the study. All completed a 96-item food and beverage questionnaire to determine dietary habits. Food and drink consumption frequency was divided into eight categories, ranging from never to four

servings per day. During the 10-year follow-up, 4,089 strokes occurred (1,680 in women and 2,409 in men): 3,159 ischemic, 583 hemorrhagic and 347 unspecified strokes. "This is the largest study to date to examine the association between consumption of total, low-fat, full-fat and specific dairy foods and the risk of stroke

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

in adult men and women," Susanna Larsson, the study's first author from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, said. "From a public health perspective, if people consume more low-fat dairy foods rather than high-fat dairy foods, they will benefit from a reduced risk of stroke and other positive health outcomes," Larsson said. The benefits of low-fat dairy foods are likely due to the vitamins and minerals they contain: calcium, potassium, magnesium and vitamin D. "It is possible that vitamin D in lowfat dairy foods may explain, in part, the observed lowered risk of stroke in this study because of its potential effect on blood pressure," she said.

AgriBusiness & Food Industry w Aug & Sep 2012

BROILER

News Broiler meat production spikes up

uoyed by a strong domestic demand and new production techniques by the hitherto conservative poultry industry, broiler meat production has increased over 30 per cent in the last four years. Production increased 10 per cent from 2010 to 2.9 million tonnes in 2011. It is expected to scale further heights. Further, the US Department of Agriculture has raised India's broiler meat output by 450,000 tonnes to a record 3.2 million tonnes (mt) this year. “India's broiler production is revised upwards to a record figure based on a robust domestic demand fuelled by an expanding middle-class and changing tastes and preferences together with the emergence of vertically integrated poultry producers that support increasing production,” the Department said. While the global broiler meat output has been cut to 82.1 mt (83 mt) on account of higher feed and operating costs, India stands out as the lone achiever challenging its closest rival, Mexico. Domestic consumption was 2.8 mt in 2011. It is also likely to touch a high of 3.1 mt this year, the report said. With these record projections, the Rs 47,000-crore poultry industry is set for an uplift as the domestic broiler-market demand is set to grow at 15-18 per cent while table-egg demand will increase at 5-7 per cent. PRODUCTION RISES “The poultry sector has grown at more than 15 per cent in the past three years. The production capacity has gone up with large integrated players taking up contract poultry-farming,” said P. Selvaraj, Vice-Chairman, Broiler Coordination Committee, the apex body for country's broiler trade. According to data available with the National Egg Coordination Committee, egg production has increased to 266.62

lakh a day in 2010-11 from a meagre 98 lakh eggs a day in 2000-01. South India (led by Andhra Pradesh) produces over 45 per cent of the country's poultry output while another 20 per cent comes from the Western region (led by Maharashtra). Tamil Nadu leads in poultry consumption in the country, thanks to inclusion of eggs in various mid-day meal programmes. EXPORTS DIP While the USDA report has not mentioned any thing on Indian poultry exports, Mr Selvaraj said that shipments have taken a hit since 2006 due to the continual outbreak of bird flu in some pockets of the country. “But we are optimistic about the ever-increasing demand on home turf outpacing supply. Industry players are keen on catering to the domestic market and some of them are drawing up plans to enter retail market in a big way,” he said. India is more of a live-bird market and just 2-3 per cent accounts for the frozen

market i.e., processed/dressed chicken. But all this numbers is set to change in a couple of years as consumption of dressed meat is growing at a slow and steady pace providing more chances for companies to develop products for the home market, he added. SOARING FEED PRICES However, all is not rosy for the industry. Seasonal uncertainties, geopolitical worries and soaring feed prices continue to mar the industry's prospects. Rising prices of maize, a major ingredient in the poultry feed that forms more than 60 per cent of the production cost, is a cause for concern for the industry. Soyameal prices which stood at Rs 16,200-16,300 a tonne last year has more than doubled to Rs 38,200-38,500 this year. Any monsoonal vagaries or policy changes in export of soyabean tend to hit the profitability of broiler farms which are sensitive to feed-price fluctuations.

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