Saarc Oils & Fats Today-Sep. &Oct. Issue

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

Contents Chief EDITOR S. Jafar Naqvi Consulting Editors T.V. Satyanarayanan K Dharmarajan Editorial Co-ordinator: Syed M K News Editor : Anwar Huda General Manager: Lalitha V Rajan

v Editorial

5

v Cover Story South Asia Dairy Congress

India can be a Processing Hub for Dairy Industry

— T V Satyanarayanan

6

v Tribute

Verghese Kurien Tribute to India’s Milkman

13

l Visionary extraordinaire — Dr. M. S. Swaminathan l The man who empowered through milk — Harish Damodaran

Production: Mohd. Iqbal

l A Titan & Visionary — Amrita Patel Hyderabad 9248669027 mediatodayhyd@yahoo.com Mumbai 9702903993 mumbai.office@mediatoday.in Bangalore 9342185915 bangalore.office@mediatoday.in Pune 9881137397 pune@mediatoday.in Ahmedabad 9727866249 ADMN. & MARKETING OFFICE MEDIA TODAY PVT. LTD. T-30, 1st Fl., KHIRKI EXTN., MALVIYA NAGAR, NEW DELHI - 110017. PHONE : 91-11-26681671, 26682045 TELEFAX : 91-11-26681671 E-mail: MediaTodayMails@gmail.com ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION India: Rs.1000/-for 1 Year / Rs.1950/-for 2 Years Overseas: US$ 120 for 1 Year / US$ 230 for 2 Years Single Copy Cost in India : Rs. 60.00 Printed, Published & Owned by M.B. Naqvi, Printed at Everest Press, E-49/8, Okhla Industrial Area, Ph-II, New Delhi -110 020 and published from E-11/47 -A, New Colony, Hauz Rani, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi-110017 (India). Editor : S. Jafar Naqvi

Vol. 14&15..... ISSUE 12&1..... Sep. & Oct. 2012 ‘Saarc Oils & Fats Today’ T-30, Ist Floor, Khirki Extn., Malviya Nagar, New Delhi - 110017 E-mail : MediaTodayMails@gmail.com

v Interview

Futures Market has definitely helped farmers, says Sushil Pawa

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v Oil Market MNCs eye for vastly untapped oil markets

— Vishwanath Kulkarni

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v l

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Research Futuristic applications of Camelina sativa, a newly introduced oilseed in India — L C Meher, C P Churamani, M Arif, Z Ahmed

l Nutrient Management for Enhanced yield and Quality of Soybean

and Residual Soil Fertility

— Sumit Chaturvedi, A.S. Chandel and A.P. Singh l Differential Responses of Four Soybean Cultivars to Salinity Stress

— G.V. Ramana, Sweta Padma Padhy and K.V. Chaitanya l Estimation of Heterosis for Certain Morphological, Yield and

Yield Attributes in Groundnut

— K. John, P. Raghava reddy, K. Haripraad Reddy, P. Sudhakar and

N.P. Eswar Reddy

l Strategies for Enhancing Safflower Production in India

— Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad v Olive Oil

Nature’s special gift to mankind

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v

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Price Outlook Outlook for Palm Oil & Soft Commodities How high can prices go?

— Dorab E Mistry

v News

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

38

Editorial

A

fter a poor performance in June and July and causing jitters of widespread drought, south-west monsoon got into a benign mood in August to shower its bounty with a vengeance, as it were, to make up for the lapses in the first half of the Kharif season. The overall rainfall deficiency has been progressively coming down and if the September rains continue on predicted lines, Indian Meteorological Department would not be surprised if the season ends with an overall deficit of 5 per cent or so, or even less. The Central Water Commission is also happy to report marked improvement in the water levels in key reservoirs in the country.

Since the turn of events has come about despite an El Nino condition brewing in the east equatorial Pacific, doubts are being voiced about the dependability of the hitherto-held theory of correlation between El Nino and Indian monsoon.

The rainfall figures are bound to gladden the hearts of meteorologists, who had initially predicted a normal monsoon this year. However, the monsoon’s waywardness in the first half of the season has already caused some damage to the Kharif prospects.

Although sowing of Kharif crops picked up after mid-August following vigorous rains, official figures showed that acreage under most crops – paddy, coarse cereals, oilseeds and pulses – were lagging behind, compared to last year’s performance. Among oilseeds, soyabean was the only exception, registering a record increase in acreage, thanks to higher sowing in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Soyabean farmers are hoping to capitalize on higher prices in the wake of tight global supplies because of drought in Brazil and Argentina.

Besides lower acreage of sunflower, sesamum and castor, one of the worst hit crops this time is groundnut.

In Gujarat, government officials estimate almost 70 per cent crop failure in areas growing groundnut and cotton in Saurashtra and Kutch. In Amerli district of Suarashtara region, 50-60 per cent groundnut crop had already failed, said the district agriculture office in mid-August. The crops which had survived were those of farmers having water sources like bore-wells and ground water irrigation.

In Andhra Pradesh, barring cotton and maize, the outlook of all other crops was said to be bleak.

Groundnut crops were in poor shape, as also sunflower and sesamum. In Karnataka, in many areas, drought conditions had cut the Kharif sown area to 40 per cent of the corresponding area last year.

In reply to a question in Parliament, Food Minister K V Thomas hinted at higher imports of edible oils and pulses this year because of the erratic behaviour of the monsoon. Lower Kharif coverage, he said, is expected to impact the domestic output. While affirming that any supply-demand gap would have to be matched by higher level of imports, the Minister however did not mention the quantum of expected imports. In reply to a supplementary, he said in the last three years, the country imported 8-9 million tonnes of edible oils, the countries of origin being Indonesia, Brazil, the U S, and Argentina.

Parliament was also told that the government is considering to extend the scheme for distribution of imported edible oils – with a subsidy of Rs 15 a kg – for another year. Some states have sought extension of the scheme, due to end on September 20.

The erratic behaviour of the monsoon and its impact on Kharif crops could trigger rise in the prices of essential commodities and the government needs to keep strict vigil on this front to minimize hardships for the common people.

Comments are welcome at: MediaTodayMails@gmail.com Views expressed by individuals and contributors in the magazine are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of “SAARC Oils & Fats Today” editorial board. The magazine 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

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

Cover Story

Inauguration by Chief Guest, Ms. Rajni Sekhri Sibal

Welcome address by Mr. S Jafar Naqvi

Mr. Henk van Duijn

Dr. A . K. Srivastava

South Asia Dairy Congress

India can be a Processing Hub for Dairy Industry Mr. R Ravindra

Dr. P. K. Dixit

— T V Satyanarayanan

D

espite having achieved an impressive annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent in milk production in the last decade, vis-Ă -vis the world average of 2.2 per cent, India has to work much harder to meet the domestic demand, going up by leaps and bounds. Emerging trends indicate that the annual demand for milk in this country would be in the range of 200-210 million tonnes by 2021-22, as against the current output 121.85 million tonnes.

Going by even a lesser projected demand of 172.2 million tonnes, as assessed by the Planning Commission in the Tenth plan, the average incremental increase in milk

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, august sep. & Oct. 2012 2012

Cover Story production in India would need to be around six million tonnes per annum. The trend has to be sustained over a period of next fifteen years. A tall order?

This scenario was highlighted by Ms. Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in her keynote address to the South Asian Dairy Congress held in Bangalore. The congress was one of the concurrent events held along with Agri Tech India 2012, Dairy Tech India 2012 and other expos, organised by Media Today group.

The congress, attended by experts and top scientists in animal husbandry and dairying, was coordinated by National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore.

Vast opportunities Ms Sibal sought to drive home the point that the scope, potential and opportunities for dairying are huge in this country, which is one of the biggest emerging markets for milk and milk products. Being a treasure house of experienced manpower with excellent technical know-how, India can be used as a processing hub to tap the benefit of a growing domestic market and markets in the developed economies.

Modernisation is vital for dairy development in India, since, only 16 per cent of the milk is at present handled by the organised sector. As a result, only a very small percentage of milk is being processed into value added products.

Stressing the growing relevance of efforts to enhance productivity of milch animals, health management and supply chain management, she assured dairy professionals all possible help for development of dairy industry in India and invited their suggestions for possible policy support.

After the keynote address, Guests of Honour made their presentations. Henk van Duijn, Counsellor for Agriculture in the Netherlands Embassy, spoke on certain aspects of dairy technology and techniques being followed in the Netherlands, a world leader in production of high quality dairy products. The Agriculture Counsellor extended all possible help and cooperation to Indian dairy industry for improving trade in milk and milk products.

Dr. A.K. Srivastava, Director, NDRI, Karnal, presided over the function. He stressed the rising importance of milk sector in the Indian economy and said this importance would increase in the times to come. He outlined various issues of dairy industry pertaining to milk production, animal health management, dairy processing, marketing & food safety and the requirement of adequate infrastructure to facilitate the development.

R. Ravindra, AGM of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) outlined the growing role of APEDA and said it was ready to cooperate in every activity for improvement of dairy sector and international trade.

Dr. P.K. Dixit, Principal Scientist, NDRI Bangalore co-ordinated the session. M.B. Naqvi, CEO, Media Today Group,was present at the function.

In his address of welcome, S Jafar Naqvi, Chief Coordinator, said Dairy Tech India 2012 which was being held simultaneously, showcased everything required to turn a traditional familyowned dairy into a modern dairy business.

Technical sessions The inaugural session was followed by three technical sessions, devoted to Milk Production and Animal Health Management, Food Safety, and Processing and Packaging. The first technical session on Milk Production and Animal Health Management was chaired by Dr C. S. Prasad, Director, NIANP, Bangalore, while B. S. Khanna, Regional Director, NDDB, Bangalore was the Co-Chairman.

Of the four presentations in this session, the first was on Animal Breeding by Dr K R Trivedi, NDDB, Anand. Detailing

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SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

Cover Story

Challenges of India’s dairy industry

Excerpts from keynote address by Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying last decade was at 2.2% whereas in India the annual growth rate for the domestic milk production is higher at 4.2% for the corresponding period. An increase in the growth rate of milk production has contributed to increase in the per capita availability of milk close to world average, notwithstanding the increase in human population.

T

he Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries sectors play an important role in the national economy and in the socio-economic development of the country.

These sectors also play a significant role in supplementing family incomes and generating gainful employment in the rural sector, particularly among the landless labourers, small and marginal farmers and women, besides providing cheap nutritional food to millions of people. Livestock are the best insurance against the vagaries of nature like drought, famine and other natural calamities.

Sector’s Contribution The contribution of livestock sector in agriculture in terms of output, which was 17.3 per cent during 1980-81, increased to 28.40 per cent in 2009-10. Similarly, contribution of the sector to National GDP has been around 5 per cent over the years, despite pronounced variation observed in contribution of crop sector to National GDP, indicating the stability of the livestock sector.

The value of output from livestock and fisheries sector together at current prices was about Rs. 4,614 billion during 2010-11 and the contribution of milk alone is about Rs 2,622 billion which was higher than paddy, wheat and sugarcane.

India stands first in terms of the bovine population having 20% of the world’s population. In spite of India’s position as highest producer of milk, productivity of our bovines is very poor. It is only 1525.20 Kgs/year as compared to the world average of 2,159 Kg/year. The productivity in China and Pakistan are 2140 Kg/year and 1681 Kg/year respectively. We know that the low productivity in our country is mainly due to low genetic potential for milk production of non-descript bovines and poor level of nutrition.

Yield Increase The milk production in India during last decade increased from 78.3 million tonnes to 121.85 million tonnes. As per FAO, the average growth in milk production in the world during

10

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Major Constraints In the livestock sector, major constraints experienced by farmers relate to breed, feed and fodder, health care and remunerative prices for the produce. The policy envisages addressing these issues through adopting an appropriate strategy.

As Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries is a State subject; the emphasis of the Department has been on supplementing efforts of the State Governments in the development of these sectors. The Department of Animal Husbandry has been providing assistance to the State Governments for the control of animal diseases, scientific management and upgradation of genetic resources, increasing availability of nutritious feed and fodder, sustainable development of processing and marketing facilities and enhancement of production and profitability of livestock and fisheries enterprises.

India -- an emerging market India is one of the biggest emerging markets, with over 1.2 billion population and a 300 million strong middle class.

Rapid urbanisation, increased literacy, increased participation of women in workforce and rising per capita income, all have caused rapid growth and changes in demand patterns, leading to tremendous new opportunities for exploiting the large latent market. Demand for milk continues to rise on account of increased consumption and growing population. The per capita household consumption of milk has increased both in rural and urban areas.

Government Support Government is actively supporting the dairy sector by implementing various schemes like National Dairy Plan (PhaseI), National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB), Fodder and Feed development scheme, Intensive Dairy Development Programme, Strengthening Infrastructure for Quality & Clean Milk Production, Assistance to Cooperatives & Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme to increase the milk production in the country. The Government through suitable Interventions is assisting dairy cooperatives in creation of infrastructure and improving conditions in dairy plants to ensure proper hygiene and food safety. Cooperative dairy plants are assisted in implementing food safety and quality management systems, achieving energy efficient operation and maintaining clean environment.

Cover Story

the National Dairy Plan (NDP) and the strategies required to achieve the targeted milk production, he emphasized the need of scientific breeding, nutrition and use of information technology. His presentation covered such issues as breeding policies, bio-security in bull stations, semen quality and progeny testing programme.

The next speaker was Ms. Josephine Verhaeghe (Cid Lines) who made a presentation on Mastitis control. She elaborated the measures for mastitis prevention and management in dairy herd, including barn hygiene, milkers’ hygiene and udder / teat health.

Rakesh Dave (Akaza Nobel KNZ) spoke on the KNZ free choice salt lick. He

underlined the need of salt and minerals for dairy herd and merits of free choice salt lick. This was followed by a presentation

by S. S. Tomar and Aleem Shaikh (De Lavel India) on Animal Health, Milk quality and Mechanization of dairy operations. They focused on the aspects of mastitis, fertility and hoof health, besides comfort of dairy animals and stress management.

Dr N. K. S. Gowda, Principal Scientist, NIANP, Bangalore was the Rapporteur, while the session was coordinated by Dr K. P. Ramesha, Principal Scientist, NDRI, Bangalore Recommendations – Session 1 Based on the presentations

and discussion, the following recommendations were made: l Scientific and agro-climatic zone based breeding policies are required looking into local resources. l Entrepreneurship in breeding and marketing of dairy heifers / cows need to be promoted. l Free choice salt lick should consider the area-specific mineral deficiencies and develop area-specific free choice mineral licks. l Control measures for preventing mastitis through maintaining udder hygiene should be promoted through training of farmers and farm women, NDRI should consider offering such

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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Cover Story training programs at regular intervals in association with milk unions. l Mechanization of dairy operations integrating biosecurity, feeding, milking, processing and manure management should be popularized at field level through participatory approach involving research organizations, milk federations, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), NGOs and private industry.

Food Safety Dr. G.S.Bhat, Former Vice - Chancellor, KVAFSU, Bidar, chaired the second session devoted to food Safety in Dairy Industry. The Co-Chairman was Dr. B.V. Venkateshaiah, Dean PGS, KVAFSU, Bangalore.

In his presentation Tejbhan Thairani, (Consultant Mehasana Union Unit, Manesar Milk Plant) said food safety is a vital requirement in dairy industry and there must be no compromise on meeting quality standards. Briefly, he suggested steps needed to reduce resource wastage and prevent rejections at production point and also in the market. .

Karan Nangia, Managing Director, Benny Impex Pvt., Ltd made a presentation on Milk Collection and Testing Systems in India : Past, Present and Future. He traced the development of milk collection and testing systems in India over the years and envisaged that the new era of milk testing would involve infra-red, combination of thermal and infra-red and ultrasonic methods, which can deliver the complete spectrum of tests in minimum time. He added that these methods are cost-effective as well. He stated that Benny Impex , over the years, provided state-of-the-art products in milk collection and testing.

Thomas Nivert, Director, AllFlex India Pvt. Ltd spoke on Animal Identification and Tracebility in India. Accurate identification of animals would play a pivotal role in dairy industry and facilitate food safety, he said. . In order to remain globally competitive, Indian farmers must adopt radio-frequency-based electronic identification (RFID). He also added that application of RFID method would be beneficial to all.

Bernhard Gleri, Negele Messtechnik GmbH, Germany spoke on Instrumentation 12

and their role in improvement of process efficiency and safety. He explained that targeting of appropriate action to improve process performance would be greatly improved by putting the application instruments in practice. He stated that various process connections are available as built-in systems. Accurate temperature probes, pressure gauges, controllers, signal converters and set point transmitters are helpful in improving the process efficiency.

Dr. B. Srinivas, Senior Scientist, NDRI, Bangalore was the Rapporteur of the session, which was coordinated by B.S. Nataraj , Former Deputy General Manager, NDDB, Bangalore Recommendations – Session 2 The session made the following recommendations: l Food safety should be the binding force of the dairy industry in the country for which adequate measures should be initiated right from the animal to processing units to market to consumer. l Individual animal identity is a ‘must’ to regulate the quality of milk at producer level. Necessary infrastructure development and upto-date cleanliness of the production line are pre-requisites to produce safer foods in dairy industry. l Adequate awareness creation, training and manpower development for food safety must receive top consideration.

Dairy Processing and Packaging Dr. Satish Kulkarni, Head, NDRI, Bangalore, was the Chairman of the third technical session, which focussed on Dairy Processing and Packaging. Dr. K.L. Gajendran, Former MD, Kolar Milk Union, was the Co-chairman.

The session opened with a presentation by Raghunand Krishnan, Reliance Industries Limited, on Clarified Polypropylene in Packaging of Dairy and Food Products. He highlighted the necessity of innovations to enhance value addition, improve processing efficiency, and to produce quality and safe dairy products.

Shelf-life enhancement by employing novel processing and packaging options will be critical, he said. . Stressing the

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

importance of Polypropylene (PP) based packaging, he stated that such containers are retortable and microwave ready. This cost- effective packaging option is under successful trials in several leading dairies for packaging sterilised flavoured milk.

Reliance Industries, he said, would be happy to take forward this innovative packaging option to all interested dairy organizations in the country.

A. Suresh, General Manager, Tirumala Milk Products Pvt Ltd. spoke on the Role of Dairy industry in Rural Economy.

He outlined the status of dairy industry and milk flow pattern and presented statistics of milk production and per capita consumption in the country. He identified the emerging trends in dairying such as commercial dairy farms and milk collection at village door steps. He stressed the need for government support to farmers towards setting up of mini dairy farms and suggested co-ordinated efforts of government, research organizations, financial institutions and farmers at large, for an overall development of dairy sector in our country.

B. Nataraj, Additional Director (Quality Control), KMF, Bangalore was the Rapporteur of the session, which was coordinated by Dr. B.V. Balasubramanyam, Principal Scientist, NDRI, Bangalore Recommendations – Session 3 The session made the following recommendations: l Packaging flavoured milk in Polypropylene container is an innovative and cost- effective solution. Attempts may be made by dairy industry for its suitability. l Government support is essential to farmers towards setting up of mini dairy farms by providing subsidies and loans at par with agricultural loans. l NDDB & NDRI must concentrate their research on improving productivity in cattle. l Training related to Clean Milk Production & Food Safety aspects need to be intensified. l Developing backward integration like water resources, feed and fodder development, and trained manpower are very much needed for development of dairying n

Tribute

Verghese Kurien 1921-2012

Tribute to India’s Milkman

Hailed as Father of India’s White Revolution and endearingly called ‘Milkman of India’, Dr Verghese Kurien was credited with having pioneered the milk cooperative model at the village level – widely known as Anand cooperative model. He transformed a sleepy town in Gujarat into a milk capital of India.

Having founded the Anand Milk Union Ltd – which gave rise to the acronym ‘Amul” –Kurien went on to take India to the position of world’s largest milk producer. Thanks to Operation Flood, world’s largest dairy development programme, which Kurien launched under National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), India’s milk output has gone up six-fold – 123 million tonnes from just 2 milliion tonnes in 1960.

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets Amul, began with just 2 village dairy cooperatives societies and 247 litres of milk. It has since taken a giant leap to become India’s largest food product marketing organization with an annual turnover of Rs. 11,668 crore. The daily milk procurement is in the range of 13 million litres from 16,117 village milk cooperatives. 17 member unions, covering 24

Visionary extraordinaire — Dr. M. S. Swaminathan

I

met Dr. Verghese Kurien soon after his return from Michigan State University and his taking up residence at Anand. From then on, we shared ideas and experiences in the area of rural transformation through agriculture and dairying. Among the very many unique contributions of Dr. Kurien which led to India becoming the leading milk producer of the world, I would like to highlight a few.

districts and 3.18 million milk producing members.

Amul’s product folio consists of milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, ghee, chocolates, milk powder, baby food and what have you. It exports milk products worth Rs. 95 crore.

Among his manifold contributions to the dairy sector, Kurien would always be remembered for empowering the farmer and for having made a serious efforts to professionalise rural cooperatives.

Eminent farm scientist Dr M S Swaminathan has described as “monumental” Kurien’s contributions to development of Indian dairy development, “rooted on the Gandhian principle of production by masses.” He transformed a small-scale household activity into the world’s largest milk producing enterprise..

In a moving tribute to him, NDDB, says, “Thank you for giving us a dream. Thank you for showing us the way. Thank you for guiding us to better the lives of millions of farmers. As we remember all that you have done for us, we remain dedicated to pursuing and achieving your vision. We remain committed to reaching out to many more lives.”

Decentralised production First, he rightly concentrated on the processing, pricing and marketing aspects of milk production. He knew that if dairying became profitable, farm women and men would automatically care for the animals and look after breeding and nutrition. He also knew that in our country, only a decentralised production M. S. Swaminathan of milk, done by women, supported by key centralised services in the fields of animal nutrition, health care and processing would help to ensure both the income security

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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Tribute of rural families and the production of the necessary quantities of milk for the country. He therefore saw great merit in the power of cooperative milk societies in conferring concurrently the advantages of production by the masses and the benefits of modern centralised dairy processing technology. He developed a “one stop” method of meeting the needs of over 75 million women engaged in milk production. Thus, the Amul cooperative units not only purchased milk but also provided breeding, health care and nutrition support for the animals, to the great benefit of the milk suppliers. Thanks to Dr. Kurien’s emphasis on payment based on butterfat content, the buffalo started getting attention once again.

The survival of milch buffalo breeds and their dominant role in the dairy industry today is primarily because of the milk purchase and pricing procedures introduced by Dr. Kurien.

Processing and marketing His other major contribution was the diversification of processing and marketing channels. Thus, milk became available through bulk vending machines, as well as through direct home delivery procedures and distribution through sachets. Such a multiple delivery channel made it easy for consumers to get milk whenever and wherever needed. Dr. Kurien ensured the economic viability of milk processing plants by deputing multidisciplinary spearhead teams to assess the quantity of milk available in an area and the capacity needed for the optimum functioning of the processing plant before it was established. When milk became available in plenty, he diversified the product mix by converting milk into milk powder. He also ensured a steady supply of milk throughout the year by the judicious combination of milk powder and raw milk. Above all, he developed a unique system of training potential dairy managers through the organisation of a Siksha Dairy at the Anand Agricultural University, designed to impart training in all aspects of the dairy industry, ranging from milking the animal to processing, value-addition and marketing.

IRMA A lasting contribution of his was the establishment of the Institute of Rural Management at Anand to provide the country with well trained and competent managers for handling rural enterprises including dairying. I was the Principal Secretary in the Union Ministry of Agriculture when the inspiring report prepared

by Dr. Kamala Choudhary and Dr. Kurien came for approval. This was the first time that a serious attempt was being made in our country to professionalise rural cooperatives. Looking back, it is difficult to believe that one person could have achieved so much in his lifetime, transforming a small-scale household activity into the world’s largest milk producing enterprise. More than for any one else, the following description of an extraordinary individual

by Rainer Maria Rilke fits Dr. Kurien.

“Again and again in history some special people in the crowd wake up. They have no ground in the crowd, and they emerge according to much broader laws. They carry strange customs with them, and demand room for bold actions. The future speaks ruthlessly through them.

They save the world.”

(Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, renowned agriculture scientist, is popularly known as Father of India’s Green Revolution)

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SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

The man who empowered through milk — Harish Damodaran

T

he rural producer was central to Verghese Kurien’s business model.

There was nobody more unsuitable to have earned the sobriquet ‘Milkman from Anand’.

Verghese Kurien — who passed away at the age of 90 — was a Syrian Christian from Kerala, who, before landing for the Harish Damodaran first time in Anand on an early May morning of 1949, knew it just as a place “somewhere near Bombay”.

That Anand was almost 500 km away from Mumbai was something he discovered only after reaching there as a 27-yearold, to work as superintendent of a run-down government creamery on a monthly salary of Rs 275.

Moreover, the man who endeared himself to Gujarat’s farmers and created a brand called ‘Amul’ for the milk they produced, never spoke Gujarati (though he once told me that he fully understood the language; not speaking it was a deliberate strategy he employed to know what others were saying without their realising it).

Also, as someone who was a self-proclaimed atheist, a meateater and not particularly averse to alcohol, there couldn’t have been anybody more removed from the puritan Vaishnav-Jain traditions of Gujarat.

Contrasts And the biggest incongruity of them all was the fact that milk was never Kurien’s favourite food; he actually quite disliked it.

Nor did he choose dairying as a profession; it was dairying that chose him and made him the greatest CEO India has seen, and will possibly ever see.

Kurien was originally a mechanical engineer from Chennai’s Guindy College of Engineering, who in the early 1940s worked with Tata Steel or TISCO as it used to be.

He left the job only because TISCO was being headed by a maternal granduncle, John Mathai, who later also became India’s Finance Minister.

Being known as the grand-nephew of TISCO’s top boss was rather stifling for a young, independent-minded man.

So, when he got a government scholarship to study in the US, Kurien chucked the job. It did not matter that the scholarship was only to do a masters in dairy engineering and not his first choice of metallurgical engineering.

On returning from Michigan State University in 1948, Kurien had a Rs 1,000-per-month job offer from Union Carbide in Kolkata, which he could, however, not take up because of a two-year government employment bond that was part of the scholarship deal.

Tribute

A Titan & Visionary

— Amrita Patel Amrita Patel, Chairman of National Dairy Development Board, described the architect of India’s White Revolution Verghese Kurien as a Titan and a visionary who promoted and established nearly 1.50 lakh village cooperatives with 1.50 crore members across the country, leading it to emerge as the largest milk producer in the world.

Paying glowing tributes to her predecessor, she said this was no mean feat and his dream would continue to inspire millions in the years to come. “It was his single-minded determination against odds that would have overwhelmed a lesser mortal and the vision that he steadfastly strove to achieve that made this possible.”

Patel said the doyen of Operation Flood strode like a Titan across the bureaucratic barriers and obstacles that, at every stage of NDDB’s history, could have brought it to its knees.

“Undaunted, he stood staunchly against all the machinations of those who beheld his achievement with envy and were affronted by the sheer tenacity of the man.

The sense of professionalism, integrity and his constant search for excellence in everything that he did, Dr Kurien set an example for those who followed him to live up to. He had an extraordinary ability to convert threats into opportunities, never letting an opportunity to pass him by that could be of advantage to the organisation or those it served.

in a plate pasteuriser as the only practical long-term solution, although it might cost some Rs 60,000.

To his surprise, Patel offered to raise the money — provided Kurien would help in the initial installing and running of the equipment.

By then, Kurien had served his term and was all set to leave Anand. But Patel’s persuasive powers and demonstrable commitment to a cause were enough to get him to remain in Anand, which became his Karmabhoomi. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Kheda cooperative, which was collecting 5,000-odd litres per day of milk from 430 farmers in end-1948, eventually became a pan-Gujarat organisation that now procures over 100 lakh litres daily from 30 lakh producers in 16,000 village-level societies.

Cooperative capitalism What Patel and Kurien ended up creating was a unique entity, whose sole purpose was to procure, process and market the milk of Gujarat’s farmers with a view to maximise their share of the consumer rupee.

The unions affiliated to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation today pay their farmers an average rate of Rs 470 for every kg of milk fat.

Not a small achievement, made possible only because of Kurien’s vision that saw farmers not only owning processing facilities for their milk, but even having control over marketing.

Central to this was selling under their own brand — in this case, Amul.

“Without a brand, you will just be a contract supplier doing all the hard work of collecting and processing the milk from lakhs of farmers. The cream is not there. It lies in marketing, which is where actual value realisation takes place. The benefits of it should accrue to the producers”.

This is how the legendary dairyman summed up his philosophy in an interview he gave me sometime in 2004.

“I am in the business of empowerment. Milk is just a tool in that”. He couldn’t have expressed it better.

Courtesy: Hindu Business Line

And the creamery in the boondocks of Gujarat’s Kheda/ Charotar region was where Kurien got posted.

Tribhuvandas effect It was in Anand that Kurien encountered the man who changed his life: Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel.

The latter had, in late 1946, organised a cooperative for marketing the milk of farmers in Kheda district, who were being fleeced by the lone Polson Dairy promoted by a Parsi businessman, Pestonji Edulji Dalal.

It was a struggling cooperative without any proper processing facilities to prevent the milk from curdling by the time it reached Mumbai. Patel had, however, managed to lease a part of the government creamery, where Kurien was biding his time, for the cooperative’s use.

But it had completely worn-out machinery prone to frequent break-downs, which Kurien, in his spare time, would offer to fix.

During one of such interactions, Kurien suggested investment sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

15

Interview

Futures Market has definitely helped farmers, says Sushil Pawa New Delhi-based Pawa Brokers Pvt Ltd is one of India’s oldest and most reputed oil brokerage houses, with its business now being handled by its third generation. The buying agent of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Pawa Brokers has had always remained sensitive to the needs of the farmers and consumers. Sushil Pawa, whose father established the company, is a doyen of the segment, and whose ideas and experiences are of extreme importance to the oil industry. In a brief chat with SAARC Oils & Fats Today Correspondent Anwar Huda, he shared his ideas and views on the current oil industry scenario and the role of futures market, among other such crucial things. Excerpts: Sushil Pawa

India is the major importer of edible oils. Do you think lack of self-sufficiency in oils is a major issue right now, or India is a country in a comfortable position?

India is a net importer of edible oils. Two-third of its total requirement is fulfilled by imported oils, while one-third is produced indigenously. The reason behind it is that agriculture land is more devoted to the production of basic food materials like wheat and rice as compared to oilseeds, which is on account of continuous support procurement price for the cereals.

Although, competition between pricing of cereals and oilseeds has emerged which will increase oilseeds acreage, we are still going to import substantial amount of edible oil, as demand is huge.

The reason that government gives top-most priority to cereals is because the lack of it can bring down government and cause riots, as it has happened in several parts of the world. So, the government has to focus on it by all means. And the result, you see, is that our granaries are overflowing. The same treatment is not given to oilseeds because lack of it will not bring down government or cause riots.

So, this is a matter of being in a ‘comfortable position’. As in this year case, we have enough cereals while the rest of the world is crying for it. So, if enough cereals are produced to eat, oil can be imported.

Being India’s oldest brokerage house what are your views on the functioning of edible oil industry at this stage? Is our oil industry at par with international standard?

We are now at par with global standard as many international companies, which are dominating the world markets, have established their own manufacturing units here, and this has made the outdated, obsolete indigenous plants redundant. These foreign companies, which have established their manufacturing units in India, bring in latest technology which they develop in their own countries through R&D. They are self-motivated to protect public health as doing so also makes a great businesssense.

The sad part of the story is that more and more trade is going in to their hands and the local players are being driven out. But consumers are benefited by better packing and high quality content.

But what about price factor?

It is no more an issue as even middle class consumers in India are health-conscious and they do not mind to pay more to get high quality. Now, they are becoming quality-sensitive, instead of price-sensitive.

16

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Futures market has become a reality these days, being an Indian do you feel it is helping farmers in real sense? Is there a need to review this policy by the Government of India?

Futures market has definitely helped farmers in India. And in my opinion, there is no need to review the existing government policy regarding futures market. Mustard/soy seeds prices have gone up to Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 a tonne for the farmers in the last couple of years only because futures market has been sensitive to the world market, and thereby making this price level available to farmers, who now could demand higher prices from the millers. If there being no futures market, the millers would have taken advantage by buying at marginally higher prices on the Minimum Support Price (MSP). By doing so, the millers could have made farmers happy, but in reality, would have looted them instead.

What is the overall scenario of the branded and unbranded edible oil market in India?

Unbranded oil is now left only for institutional buying.

Consumers are now buying only branded oil. They are very aware and cannot compromise on their health. So, they are ready to pay more for good-quality oil.

Quality of oil is an area where brands are using technical phrases that are as confusing as misguiding in many cases.

Most of the consumers cannot understand so called Lite Oil or low-absorbent oil. So how do brands spread right kind of awareness?

The brands have freedom to use such technical terms to promote the sale of their products, but that should be scientifically backed.

Consumers may buy them and if they do not see any difference after a few months, they can write to the manufacturers. But I think these are also marketing gimmicks.

Today the same unit is manufacturing oils for more than one company. In this scenario how do brands monitor quality?

They do monitor quality as it is a matter of prestige and brand image. They have expert quality-monitoring professionals who oversee all the steps of the production. There are stringent qualitycontrol measures in place.

Globoil India is undoubtedly the largest platform for oil industry where who-is-who of the sector meet every year. Do you think this event helps the industry?

Obviously, such events do help the industry. It is a place where people from same segment meet and share ideas and experiences, and where deals also take place. A lot can happen at such events.

It is a need today.

Oil Market

Indian Oil Market

MNCs eye for vastly untapped oil markets – Vishwanath Kulkarni

I

ndia’s Rs 15,000-crore packaged edible oils market is heating up.

Despite a market size of over 16 million tonnes in 2011, India’s per capita consumption, at just over 13 kg a year, is just about half the global average of 24 kg per year.

This untapped potential has attracted a spate of major multinationals. While some have made an entry with their global brands, others have preferred to buy out the local players and re-launch the acquired brands.

The segment has seen a spate of acquisitions by multinational majors of local brands in recent years. The latest in such a trend is the recent re-launch of Sweekar, a premium edible oil brand by Cargill India. Sweekar will now compete with the likes of Sundrop, from the ConAgra stable, and Saffola of the homegrown Marico Industries, which dominate the premium edible oil segment.

It was from Marico that Cargill acquired the Sweekar brand last year.

Sweekar is the third such acquisition in the edible oil space, besides Gemini and Rath, for Cargill in India, where the global commodity player is trying to connect with the end consumer.

Last year another global food giant, Bunge, took the acquisition route by buying out the edible oil business of

Amrit Banaspati Company that owned brands such as Gagan, Ginni, Amrit and MerriGold.

Such a move has helped Bunge extend its distribution reach, expand its manufacturing presence and brand portfolio in India. Bunge entered the Indian market, way back in 2003, by acquiring the iconic Dalda brand from Hindustan Unilever Ltd. ACQUIRE, HEDGE RISK Earlier, the food MNCs adopted such a strategy to gain entry into unexplored

markets such as India. They are still relying on buy-outs to consolidate, strengthen and widen their presence here.

Though considered a bit expensive when compared with launching a new product, such a time-tested strategy of acquiring known brands helps these multinationals hedge some of their risks.

“Any new brand launch not only requires financial muscle, but also comes attached with risks – such as the uncertainty over its success,” says Aseem Soni, Director (Consumer Sales), Cargill India.

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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Oil Market Sweekar was devoid of investments in the past 4-6 years, in which Cargill saw potential and heritage value. “It had a lot of brand recall,” says Soni, adding that it offered big opportunity for innovation.

Cargill not only changed the product mix and positioned it as a healthy oil but also came out with new premium packaging – in a new shrink-wrapped box pack designed to be tamper-proof and minimise spillage. Sweekar is a blend of 80 per cent sunflower oil and 20 per cent high oleic sunflower oil, produced from seeds that contain more than three times the amount of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) as compared to regular sunflower oil. (MUFA are credited with helping to improve the blood lipid profile.)

Cargill, which tasted success with the buy-out strategy, has acquired three brands in the past 7-8 years including Sweekar. The Gemini brand of refined sunflower oil was bought out from its joint venture partner in 2005. Gemini, which had a good presence in the West, especially in Maharashtra and Karnataka, continues to be a strong player in the

18

Rising awareness of health issues and increasing affordability are driving growth in the premium edible oil segment region.

The entry into hydrogenated oil or the vanaspati segment about 1.5 years ago was with the acquisition of Rath, an old heritage brand. “Nobody was interested in Rath, which was dying. We bought it and are keeping it alive,” says Soni.

Cargill upgraded the vanaspati product, which has a market in certain parts of the country, especially Delhi and surrounding areas.

The response to Sweekar has been good in various pockets.

“The product has been noticed very well and has got a lot of eyeballs.

Consumers have appreciated the product upgrade and the strategy of providing a recipe developed by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor in each pack,” Soni says.

Cargill has close to 100-odd recipes created

by Sanjeev Kapoor, of which 12 would be given out to consumers every month.

Competitively priced with Saffola and Sundrop, Sweekar aims to garner a 20 per cent market share in the next few years in the growing premium edible oil space, where

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

growth in value terms is double that of the branded, packaged oil segment. Rising awareness of health issues and increasing affordability are driving growth in the premium edible oil segment.

A PREMIUM AFFAIR Moreover, with the prices of popular oils such as soyabean and palm oil inching up and the gap narrowing, consumers are seen shifting towards the premium edible oils, says Soni. The gap between popular and premium oils, which stood at 15-20 per cent a year ago, has now shrunk to 5-10 per cent, depending on the various brands, he adds.

“Acquisitions can be seen as a form of consolidation in this market which is fragmented with a few big players and many small players.

The MNCs are looking at India with interest because of the high consumer demand,” says Inderpreet Kaur, Associate Director, Technopak Advisors.

Cargill started its strategy to connect with the consumer in early 2000 with its NatureFresh atta (wheat flour) brand and subsequently expanded it to the edible oil segment. The company discontinued the brand midway for its own reasons about six to seven years ago.

“So far, the experience has been good,” says Soni, adding, “We will continue to look at buying out brands and energising them.” Cargill plans to strengthen its business-to-consumer initiative by getting into newer categories and has made its intentions clear of getting back into the wheat flour. However, the company has not set any time frame for that.

Technopak’s Kaur believes that acquisition as a trend for the MNCs will continue as long as the sector is underpenetrated and there are multiple players fighting it out. Also, due to the inherent volatility of prices in this segment, brands that have a diversified portfolio of edible oil categories would be better placed than those focused on a single variety.

This is so because the former will have the flexibility to modify their product portfolio in line with market demand and maintain optimum capacity utilisation levels, Kaur adds. n Courtesy: Hindu Buisnessline

Research

Futuristic applications of Camelina sativa, a newly introduced oilseed in India – L C Meher, C P Churamani, M Arif, Z Ahmed (Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research, Project Site, Secunderabad Military Farm Road, Old Bowenpally, Secunderabad (AP), India) Camelina sativa is an oilseed plant of temperate zone newly introduced in India and preferred for its short duration, high yield and oil content and also minimum requirements of agricultural inputs. The current article describes the characteristics of the oilseed crop and the chemical composition of the oil. The oil contains higher amount of unsaturated fatty acid revealed from its iodine value i.e. 140gI2/ 100g, and fatty acid composition. It contains more than 50% poly-unsaturated fatty acid and the chemical compositions were compared with traditional oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids. The futuristic application of camelina oil is discussed for deriving eco-friendly fuels and industrial raw materials to substitute petroleum byproducts.

Current scenario of vegetable oils The renewable lipid feedstocks have industrial applications in food, fuel, oleochemicals and cosmetic sectors depending upon their chemical composition. The major use is as commodity products i.e. edible oil and the surplus is for non-food industrial applications. The non-edible grade vegetable oils have attracted much interest as raw material for production of fatty acid methyl esters for their application as diesel fuel substitute.

The other applications are in the soap industry, cosmetic products and biobased polymers. The non-edible oilseed crops are castor, jatropha, pongamia, neem etc and presently find use as fuel, lubricants, surfactants etc. The economic feasibility is one of the concerns for the wide use of these oils; the economical viability is related to the cost of oil, which is dependent upon the yield of the crop, the oil content and the agricultural inputs.

Fig 1. Camelina sativa at flowering and fruiting stage

The production of oilseed crop with low input and high yield of oilseed with high oil content are the favourable factors deriving industrial chemicals from vegetable oils replacing the petroleum sources. Camelina sativa is an oilseed crop which was being considered as weed in Europe is recently being introduced in India and expected to serve as raw material for deriving ecofriendly products. Preliminary studies have been conducted by 14 airlines of North America and Europe to fuel the aircraft with camelina based biodiesel and further initiatives have been taken for using camelina derived biodiesel to partially substitute aviation fuel.

Camelina sativa as a potential oilseed crop Camelina sativa is an under-utilized oilseed crop of family Cruciferae. It is an annual or overwinter crop originating in the Mediterranean to Central Asia. The crop is known since Bronge age for its application as common edible product and in oil lamps. The current research interest on camelina is due to the fact that it requires minimum agricultural inputs such as water, nutrients, fertilizers, pesticides and grows in low fertile as well as saline soil and adaptable to semiarid regions. Other advantages are short growing period (i.e. 85 to 105 days), high

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

19

Research yield and high oil content in the seed.

The plant grows 50-100 cm tall and have branched stems that becomes woody after maturing. The leaves are pointed with smooth edges. The four petaled flowers are yellow in colour and form green pods containing seed, which on maturing turns orange colour. The yield of camelina seed varies in the range of 600-1700 kg/ ha depending upon the agroclimatic and growing conditions. The oil content in the camelina seed is reported to be in the range of 27-41%.

Characteristic of Camelina sativa oil Camelina sativa crop was grown as intercropping in Jatropha plantation during winter of 2011-12 at the DIBER Project Site Secunderabad, a semi-arid region of Andhra Pradesh, India. The normal agricultural practice was adopted for its growing in between the rows of five years old jatropha plantation. The flowering and fruiting stage of the crop is depicted in Fig 1. The crop matured in 80 days and a harvest of 530kg/ha was obtained from the intercropping in Jatropha plantation plot, which can be further improved. The oil content in the seed varied in the range of 27-31% for the crop grown at Secunderabad. The plant oils are triacylglycerols with varying composition of fatty acids depending upon the crop, the season, agroclimatic conditions.

The vegetable oils differ for their applications due to the variation in chemical composition of the oils. The physicochemical properties such as iodine value and saponification value respectively indicate the degree of unsaturation and length of fatty acid chains in the triacylglycerol. The iodine value and saponification value of camelina oil are listed in table 1 and compared with

Table 1: Physico-chemical properties of camelina oil and comparison with other oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids Oil

Iodine value (gI2/100g)

Saponification value (mgKOH/g)

Camelina

140

180

Soybean

126

189

Sunflower

133

188

Rapeseed

116

175

Linseed

170

191

Canola

114

189

the properties of other traditional oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids. The iodine value of camelina oil is 140 gI2/100g which is higher than that of soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and canola oil and less than that of linseed oil. The higher the iodine value of a particular oil, the less is it’s stability towards oxidative degradation. The literature reveals the presence of sufficient natural antioxidants i.e. tocopherol up to 800 mg/kg and other bioactive components responsible for it’s superior storage stability. Camelina oil can be used for the applications to derive industrial products and chemicals for which the non-food application of soybean, sunflower is presently being used for.

The fatty acid composition of camelina oil is shown in table 2 and compared with other traditional oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids. The fatty acid profile of camelina oil is different since it contains about 20 wt% fatty acid of C20 structure.

The camelina oil contains more that 50% poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). It is also observed that camelina oil contains 4.8% erucic acid which makes the oil suitable for non-edible applications. The fatty acid composition reported in this article differs from that of the literature, which might be due to variation of climate and growing conditions.

Futuristic applications of camelina oil The oil can be exploited for industrial applications for its high unsaturation.

The synthesis of biodiesel from camelina oil may be the potential application, the advantage will be its superior cold flow properties, on the other hand the biodiesel will be susceptible for autoxidation for long term storage. As discussed above, the camelina based biodiesel is expected to partially substitute aviation turbine fuel. The camelina based methyl ester can be blended with biodiesel derived from palm oil to improve cloud point and pour point. The other applications need chemical modifications such as epoxidation and hydrolysis of the oxirane ring. The epoxidised oil may be utilized as raw material for polymer industry for its oxirane functional group for the preparation of epoxy resin and polyurethrane resin. The hydrolysis of the oxirane ring will produce polyols with improved oxidative stability and for further formulation of bio-lubricants. The camelina oil may be the renewable source for the synthesis of eco-friendly fuels, lubricants, oleochemicals and precursors for polymer to replace petroleum based products.

Table 2: Fatty acid composition of camelina oil and comparison with other oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids Oil

Fatty acid composition (wt.%)

C14:0 C16:0 C18:0 C18:1 C18:2 C18:3 C20:0 C20:1 C20:2 C20:3 C22:0 C22:1 Camelina

0.2

7.3 3.1

Soybean

0.1

11.0 4.0

23.4

53.2

7.8

0.3

-

-

-

-

-

Sunflower

0.2

4.8

5.7

20.6

66.2

0.8

0.4

-

-

-

-

-

Rapeseed

- 4.0

1.5

17.0

13.0

9.0

-

14.5

-

-

- 41.0

Linseed

-

6.0

2.5

19.0

24.1 47.4

-

-

-

-

-

-

Canola

- 4.1

1.8

63.0

20.0

-

1.9

-

-

-

-

20

14.0

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

22.2

23.9 3.2

8.6

14.8

1.8

0.8

0.8 4.8

Olive Oil

Olive oil

Nature’s special gift to mankind

O

live fruits and oil have several health benefits, and people have had been using them for centuries.

Olive (Zaitun in Arabic) is also mentioned in major ancient books, and the holy books like The Quran.

The great olive fruit extract (oil) is widely used in daily life for its many therapeutic qualities. Olive oil has also been found to be effective in adding glow to the skin and hair. Even though olives have a high fat content of 15 to 35 percent, they are an excellent source of oleic acid.

Olive is the fruit of Olea europaea (family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by grinding whole olives and extracting the oil by mechanical or chemical means. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soap sand and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps. Olive oil is used throughout the world, but more in the Mediterranean countries.

It is a staple of the Mediterranean diet, which recent research has proven to be one of the healthiest diets in the world. Olive oil’s curing benefits are numerous. The monounsaturated fats in olive oil reduce bad cholesterol, help regulate blood pressure and can prevent diseases like diabetes and cancer.

The phytonutrient in olive oil (known as oleocanthal) mimics the effect of ibuprofen in reducing inflammation, which can decrease the risk of breast cancer and its recurrence. Studies have shown that people who consumed 25 milliliters (about 2 tablespoons) of virgin olive oil daily for one week showed less oxidation of LDL cholesterol and higher levels of antioxidant compounds, particularly phenols, in the blood. Recent studies indicate that regular consumption of olive oil can help decrease both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It can also lessen the severity of asthma and arthritis and helps in weight management.

Olive oil is rich in a number of vitamins, particularly vitamins E and K. Vitamin E keeps the skin supple, smooth and fresh looking and is said to delay the ageing process, which is why it is often added to skin creams. Olive oil is also said to give shine and bounce to dull hair and strength to brittle nails.

Varieties Koroneiki, Lianolia, Chondrolia (Throumbolia), Tsounati and Patrinia Olive are major olive varieties.

In Spain, the most important varieties are the Picual, Arbequina, Hojiblanca, and Manzanillo de Jaén; In Italy, Frantoio, Leccino Pendolino, and Moraiolo; in France, Picholine; in California, Mission; in Portugal, Galega; in Croatia, Oblica and Leccino. The oil from the varieties varies in flavour and stability (shelf life) Producing Regions Three countries are the major olive oil producers in the world.

First is Spain, second is Italy and third is Greece. Together, they produce more than 75 per cent of the world production. Spain produces around 30 per cent of the world’s olive oil, with 75 per cent of this being produced in the region of Andalusia, particularly within Jaén province. Italy is also a major importer of olive oil, importing more olive oil than it exports, a majority of which is re-branded foreign produce.

In Italy the major producers are called “Città dell Olio” (oil cities). Some of the most important are Lucca, Florence and Siena, in Tuscany. However the largest production is harvested in Puglia.

Portugal accounts for five per cent of the world’s production and its main export market is Brazil.

Australia now produces a substantial amount of olive oil.

Many Australian producers only make premium oils, while a number of corporate growers operate groves of a million trees or more and produce oils for the general market. Australian olive oil is exported to Asia, Europe and the United States.

In North America, Italian and Spanish olive oils are the best-known, and top-quality extra-virgin oils from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece are sold at high prices, often in “prestige” packaging. A large part of U.S. olive oil imports come from Italy, Spain, and Turkey.

New Zealand, The Republic of South Africa, Argentina and Chile also produce extra virgin olive oil. Olive orchards in Arizona, California, and Texas are also producing olive oil.

Olive in India In India, there was, once, a grand plan to plant thousands of olive trees in Rajasthan desert, but the idea could not see the day of light. Nonetheless, due to increased purchasing power, awareness and availability, urban consumers are now buying olive oil substantially. Food Retail chains and even big kirana shops keep jars of olive oil with attractive labels. n sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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Research

Nutrient Management for Enhanced yield and Quality of Soybean and Residual Soil Fertility — Sumit Chaturvedi, A.S. Chandel and A.P. Singh

A

field experiment was conducted during rainy seasons of 2003-04 and 2004-05. Fourteen treatments consisting of two fertility levels (50% and 100% recommended NPK) and their combination with FYM and supplementary nutrients viz. boron and iron besides control were tested in randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that soybean yield attributed to cumulative effect of yield attributes viz., pods/ plant, seeds/pod and hundred seed weight were increased significantly by the addition of micronutrients and FYM at both the fertility levels (50% and 100% NPK).

Integrated use of FYM (10.0 t/ha) and micronutrients viz., boron (2.0 kg/ha) and iron (5.0 kg/ha) with inorganic NPK can replace upto 10 kg N, 30 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O/ha. Mean relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf area index (LAI) were significantly affected by supplementation of inorganics (50% and 100% NPK) with FYM and/or micronutrients viz., boron and iron. Application of FYM, boron and iron along with inorganic fertilizer (50% and 100% recommended NPK) also

significantly increased the root dry biomass, number of nodules, dry weight/plant and leghaemoglobin content at 60 days stage.

Net returns and benefit: cost ratio was highest where boron (2.0 kg/ha) was applied with 100 % NPK and lowest in control (Inoculated). Highest protein and oil content and yield were recorded with RDF + FYM. Application of FYM, Fe and B with both 50 and 100% recommended fertilizers (RDF) markedly improved the content of unsaturated fatty acids (linolenic, linoleic and oleic) and reduced the content of saturated fatty acids (palmatic and stearic). Use of organic sources and micronutrients helped in maintaining soil fertility in terms of available nutrients and fertility balance. It was concluded that application of FYM and micronutrients viz., Fe and B along with 100 % NPK was essential for higher productivity and profitability of soybean as well as maintaining soil fertility.

(The authors are from the Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar)

Differential Responses of Four Soybean Cultivars to Salinity Stress — G.V. Ramana, Sweta Padma Padhy and K.V. Chaitanya

S

alinity stress-induced morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of four soybean cultivars (MAU-61, LSB-1, NRC-37 and MACS-57) were studied in 30 days old plants by treating them with 100 mM, 200 mM and 300 mM concentrations of NaCl respectively. The effect of salinity on plant growth was studied by measuring the growth of the plant, branch length, leaf area. The water relations of soybean cultivars under salinity were estimated by studying the relative water contents and water uptake capacity.

The response of the soybean plants to salinity stress was analysed by estimating the levels of carbohydrates, total free amino acids, proline, glycine betaine along with the enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase and sucrose phosphate synthase. Carbohydrates and SPS activity were decreased in the soybean plants under salinity stress whereas the 22

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

contents of proline, glycine betaine and total free amino acids were increased along with superoxide dismutase activity.

Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the accumulation of two SOD isoenzymes Mn-SOD and Cu/Zn SOD under salinity stress. Differential expression of these enzymes showed that the expression of these enzymes under salinity stress was high in roots. This study reveals that the varieties NRC-37 and MACS-57 showed a better performance under salinity stress, when compared to that of MAU-61 and LSB1 which was very well correlated with their biomass contents.

(The authors are from the Department of Biotechnology, GITAM Institute of Technology, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam)

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Research

Estimation of Heterosis for Certain Morphological, Yield and Yield Attributes in Groundnut — K. John, P. Raghava reddy, K. Haripraad Reddy, P. Sudhakar and N.P. Eswar Reddy

T

wenty eight F1 crosses along with eight parents were studied to get information on the extent of heterosis over mid parent, better parent and standard parent for morphological, yield and yield attributes. The maximum relative herterosis for pod yield per plant 101.52%, better parent heterosis 92.73% and standard heterosis 108.54 respectively. The crosses viz., TIR-25 x ICGV-99029 for kernel yield per plant, ICGV91114 x TCGS-647 for pod yield per plant, Tirupati-4 x JL-220 for number of well filled and mature pods per plant, JL-220 x ICGV99029 for 100 kernel weight, K-1375 x TCGS-647 for sound mature kernel per cent and TPT-4 x K-1375 for shelling per cent were the best heterotic crosses over the better parent. These hybrids were identified as promising for many desirable traits and they may be useful in exploiting hybrid vigour in groundnut.

(The authors are from the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati, S.V. Agricultural College Campus, Tirupati)

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

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Price Outlook

China is now the biggest importer of soybeans with an almost 65 % market share

Outlook for Palm Oil & Soft Commodities

How high can prices go?

and is a massive consumer of protein

T

he year 2012 will be remembered as one of the most capricious in terms of weather. We started with almost ideal conditions in South America - Brazil was on its way to a bumper soybean crop and Argentina was also expected to produce record crops. At the China International Oils & Oil seeds Conference in November in Guangzhou, every speaker (with the exception of yours truly) was bearish and waxing eloquent about how massive crops would turn out to be. The oft repeated words were: “But there is no ¬story in soya this year”.

The most bearish were analysts based ‘in USA and in China. The US analysts were I believe genuinely bearish whilst the Chinese were talking their book. They all seemed to have over-looked the fact that 2011-12 was a La Nina year and that La Nina phenomenon is often notorious for the proverbial Sting in its Tail.

Gathering Storm As we progressed into March and later April, the rains disappeared particularly in Argentina and eventually we lost 28

— Dorab E Mistry Director, Godrej International Limited

almost 25 million tonnes of beans from the projected South American harvest.

Markets peaked in April as we saw reports of severe winter kill in Northern Europe as well as in Ukraine and then dry weather in parts of Russia and Ukraine.

There was more to come but not before we had a cruel bear market in the month of May. Once” again US analysts got carried away and started projecting massive carry¬overs for a crop that had scarcely been planted.

The scenario changed with dry weather in the US corn belt from midJune and weekly crop conditions showing a dramatic decline week after week from 15th June onwards. Side by side the Indian monsoon was delayed and then remained anaemic for the months of June and July.

We also saw the return of dryness and hot temperatures once again in South Eastern Europe, particularly in parts of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

And we have had confirmation of the onset of a new EI Nino which will gather momentum in the next few months in Australia and here in the palm oil belt of South East Asia.

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Is 2012 a repeat of 1988?

There are some significant differences.

The biggest difference is the emergence of China in 2012 as a stable and prosperous country with rapidly rising living standards. China is now the biggest importer of soybeans with an almost 65 % market share and is a massive consumer of protein. World pipelines had already been depleted by the La Nina related losses in South America. Also, a back to back La Nina-EI Nino was NOT expected.

The US and Canadian crops of 2012 were supposed to replenish pipelines that had already thinned due to the La Nina of the previous year. Instead we have been left with a rationing job which markets have now begun to address.

I shall first deal with the Grains and Soya complex and finally discuss the Palm oil scenario.

Corn, Soybeans & Wheat The shortage in 2012 of corn, soybeans and wheat can be boiled down to a massive shortfall in the supply of feeding stuffs and this will eventually translate into a shortfall in meat - particularly in

Price Outlook beef in 2013. Soymeal is very tight and this will affect poultry prices but the shorter life cycle in poultry means that recovery in bird numbers can be achieved rapidly.

I am not going into detail on the physical numbers but shall discuss the prospects for rationing and try to answer the question: How high do prices need to rise in order to bring supply and demand into the thinnest possible equilibrium?

Those of you who attended this conference last year will recall the following paragraph from my paper: The CEO of Tyson Foods, the biggest poultry company in USA (and with whom my company Godrej has a poultry JV called Godrej Tyson in India) said he expected a new normal of high prices for corn in the next few years. He said corn prices had historically moved in price bands and the band of US$2 to 3 and then US$ 3 to 5 were now past. He expected the new normal to be in the band US$ 5 to 7 per bushel and yet they would remain profitable due to higher meat prices and stronger export demand.

Similarly in the case of soybeans, I believe the new normal will be US11 to 15 per bushel since the cost of production in Brazil, given the strength of the Real, is now in excess of US9 per bushel.

I must say even as bullish as I have been, I did not expect to see the dire fundamentals of supply and demand as we are witnessing today.

Which countries will ration Demand Let us first discuss which areas of the world will be prime candidates for Rationing. History teaches us that meat consumption rises rapidly once Per Capita Income crosses US$ 2000 per annum in current money. As Per Capita Income rises, consumption expands and Price Elasticity of Demand diminishes. So let us look for countries where Per Capita Income in current money is less than $ 2000 and where the scope for rationing is greatest. The prime candidates are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and countries around that region and a clutch of countries in Africa including its most populous country Nigeria.

The pity is that this entire region which we shall for convenience call the Rationing Zone - does not import much soymeal and corn, except for Vietnam. In fact several of

these countries are exporters. We have seen that in times of shortage and high price, governments of exporting nations try to protect domestic consumption by slapping on Export Taxes or in extreme cases Export Bans. Therefore, the bulk of the Rationing Job has to be done by Importing Countries.

The major area where rationing is usually done (but at some risk) is in thinning and reducing the pipeline and stocks. From the crop year 10-11 to the crop year 11-12, we have already reduced ending stocks of soybeans from 74 million tonnes to about 50 millioh. In terms of Stock to Usage ratio, we are down to about 19 %, from the more usual 25%. It is the lowest stocks to usage ratio of the last 25 years. Therefore, rationing will have to be forced by means of higher prices.

Short term price forecast The crops are ahead of normal schedule and we should see the US corn harvest in September and the bean harvest in October. Harvest lows (if at all they can be called LOWs) should be in just as harvest is completed. Once the world knows the size of each crop, it will begin to worry in earnest about the rationing job. That is when I believe new highs will be scaled.

My sense is that sometime in December, we should see soybean prices rise to US$ 20 per bushel and corn prices rise and exceed US$ 9 per bushel. I believe Wheat and Soya oil will remain laggards.

Wheat stocks in non-traditional exporters like’ India are adequate. As for soya oil, it will be remain at a premium to sunflower oil and to rapeseed oil but its time will come later in 2013, not in 2012.

What are the risks that my bullish forecast will not be attained?

The biggest risk is a stock market crash, triggered by one of many factors.

The problems of the Euro Zone are quite well known. One has to think seriously if any of the big debtor countries like Spain or Italy are ever going to be able to reduce and reÂŹpay their debt or will they have to keep rolling it over endlessly.

I may point out that the interest burden is now becoming so oppressive that in the last 12 months, Italian National Debt has actually EXPANDED by almost 100 billion Euros DESPITE austerity measures

and tax increases enforced by the Mario Monti government. The same will be the fate of Spain. For the Euro Zone as well as the USA, there are 2 courses open devaluation or write-offs.

The scenario for the USA is also very worrisome particularly if there continues to be gridlock after the Presidential elections.

With all these worries and with China and India having problems of their own, it is not unnatural to think there is some kind of a dis-connect between the Real Economy and Market Valuations. History teaches us that such a mis-match can be rectified by only one of 2 alternatives - either we have a strong upsurge of Growth (triggered by some external factor like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the first round of QE in autumn of 2008) or by a CRASH and a lowering of valuations. I do not think we can keep kicking the can down the road indefinitely.

What about the threat some strong governmental action?

The threat of governmental action and a suspension of bio fuel mandates wil.1 keep a lid on the irrational enthusiasm of commodity bulls this year. To that extent, such a threat serves a useful purpose.

However, I believe bio fuels are being wrongly blamed for food shortages and high prices. The villain is the abysmal profitability and the neglect of agriculture in the developing world.

At present I believe there is only a 10% possibility of bio fuel mandates being suspended or altered. However, it could become a reality if corn prices go to US$ 10 per bushel for a length of time.

That is why I feel $ 10 will be a peak and anywhere close to that level, . the rally should be sold.

The other villain is the price of Brent crude oil. Ethanol has made itself useful and to some extent indispensable. The failure of mineral oil producers to increase the production of refined products has played into the hands of OPEC and kept the price of energy very high. Bio-fuels are getting more than their fair share of blame.

So the twin threats to my forecast are Contagion and Political action.

Let the world not shed crocodile tears over the price of food and of

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

29

Price Outlook Agri commodities. In 2011-12, world production of Corn exceeded 800 million tonnes whilst world production of Wheat exceeded 700 million tonnes. Yet the total Value of world production of both Corn and Wheat, even at current high prices, is just about US$ 500 billion, lower than the market capitalisation of one company APPLE which supplies the world with those most essential life-giving vital commodities The IPAD and the IPHONE. Such is the value and importance we place of Food which is basic to the survival of humanity.

Let me also remind you that productivity in Agriculture is only improving at a measly 1% each year.

Summary of Beans, Corn and Wheat forecasts So I shall sum up my outlook on how high prices of soybeans and corn will go.

I believe beans will peak at US$ 20 per bushel but we shall see adequate demand rationing and thinning of pipelines between US$ 18 and $ 20 per bushel. I am counting on a big supply response from South America and from almost every other part of the world. I believe India is poised for an excellent winter planting season which should give us bigger than expected crops of wheat and rapeseed this year.

Similarly I expect that corn futures on the CME. at around US$ 9 per bushel will ensure an adequate job of rationing and thinning of pipelines.

We are fortunate that the world has adequate stocks of wheat and as I mentioned, we are likely to see big production of wheat a few months down the road in early 2013. Wheat prices will remain at a slight premium to corn but will not attain record highs.

As you may have guessed, my outlook is tempered by the depressing and grave outlook for the general economies of Europe and the USA. However, I must emphasize that the world cannot afford any other weather problem between now and the next North American crops, except for a mild EI Nino which has’ already been factored in. In case we have another problem with any harvests in the first half of 2013 all bets are off and the scenario could become extremely bullish.

30

I am told Indonesian production of CPO is shaping very well from September onwards and we could have a late peak in November. In that case we may even have its production approaching 27 million tonnes this year The case for investing in companies engaged in Agri production or in enhancement of productivity I am happy to reiterate my recommendation to invest in the plantation sector. Companies which are directly engaged in Agri production like the plantation companies are ripe for investment. Those engaged in production as well as processing and who connect directly with end consumers and also own FMCG brands, will be excellent long term investments. Companies that assist in productivity such as seed companies or fertiliser companies are also my favourites.

As I said last year: When you buy a plantation company, you are getting a free Call on rising future prices, expansion of acreage and protection in the form of barriers to entry thanks to NGOs. Current valuations are depressed and provide great opportunities.

The present situation in Palm Oil The calendar year 2012 is turning out to be a year of uneven CPO production performance. The strong Up Cycle in CPO production began to decelerate from December onwards and by March we were seeing what I may call “anaemic performance”. This was mainly due to the strong performance of the trees in the previous 10 months. I did say at the beginning of the year that a repeat of the 2011 performance in Malaysia was not possible. The trees took a few months to rest and recharge their batteries and it is

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

only from June that we have seen some return to an Up Cycle once again.

So in retrospect, we have had a short 6 month cycle of Flat to Lower production. In the first 7 months of 2012, CPO production in Malaysia was almost 850,000 tonnes LESS than in the first 7 months of 2011.

I am pleased that my production model successfully predicted this.

From mid June 2012 we have started a fresh Up Cycle which will give us extremely good production numbers.

However, it remains to be seen how long this Up Cycle will last because we are seeing dry weather as a result of the arrival of an EL NINO. My current estimate for 2012 Malaysian CPO production is 18.2 million tonnes, with production of 2 million tonnes each in September and in October this year.

As I have said previously, my estimates for Indonesian production in 2011 was 25.2 million tonnes and I expect 2012 production to be around 26.5 million tonnes. I am told Indonesian production is shaping very well from September onwards and we could have a late peak in November. In that case we may even have production approaching 27 million tonnes this year.

Palm Oil Stocks The big story of 2012 is not about CPO production but about the hidden or hitherto ignored stocks of palm oil within Indonesia. Until recently it has been the opinion of most analysts that Indonesia hardly kept palm oil stocks and that Malaysian palm oil stocks were the bigger and more representative component of origin inventories. How wrong we all were!

The change in export taxes by the Indonesian government in July 2011 meant that Indonesia took away most of the demand for refined palm oil and its derivatives. This should have logically denuded Indonesia of all or most of its stocks and created an extremely tight situation for CPO within the country. In fact nothing of that sort happened. This is when some of us decided to investigate the matter in more detail. It now transpires that current stocks of all palm oil in Indonesia are almost 4 million tonnes. A big chunk of these stocks are due to the very tardy logistics within Indonesia. It can

Price Outlook take up to 2 months for FFBs harvested in Kalimantan to be converted into Refined Palm Products and exported.

Normal stocks of palm products in Indonesia in the last 2 years have been of the order of 3.5 to 4 million tonnes as against the normal conventional guesstimate of 1.5 to 2 million tonnes.

These hidden or hitherto ignored palm oil stocks in Indonesia are the Key Reason for the dismal performance of palm oil prices and the generally laggardlike behaviour of Oil Share This must show what a mountain the Malaysians have to climb before they can even catch a glimpse of export demand ‘for refined palm products. I shall expand on this further in my next paper at Globoil India on 23 September in Mumbai. With monthly Palm production likely to hit new peaks in September and October, we are likely to see record stocks in Malaysia as well.

This also shows how mis-guided some analysts have been when they have been talking about the Compelling

Bullish Outlook for palm oil as a result of its discount to soya oil. We are on the threshold of winter and there is only so much substitution that can be done. The spread between RBD Olein FOB Malaysia and Crude Degummed Soya oil FOB Argentina can widen to US$ 300 before it begins to narrow once again.

Given what I have just said about Palm oil production and palm oil stocks, it is difficult to be bullish on palm oil prices.

These are shining in the reflected glory of soya oil. For the months of September and October, any upside in CPO prices can only come from further upside in soya, sun and rape oils. Even then, CPO futures on the 3rd position on the BMD will trade between 2900 and 3300 Ringgits.

The price outlook for lauric oils is the bleakest. This is because they do not have the base support of edible demand.

They depend on industrial demand in the developed economies. I believe Coconut oil and Palm Kernel Oil must decline from current levels and make history by trading for an extended period of time at a discount to CPO.

Outlook I am sorry if I have disappointed the bulls. My outlook is influenced by the dire macro environment I see in Europe, in USA and a slowdown even in China and India.

Printing money and living with massive deficits is not a recipe for prosperity and strong tangible growth. Politicians are too often going for soft options and failing to take the hard decisions which can pull us out of the morass. As I said before, there is a mis-match between valuations, price and the real economy on the ground. You cannot have a long term bull market on such fragile foundations. Either we create conditions for sound sustainable growth and prosperity or we live with the printing press humming in the background. We live in extremely volatile and difficult times.

The silver lining I see is that investment in agriculture and plantations has never had a more compelling case, given current low valuations in this sector. n This was the author’s keynote address at Global Commodities Conference - Asia 2012, Hosted by Goldman Sachs, on 6th September 2012 in Singapore

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

31

Research

Strategies for Enhancing Safflower Production in India — Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad Safflower is one of the important rabi oilseed crops of India grown under receding soil moisture conditions. Although safflower is grown mainly for its seed oil, it has many other uses in preparation of edible dyes, textile dyes, medicines from petals, and all plant parts find place in herbal medicines. The crop has promising future as it has high potential due to nutritional and pharmaGeutical properties of seed oil and petals. Inspite of its multiple uses, the area and production of safflower in India are showing a continuous declining trend in recent years.

The current safflower production in the country is 2.25 lakh tones harvested from 3.5 lakh ha with a productivity of 643 kg/ha. India accounts for 51 % global safflower area and 37% global safflower production and ranks first in area and production in the world (FAOSTAT 2008).

The decline in the acerage and production has been largely due to aberrant weather and consequent biotic stresses like wilt, Alternaria and aphids for last several years. Spiny nature of crop is also one of the hindrances for expansion of the area in non traditional areas. The research and development efforts through All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on safflower and Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR), Hyderabad have yielded promis¬ing technologies for realizing higher yields and profits from the crop.

Extensive trials conducted in different parts of the country both within and outside of the AICRP safflower network revealed that safflower is more productive and remunerative than many other conventional rainfed rabi crops popularly grown in different parts of the country.

Apart from higher yields and monetary returns, cultivation of safflower was either less expensive than other competing crops or its cultivation involved very marginal or no additional investments.

32

Safflower Production Problems Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. l Seed availability of high yielding varieties and hybrids . l Most of the area is under rainfed conditions leading to acute moisture stress l It is grown either as mixed or intercrop with other rabi crops leading to management l Absence of thinning to remove excess plant population l Inadequate irrigation facilities to provide one life saving irrigation l Inadequate and imbalanced fertilizer application l Waterlogging due to heavy rains in September/ October in many areas l Late sowing after harvest of kharif crop leading to aphid problem l Inadequate soil moisture conservation practices Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh l Seed availability of high yielding Andhra

Hybrids

varieties and hybrids l Late sowing of safflower after kharif crop enhance the aphid incidence l Absence of thinning to adjust plant population l Inadequate soil moisture conservation practices l Inadequate I imbalanced fertilization of major, secondary and micronutrients l Spiny nature of the crop discouraging the farmers for adoption l Lack of marketing facilities for safflower Technologies to Improve Safflower Production 1. Improved Varieties Hybrids: A large number of high yielding varieties have been developed and recommended in different states. Besides, five safflower hybrids are devel¬oped which have high seed and oil yield potential. The varieties and hybrids recommended for different states are indicated below:

DSH-129, MKH-11, NARI-NH-1, NARI-H-15, MRSA-521

Pradesh Varieties

Manjira, Sagar Muthyalu, NARI-6, Parbhani Kusum, Phule Kusuma, PBNS-40, NARI-38, SSF-658

Karnataka

DSH-129, MKH-11, NARI-NH-1, NARI-H-15, MRSA-521

Hybrid

Varieties S-144 (Raichur, Bellary and Gulburga district), A-300

A-1, A-2, NARI-6, Parbhani Kusum, Phule Kusuma,

NARI-38, SSF-658 Maharashtra Hybrids

DSH-129, MKH-11, NARI-NH-1, NARI-H-15, MRSA-521

Varieties

Bhima (Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha), Nira (irrigated areas), NARI-6, Girna (Khandesh area), Sharda (Marathwada region), Parbhani Kusum, Phule Kusuma, NARI-38, SSF-658

Madhya

DSH-129, MKH-11, NARI-NH-1, NARI-H-15, MRSA-521

Hybrids

Pradesh Varieties

JSF-1, JSI-7, NARI-6, JSI-73, Parbhani Kusum, Phule Kusuma, NARI-38, SSF-658

Chhattisgarh Hybrids

DSH-129, MKH-11, NARI-NH-1, NARI-H15, MRSA-521

Varieties

JSF-1, JSI-7, NARI-6, Parbhani Kusum, Phule Kusuma, NARI-38, SSF-658

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Research 2. Agro-techniques for enhanced resource use efficiency a) Resource conservations technologies In mono-cropped black soils of rabi areas, harrowing 3 to 4 times during the monsoon is as effective as deep ploughing or sub-soiling to keep fields weed free.

Conserve maximum amount of soil moisture and ensure the desired seed bed. The in situ conservation of rainwater is very, important for the success of safflower. Border method of planting in which one row is skipped after every two rows and opening a furrow in the skipped row was found to be better in scarcity zone of Maharashtra. In low to medium rainfall areas, graded bunds combined with interterrace cultivation across slopes provides more opportunity for rain water to infiltrate in the soil. . Formation of compartment bunds in the inter bunded areas would be very useful for conserving maximum rainwater in low rainfall areas.

Opening furrows every 3 m and tieing the furrow after every 10 m was found very effective in conserving moisture in Telangana area of Andhra Pradesh.

In double cropping areas, when safflower is to be planted after a short duration cereal or legume, avoid too deep or repeated tillage after the harvest of the kharif crops, as it would result in loss of conserved moisture. If conditions warrant (prefer zero tillage wherever possible) give 1 or 2 harrowings (Deccan rabi) or shallow ploughing / disking followed by planking/harrowing (clay loams, alluvials, sandy loams etc.) immediately after harvest of kharif crops. Keeping kharif crops weed free will minimise tillage requirements for safflower.

One or two hand weedings and hoeings/ harrowings at 25 to 30 and 45 to 50 days after planting are needed depending on the length of rosette period and the severity of weed infestations. In black soils, to delay cracking, dust mulch is required as and when cracks appear and thereby minimize moisture losses. b) Adopting proper crop rotations intercropping systems Sequence Cropping Systems: The deep rooting system and consequently its ability to tap moisture from lower profile which

is otherwise unavailable to a number of other crops makes it an excellent choice as a sequence/ relay crop after harvest of short duration cereals/ legumes and other oilseeds in all regions with assured rainfall and / or moisture or whenever seasonal conditions are extremely

favourable for second crop. Following are some feasible and viable cereal/legume based safflower crop sequences identified for different areas of safflower cultivation in the country.

State

Suggested crop sequence

Transitional tract of Karnataka (Dharwad, Belgaum and adjoining areas)

Mungbean - safflower Soybean - safflower Groundnut - safflower

Scanty rainfall areas of Karnataka (Medium Hybrid sorghum - safflower* deep black soils of Bijapur and western Mungbean - safflower* parts of Belary) Northern Telangana of Andhra Pradesh (parts of Ranga Reddy and Mahaboob- nagar district, Adilabad, Medak and Nizamabad)

Mungbean - safflower Maize - safflower Hybrid sorghum - safflower* Sesame - safflower

Assured moisture areas of Maharashtra (Khandesh tract, parts of Marathwada- and Vidarbha)

Mungbean - safflower Urdbean - safflower Hybrid sorghum - safflower * Groundnut - safflower * Sesame - safflower Sunflower - safflower

Drought prone areas of Maharashtra

Mungbean - safflower Urdbean - safflower

Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh

Soybean - safflower Maize - safflower Groundnut - safflower

Chhattisgarh

Upland rice - safflower

Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh

Soybean – safflower Cowpea (fodder) – safflower Mungbean – safflower Hybrid sorghum – safflower

Eastern Uttar Pradesh

Upland rice – safflower** Hybrid Pearlmillet – safflower Mungbean – safflower Urdbean – safflower Sesame – safflower

Jharkhand

Upland rice – safflower* Maize – safflower**

Medium and uplands of Orrissa

Upland rice – safflower

South-eastern Rajasthan (Udaipur And adjoining areas)

Mungbean – safflower Urdbean – safflower Maize (fodder) – safflower Sorghum (fodder) – safflower Cowpea (fodder) – safflower Cowpea (vegetable) – safflower

* As a contingent practice depending on timely receipt and/ or availability of favourable soil moisture conditions. ** As a contingent practice or alternatively with pre-plant irrigation if condition warrant.

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

33

Research Intercropping Systems: Safflower forms an ideal intercrop with a number of traditional rabi crops in drylands.

Inclusion of one row of safflower after 2 or 3 rows of conventional rabi crops not only improves aggregate returns from drylands but imparts greater stability to their production. Some of the suggested intercrop combinations, which are feasible, productive and profitable for different regions under rainfed conditions are as under:

State

Suggested intercropping system

Row proportion (Other crop : Safflower)

Maharashtra

Chikpea + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Wheat + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Linseed + safflower

3:1 or 4:2

Coriander + safflower

Karnataka

Chikpea + safflower

Coriander + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Wheat + Safflower

3:1 or 5:1

Andhra Pradesh

Chickpea + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Wheat + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

c) Adopting improved Agro-techniques Seed Treatment: Seed treatment with thiram or captan or bavistin @ g/kg seed is recommended to protect the crop against seed borne and seedling diseases.

Presoaking of seeds in pure water for 24 to 48 hours and shade drying for about 4 hours before treating the seeds with fungicide is recommended for Chhattisgarh region.

Coriander + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Linseed + safflower

3:1 or 2:1

Madhya Pradesh

Mustard + safflower

6:2

Toria + safflower

Chikpea + safflower

2:1 or 6:2 or 4:2

Linseed + safflower

2:1 or 6:2

Amaranthus + safflower

Chhattisgarh

Chikpea + safflower

2:1 or 6:2 or 4:2

Linseed + safflower

2:1 or 6:2

Mustard + safflower

6:2

Seeding Time: The optimum time of seeding stipulated for different safflower growing areas taking advantage of first soaking rains received in September/ October is as follows:

Eastern Uttar

Linseed + safflower

3:1

Pradesh and

Chickpea + safflower

3:1

Bundelkhand

Barley + safflower

6:2

region

Toria + safflower

1:2

Seed Rate and Spacing: Safflower has considerable plasticity to seeding rates and row spacing because of its inherently superior branching potentials. Optimum plant population in different varieties seldom exceeds 110000/ha even under ideal conditions. The following are the seed rates and spacing recommended for different regions to achieve the desired plant stand: Wherever safflower is taken as a sequence crop after short duration cereals and pulses, increase the seed rate by about 50% to obtain satisfactory stands.

Region

Nutrient Management: Safflower requires adequate supply of nutrients for good yields. The recommended levels of manures and fertilizers for different regions are given below: In double cropped areas, the recommended dose of nitrogen to safflower can be reduced by 50% (about 15 to 25 kg N/ha), if the preceding crop is a grain legume like mungbean receiving its full complement of fertilizers. It is advisable to apply P and K based on soil 34

3:1 3:1

6:2

6:2

Recommended seeding time

Andhra Pradesh Coastal and Rayalaseema area

October

Telangana

Late September or early October

Maharashtra Drought prone areas of Western Second fortnight of September Maharashtra and adjoining areas of Maharashtra Assured rainfall areas of Western Maharashtra and Marathwada

Last week of September to mid October

Vidarbha rainfed

Last week of September to first week of October

Irrigated

First and second fortnight of October

Karnataka

Rainfed Second fortnight of September

Irrigated

Mid September to early November

Madhya Pradesh

Malwa plateau

Last week of September to second week of November

Chhattisgarh Second week of October to second week of

November Orissa Second week of September to mid October

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Research State and Region

Seed rate (kg/ha)

Spacing (cm)

Maharashtra

Khariff fallows

10 -12 45 x 20

Double cropped areas

15 45 x 20

Karnataka

7.5

Andhra Pradesh

7.5-10 45 x 20

Chhattisgarh

10-15 45 x 20

Rice fallows

Madhya Pradesh test values. In scanty rainfall areas of Maharashtra, an additional top dressing of 20 to 25 kg N/ha should be given, if seasonal conditions turn out to be very favourable (high initial stored moisture at planting time, favourable post planting rains).

Under rainfed conditions, apply entire quantity of fertilizers as basal dose by drilling. Place the fertilizers deep in seed furrows (10 cm below the soil in traditional area and 10-15 cm in other areas). In the traditional single cropped rabi tracts of Maharashtra and. Karnataka, application of fertilizers 2 to 3 weeks prior to optimum planting time is recommended, for maximum efficiency under receding soil moisture.

Under irrigated conditions, apply 50% of N and 100% of P and K fertilizers at the time of seeding and top dress the remaining 50% N after 5 weeks at the time Region

20 45 x 20 – 25 of first irrigation.

Safflower also responds to sulphur in soils with low to medium available sulphur. Apply 15 to 30 kg S/ha before planting. Sulphur needs of crop can also be met if P is applied through single super phosphate.

Seed treatment with Azotobacter or mixed inoculation of Azotobacter and Azospirillum (25 g/kg seed) could effectively substitute 50% of recommended N needs of safflower amounting to 20 kg/ha under rainfed conditions in almost all the safflower growing regions of the country. For intercropping systems involving safflower, application of 100% recommended fertilizer to main as well as intercrop based on the area occupied by each component crop in the system is recommended to get maximum returns.

Irrigation:

Under

moisture

stress

Cycocel application: Under rainfed conditions, spray cycocel @ 500 ppm at flower initiation to get higher seed yield and returns from safflower.

Harvesting and Threshing: The crop is ready for harvest when the leaves and most of bracteoles become dry and brown.

The crop is harvested by cutting the plants at the base with the help of a sickle during early hours. It is threshed either by beating with sticks or with the help of tractor and the seeds are winnowed. The threshing and cleaning operations can also be made with power operated threshers. Combine harvesting is becoming popular wherever safflower is grown as a pure crop. d) Crop Protection measures Safflower is affected by a number of insect pests and diseases although only a few of them are of economic importance.

Unless timely and appropriate measures are taken to mange them there may be considerable yield losses. Insect pests and diseases of economic importance and their management are given below:

FYM (t/ha)

Andhra Pradesh

60 x 30

conditions, safflower seed yield can be boosted by 40 to 60% by providing just one life saving irrigation at critical phases of crop growth (early stem elongation to flowering).

Fertilizer (kg/ha) N P2O5

K2O

Rainfed

- 40

25

-

Rainfed

-

50

25

-

Scarcity zone

-

25

12.5

-

Marathwada

Rainfed

- 40

20

-

Irrigated

-

60 40

-

Vidarbha

Rainfed

5-10

25

25

-

Irrigated

5-10

50

50

-

Karnataka

Rainfed

6 35

50

25

Irrigated

6

75 35

Malwa tract

Rainfed

- 40 40

Irrigated

-

60 40 30

Chhattisgarh

Rainfed

-

20-30

15-20

10-15

Irrigated

-

50-60

20-30

20

Maharashtra W. Maharashtra

75

Madhya Pradesh 20

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

35

Research

Insect pestintegrated management Aphids (Uroleucon compositate)

* Avoid delayed planting * Spray Dimethoate (0.05%) or Methyl parathion (0.05%) or Monocrotophos (0.05%) or Chlorpyriphos or Endosulfan (0.05%) or alternatively dust Quinalphos (1.5%) or Methyl Parathion (2.5%) or Malathion (5%) or Endosulfan (4%) at 40 and 60 DAS. Use 500 litres of spray mixture and 20 kg dust formulation/ha. * In traditional tract of Karnataka, one spray of NSKE (5%) a week after first incidence followed by the spray of recommended insecticide 15 days later gives good control of Safflower aphid. * Spraying on the field borders (1.8 m around the field) is as effective as complete spray coverage of the field for aphid management.

Capsule borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner)

* Avoid chickpea as inter crop *Spray Dimethoate (0.07%) or Endosulfan (0.07%) at the rate of 500 litres of spray mixture/ha.

Disease

Integrated management

Alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria carthami Chowdhary)

* Seed the crop at the recommended time. * Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding under * Irrigation. * Avoid continuous growing of safllower * Remove and destroy the diseased plants. * Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms. * Spray Mancozeb (0.25%) immediately after disease is noticed and repeat the spray 15 days later depending on the intensity of disease.

Ramularia leaf spot (Ramularia carthami Zaprometov)

* Seed the crop at the recommended time * Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding under irrigation

Rust (Puccinia carthami Corda)

* Seed the crop at the recommended time * Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding under irrigation

Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.carthami)

* Seed the crop at the recommended time * Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding under irrigation.

Root rot (Rhizoctonia bataticola)

* Seed the crop at the recommended time * Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding under irrigation.

36

* Avoid continuous growing of safflower * Remove and destroy the diseased plants * Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms * Spray Mancozeb (0.25%) immediately after disease is noticed and repeat the spray 15 days later depending upon the intensity of disease.

* Avoid continuous growing of safflower. * Remove and destroy the diseased plants * Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms. * One or two sprays of Calixin (0.050) or Dithane M-45 (0.25%) at 15 days interval.

* Avoid continuous growing of safflower * Remove and destroy the diseased plants * Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms * Treat the seed with Carbendazim @ 0.1-0.2%

* Avoid continuous growing of safflower * Remove and destroy the diseased plants * Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms * Treat the seed with Thiram or Dithane M-45 @ 0.2%.

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

Research Bird Damage Birds, particularly parrots pose a serious problem to crop when it is grown in isolated pockets as in non-traditional areas. To minimize bird damage, take up safflower cultivation in large continuous blocks. Safeguard the crop from bird damage during the period from seed filling to physiological maturity which extends by about three weeks through effective bird scaring particularly in the morning and evening hours.

nutritious containing about 11 % amino acids and many vitamins and minerals.

Gamma Iinolenic acid was identified in safflower petal oil, which is an essential constituent and plays an important role in various biochemical pathways in the human body.

Safflower being a cross pollinated crop, apiary can be setup which not only improves the fertilization and seed yield but also provides additional income in the form of honey.

e) Diversified uses Safflower is a multi-purpose plant. All the parts of the plant find useful application in herbal medicines. Presently, safflower is one of the preferred plants to produce plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMP) for delivering next generation essential protective medicines.

Tips for Increasing Production of Safflower Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh l Conventional dryland crops viz., wheat, linseed and chickpea can be replaced by sole crop of safflower. l Popularize of high yielding varieties and hybrids l Take advantage of first soaking rains received in September/ October for optimum time of planting l Under double cropping situations, increase the seed rate of safflower by 50% to obtain

satisfactory plant stand l In scarcity zone of Maharashtra, border method of planting (skipping one row after every two rows and opening furrow in the skipped row) helps in better soil- moisture conservation l Tied ridges and furrows system and closing the furrow every 10m helps in better soil moisture conservation and to get higher yield in Telangana zone of Andhra Pradesh l Cultivate safflower as an intercrop with chickpea or wheat or linseed or coriander either in 3:1 or 2:1 row ratio l Thin the excess seedlings within 10-15 days after emergence and maintain the desired plant to plant spacing l Choose short duration hybrids or varieties of cereals and legumes to ensure timely sowing of second crop of safflower when the soil moisture in the seed zone is adequate l Avoid kharif cropping if the onset of south west monsoon is delayed as it will hinder timely sowing of safflower l Give one or two hand weedings and hoeings/ harrowings at 25 to 30 and 45 to 50 days

after planting. l Give one additional interculture or

Whole Plants: Young leaves and thinnings are prized leafy vegetable and eaten boiled, as a side dish with curry or rice in India. The tender leaves, shoots and thinnings of safflower are valued as potherb and salad. They are rich in vitamin A, iron, phosphorus and calcium. Bundles of young seedlings are commonly sold as a green vegetable in markets in India.

It is estimated that the safflower crop generates annually around one ton of stalks per hectare with the total lingocellulosic biomass of about 7 lakh tons per annum. This biomass could help in meeting the acute shortage of lingocellulosic raw material by the paper and hard boards industry.

Petals: It is possible to collect the petals mainly from non-spiny crop of safflower.

A number of non spiny varieties and hybrids are available which have .the petal yield potential of 120 to 150 kg/ha under rainfed conditions and 180 to 250 kg/ha under irrigated conditions. Petals can be collected after the crop matures, so that dye and oilseed can be obtained from the same crop.

Safflower petals contain water soluble dye, carthamidin and alkali soluble, carthamin pigments in different proportions depending on the colour of flower. The safflower florets contain carthamidin to the extent of 28-36% and carthamin to the extent of 0.3-0.6%.

Herbal tea can be prepared from petals. The safflower petals contain yellow B and red pigment, safflower factor, safflower glycocide and safflower benzyl glycocide. Safflower florets are also

l l

l

l

l

hoeing using bullock drawn hoes! harrows! sweeps in December before the crop canopy is closed.

Apply recommended dose of fertilizer and 5-10 tonnes FYM/ha Apply sulphur wherever the soils are found to be deficient in sulphur.

Application of P through single super phosphate (SSP) also meets the sulphur needs of safflower Use cycle hand drawn hoe to work as mulching till flowering to avoid soil cracking and conserve the soil moisture.

Cycocel spray of 500 ppm at 50% flowering improves the seed yield under rainfed conditions Harvesting petals in addition to seed markedly enhances economic advantage of safflower over other competing crops viz., chickpea, wheat, sunflower and rabi sorghum

Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh l Conventional dryland crops viz., wheat, linseed and chickpea can be replaced by sole crop of safflower l Popularize high yielding varieties and hybrids of nonspiny nature l Cultivate safflower as an intercrop with chickpea, linseed and mustard either 2:1 or 4:2 ÂŹor 6:2 row ratio l Thin the excess seedlings within 10-15 days after emergence and maintain the desired plant to plant spacing. l Apply recommended dose of fertilizer and 5-10 tonnes FYM/ha l Under double cropping

situations, increase the seed rate

of safflower by 50% to obtain

satisfactory plant stand l Choose short duration hybrids

or high yielding varieties of cereals

and legumes to ensure timely

sowing of second crop of

safflower when the soil moisture in

the seed zone is adequate l Apply sulphur wherever the

soils are found to be deficient

in sulphur. Application of P through

single super phosphate (SSP)

also meets the sulphur needs of

safflower l Harvesting petals in addition

to seed could enhance the net profit

of safflower cultivation.

n

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

37

News

Branded oil consumption registers high growth

Dhara launches new campaign

A W

ith change in lifestyle and improved incomes, consumption of branded edible oils has gone up in the country.

Sales of unbranded oils have gone down to 57 per cent in 2011 in the country from 74 per cent in 2005. This change is almost uniform across the country, with some States shifting faster to branded oils.

Consumption of unbranded oils in Tamil Nadu plummeted to 36 per cent from 61 per cent and in Karnataka to 36 per cent from 63 per cent during the period.

India consumed 16 million tonnes of cooking medium (edible oils and fats) in 2010-11.

This is growing at 5 per cent annually, Pradeep Chowdhry, Managing Director of Gemini Edibles and Fats India Private Ltd (GEF India), said.

He said the 5 per cent growth rate was healthy. “But the per capita consumption of cooking medium is quite low when compared with the world average. While the world per capita stands at 21 kg, Indian per capita consumption is 38

nearly half at 12 kg,” he said.

Ruchi Soya Industries, the edible oil company, holds 50 per cent in GEF India, with the remaining stake owned

by Pradeep Chowdhry. It did a turnover of Rs 1,358 crore in 2011-12 and is looking at crossing the Rs 1,500-crore mark this financial year. “We have no plans to raise funds,” he said.

The Hyderabad-based company, which depends on imported raw material, runs two plants at Kakinada and Krishnapatnam (in Nellore).

It launched 1 litre bottle and 15-litre of Freedom branded refined sunflower oil.

GEF India is one of the companies slapped with notices for advertisements with tall claims in Andhra Pradesh.

Responding to a question on this, he said the company had not received any notice.

“We will handle it when we receive it,” he said. All genuine vegetable oils can boast of zero cholesterol, he added.

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

llow your taste buds a free reign because Dhara is there to take care of your health, says the new marketing campaign of the edible oil brand. The budget allocated to the campaign is Rs 10 crore.

With its new positioning as “India ka tadka”, the new marketing campaign comes after a gap of six years. The new television commercial hits the small screens on Saturday.

Mudra Communications, which has been associated with the brand for last 24 years, remains the creative agency behind the latest advertisement.

“Our brand is grounded in Indian ethos and the current marketing campaign is the extension of our old ‘jalebi’ advertisement where a child runs away from home, only to be lured back by home-made jalebis,” says Dinesh Agrawal, Chief Operating Officer, Dhara.

The new campaign also marks a shift away from the ‘purity’ plank which Dhara had followed earlier. The brand, which recently celebrated its 24{+t}{+h} birthday on August 18, claims that their product has low absorb technology and is fortified with vitamins.

“Earlier our positioning was playing on purity and

taste, but now we are also stressing on health. We want to tell our consumers ki aap khaiyen, health ki chinta dhara pe chhod dijiye (eat and leave your health concerns to us). Our assurance is that Dhara would marginalise the guilt of calorie intake and our customers need not kill taste buds,” adds Dinesh Agrawal.

The television commercial will be supported with belowthe-line activities and out-ofhome advertising, mostly in tier 2 towns. Out-of-home is approximately over a quarter of the marketing budget.

The company’s core strength lies in small towns and rural areas. “Hum galiyon ke raja hain, national highways abhi door hain (we are the king of bylanes, national highways are still far away),” remarks Agrawal. “There is still an untapped rural market that has immense potential because of high levels of loose oil consumption,” he adds. Only 12-15 per cent of the company’s business comes from metros.

The advertisement will also be telecast in Marathi, Kannada and Bengali. Thirty per cent of their television advertising would be on regional channels.

News

Banning oilmeal exports may prove counterproductive

T

he Government proposal to ban export of oilmeals will jeopardise all the efforts made by the industry to promote exports, said Sushil Goenka, President, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEAI).

The Department of Animal Husbandry recently said it will recommend a complete ban or impose duty on oilmeals to improve domestic supply and bring down prices.

“The industry is not interested in export for the sake of export. There is a limited demand for oilmeal in India and therefore, the industry has to tap other avenues,” said Goenka.

The total production of oilseeds and oil-bearing material in the country is about 481 lakh tonnes and the availability of oilcake/meal is 330 lakh tonnes. India exports about 15 per cent of its total oilmeal production.

The exports have helped farmers realise better price for oilseeds and also the vegetable oils obtained by solvent extraction adds to the domestic pool of vegetable oil

production, he said.

The oilmeal export ban, if implemented, will be counter productive as it will not only hit the crushing industry but also the solvent extraction plants that could face a shut down resulting in lesser vegetable oil production. A situation like this would lead to larger import of edible oil and higher prices of oilmeal in the domestic markets, Goenka said.

In order to bring down domestic oilmeal prices, the Central Government should swiftly notify its decision to allow duty free import of oilcake. If this is done, he said, the industry can explore the possibility of importing copra cake from the Philipines and Indonesia, palm kernel cake from Indonesia and Malaysia, sunflower cake from Ukraine and other east European countries and canola cake from Australia.

This will not only augment supply of de-oiled meals but also encourage higher capacity utilisation of the solvent extraction plants.

Delhi ban on plastic not to affect dairies

T

he Delhi Government’s ban on use of plastic bags is unlikely to affect milk producers like Amul and Mother Dairy in the National Capital Region.

“We don’t think it will have any impact on us, as we use virgin grade plastic of 55 microns for milk packaging,” said R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director, Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns the Amul brand.

“Moreover, I don’t think milk is covered under the ban,” he said.

The Delhi Government on Tuesday decided to ban the manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags.

“We can only comment once we study the Government notification. As of now, we hear from media reports that milk and milk products have been kept out,” a Mother Dairy spokesperson said.

“There will be no impact, as there is no ban on polypacks” said Ekta Gupta, DGM, Marketing and Branding at Gopaljee Dairy Pvt Ltd.

Amul may enter new segments including organic foods: Chairman, GCMMF Amul, the country’s largest food brand, may extend into organic foods and other new segments in the entire food spectrum, Vipul Chaudhary, Chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, said. Amul, which plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore in five years, has offered to acquire Delhi Milk Scheme, a loss-making government entity distributing milk in Delhi.

Chaudhary, who replaced Parthi Bhatol as the Chairman of GCMMF just five weeks ago, also plans to grow it into a national cooperative. Vipul expressed his views on many subjects concerning Amul.

Excerpts: Taking over DMS It’s not exactly a takeover of assets. We are keen to either acquire or forge an alliance with DMS on terms mutually agreeable to the government and us. We are making a proposal to the agriculture ministry for some such arrangement. DMS has close to 350 booths at locations that are strategic in captive markets in the city. That’s attractive to us and we are keen to service these outlets. We’re optimistic that it will happen. We believe it is not a question of if but when.

Sub Brands Amul will always be our umbrella brand, but there can be multiple sub-brands and segments under it. We are brainstorming and identifying segments our brand can be associated with. We are looking at the entire foods spectrum.

Organic foods is an option we

may be looking at. The way Hindustan UnileverBSE 0.35 % has leveraged its Lux brand to different categories, we can leverage Amul too. In terms of sales, we have set a target of Rs 14,000 crore this fiscal. At the operations level, I want to take the cooperative model a step forward. The way we operate now, we have cooperatives at the state level. But we could have a cooperative at the central level. We could be an umbrella cooperative, managing others.

Biggest challenge In the absence of Dr Verghese Kurien (who passed away last weekend), we have lost an advisor. He had been able to keep us insulated from the government. We could be vulnerable now-the government may have a say in managing the cooperatives.

He had been able to synchronise cooperatives. So, I am approaching my role with caution. I see this as a major challenge.

New investments The plan is to set up five processing plants outside Gujarat and another four in Saurashtra. Some part of the Rs 3,000 crore investment will also be infused in capacity expansion of existing plants.

Our targets are to increase our milk procurement capacity to 125 lakh litres a day in 2012-13, to 200 lakh litres by 2020.

The slowdown in economy I haven’t seen sales of Amul slowing down. We are at very affordable prices and most of our products will continue to be so. We have been meeting all our sales targets.

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

39

40

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

41

News

Iran becomes top importer US drought pushes up Soyabean prices of Indian soyameal

A

fter basmati and crude oil, it is soyameal that’s getting India closer to Iran.

The West Asian country has emerged as the largest buyer of soyameal from India in recent months displacing Japan from the top slot. Until now, Iran has been largely sourcing soyameal from Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina.

Soyameal is used for live stock feed in sectors such as poultry, piggery and fisheries.

In the April-July period, Iran imported 4.4 lakh tonnes of soya meal accounting for over half of the India’s exports of 8.25 lakh tonne for the period. This is according to the data collated by Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA).

“Iran’s buying has provided a fillip to our exports,” said Rajesh Agrawal, spokesperson for SOPA. “They (Iran) have come at a time when no other country is buying in such large quantities due to prevailing high prices”.

Bilateral Payments The recent bilateral payment mechanism that allows importers in Iran to make payments in Indian rupees is aiding the soyameal exports.

Iran’s total requirement of soyameal is estimated to be between 1.2 and 1.5 million tonnes. “We are in a position to supply at least 40-50 per cent of their demand,” Agarwal said.

Price Rally Soyameal prices have more than doubled in the past 1012 months from the levels of around $280 a tonne to a high

42

S

of $680. This price rally was triggered by the droughtreduced crop size in Brazil and Argentina last year.

Further, prices continue to rule high as the worst drought in 56 years faced by the US, the largest producer, has shrunk this year crop by 12 per cent.

The contracts for the new season starting October have been settled at $610 a tonne.

“We have a good window till January-February next year, when the South American crop comes into the market. Also the firm domestic demand is expected to keep prices firm,” Agarwal said.

Exports India exported 40 lakh tonnes of soyameal worth Rs 7,017 crore in 2011-12. Japan, which accounted for 30 per cent of the India’s exports last year, has been the largest buyer for the past five years. Vietnam, China, Korea, Myanmar and the Philippines are the other large buyers of India soyameal.

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

oya beans rallied to a record, surging above $17 a bushel, as the worst US drought in half a century damaged crops and threatened to cut global inventories already eroded by last season’s dry weather in South America.

Prices at all-time highs will raise costs for importers including China, the world’s biggest buyer, and meat producers including Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods, which use soya bean meal and grains in animal feed.

Recent rains have failed to revive Midwest crops, with US corn and soya bean conditions rated the worst since 1988, while export demand for the oilseed remains robust, US Department of Agriculture data show. Crop prices have led gains this year on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities, with corn soaring to a record $8.49 a bushel on August 10 on the Chicago Board of Trade, while soyabeans surged 41%.

The rally spurred the biggest jump in global food prices since November 2009, according to the United Nations. The world food import bill will top $1 trillion for a third year this year, the UN said in May. “We would expect at some point to see soyabeans trade at $20 a bushel,” Chris Gadd, an analyst at Macquarie Group in London, said. “The devastation seen in South America earlier this year left soyabeans very tightly supplied prior to the issues in the US this summer.”

Soya beans for November delivery rose 1.7% to $17.1175 a bushel on the CBOT as of 1:09 p.m. London time, after touching $17.1275, an alltime high for the most-active contract.

Soya bean-meal futures for December delivery gained 1.7% to $521.60 per

2,000 pounds, after reaching a record $522.70.

World soyabean stockpiles at the end of the 2011-12 season tumbled 26% from a year earlier to 51.9 million tonne, as output plunged in Brazil and Argentina, according to the USDA. The agency expects inventories to rebound to 53.4 million tonne in the upcoming season. Still, US output may be hampered further as persistent dry weather spurs more farmers to abandon fields, Gadd said.

US soya bean export inspections jumped to 21.4 million bushels in the week ended August 16, up 36% from a week earlier, USDA said on Monday. Soya beans are the fourth-largest global crop, after corn, rice and wheat.

In Ohio, the sixth-largest US soya bean-producing state last year, analysts on the annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour found soya beanpod counts that were about 18% lower than last year.

The group estimated corn yields 29% smaller than last year, according to findings released on Monday. In South Dakota, crop tour participants pegged yield potential for both crops at 47% lower than last year. The tour will take corn and soyabean samples this week in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.

Corn for December delivery rose 0.6% to $8.285 a bushel.

Wheat futures gained 0.6% to $9.08 a bushel in Chicago.

In Paris, November-delivery milling wheat climbed 1% to 265.50 euros ($329.88) a tonne on NYSE Liffe.

About 23% of US corn was rated good or excellent for a third straight week, unchanged from a week earlier, while 31% of soyabeans received the top ratings, the USDA said.

sep. & Oct. 2012, SAARC OILS & FATS TODAY

43

News

Farmers in dry areas are selling more milk

Palm oil stockpiles in Malaysia

T

P

he prevailing droughtlike situation in parts of the country has led to farmers selling more milk in the market. This is reflected from the 10-25 per cent rise in milk procurement that co-operatives and corporates have registered largely from the dry-spell hit areas.

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the largest milk co-operative that owns the Amul brand, has registered an average increase of 16 per cent in daily milk procurement, said R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director.

Large parts of Gujarat, where the GCMMF operates, have been hit by the dry spell this year.

Farmers tend to sell more of milk, which becomes the only source of income when crops are hit by poor rains, Sodhi said. The average daily milk procurement by GCMMF stood at 10.30 million kg in 2011-12.

“The surplus trend in milk output that the country witnessed last year still continues,” said R.G. Chandramogan, Chairman and Managing Director of Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, a Chennaiheadquartered dairy products company.

Hatsun, which also operates from parts of Karnataka, has registered a 23 per cent rise in milk procurement in July to over 2 million litres from 1.625 million litres in corresponding month last year, Chandramogan said. The increase in prices offered by the dairies last year to the farmers is aiding the procurement trend.

However, in southern

44

parts of Maharashtra milk production is estimated to be down by about a tenth on poor rains in the region where fodder and feed scarcity looms large.

“Production is down by 5-10 per cent, but it is not that visible.

However, our procurement has gone up by 10-11 per cent,” said D.V. Ghanekar, Managing Director of Kolhapur District Co-operative Milk Producers Union, which sells milk products under Gokul brand.

“Our procurement has gone up by 60,000-70,000 litres per day (LPD) to 6 lakh LPD,” he said.

“The growth in milk output may largely remain same as that of last year, but the procurement goes up normally in the first year of drought, as it becomes the only source of income for farmers when crops fail,” said R.S. Khanna, dairy industry expert.

He estimates the country’s overall milk production to sustain a growth of 3-4 per cent this year too. The Government is yet to officially announce milk production numbers for 2011-12, while the output stood at 122.8 million tonnes for 201011.

SAARC OILS & FATS Today, sep. & Oct. 2012

alm-oil stockpiles in Malaysia, the world’s biggest producer after Indonesia, probably climbed 7 percent in August to the highest level in 11 months as exports lagged behind output, according to a survey.

Stockpiles increased to 2.14 million metric tons from 2 million tons in July, according to the median in the Bloomberg survey of two analysts and three plantation companies. That would be the highest level since 2.16 million tons in September last year. Output climbed 0.5 percent to 1.7 million tons onmonth, while exports rose 9.5 percent to 1.42 million tons, the survey showed.

Higher inventories of the commodity used in everything from candy to fuel may extend this year’s 3.6 percent decline in prices even as a rally in soybeans to a record increases the cost of a rival edible oil that’s crushed from the crop.

Lower palm-oil prices may hurt profits at growers including Sime Darby Bhd., the biggest listed palm-oil producer.

“Palm-oil stockpiles are expected to climb further as production is seen outpacing exports,” said Nagaraj Meda, chairman of Hyderabad, Indiabased Transgraph Consulting Pvt. “September and October production is expected to be robust.”

Palm oil for November delivery traded little changed at 3,062 ringgit ($984) a ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange at 10:43 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur.

The price has dropped from a 13-month high of 3,628 ringgit in April on concern slower global economic growth may cut consumption, boosting stockpiles.

Exports from Malaysia climbed 17.7 percent to 1.45 million tons last month, surveyor Intertek estimated on Aug. 31. In July, shipments

declined to 1.3 million tons, while output increased for a fifth month to 1.69 million tons, according to the board. Output typically peaks from July to October.

Soybeans in Chicago rallied to a record $17.89 a bushel yesterday as a drought in the US hurt supplies from the biggest producer. The rally boosted soybean oil’s premium over palm oil to $300.77 on Aug. 29, the highest since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Both oils are used in foods and fuels.

Prices may advance to as much as 3,300 ringgit a ton in the fourth quarter on demand from India and China, Sabri Ahmad, chief executive officer of Felda Global Ventures Holdings, said on Aug. 29.

India’s edible-oil consumption normally peaks during the festival months of September to November.

“With current huge discounts against soybean oil it should start to encourage demand for palm oil,” Ivy Ng, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., said from Kuala Lumpur. “If demand picks up due to festivals in China, then stockpiles could remain at the lower end of 2 million tons during September-October.

Above 2.2 million tons is bad for the market.”

World crude palm-oil consumption will probably climb to 54.7 million tons in 2013 from 49.6 million tons this year, Abah Ofon, an analyst at Standard Chartered, said on Aug. 27. Per capita demand in India, the biggest importer, has more than doubled in the past six years, he said.

Malaysia’s production estimate for 2012 was cut to 18.5 million tons from 19 million tons, the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry said on Aug.

News

Coconut oil good for teeth: Study

C

oconut oil can act as a natural antibiotic and help fight the sugar-loving bacterium that causes tooth decay, according to a new study.

Scientists found that coconut oil fights tooth decay and could find its way into toothpaste and mouthwash as an active ingredient.

Research showed that coconut oil which had been treated with enzymes stopped the growth of Streptococcus bacteria – a major sugarloving bacterium that causes tooth decay. Tooth decay affects 60 to 90 per cent of children in industralised countries, the report said.

“Dental caries is a commonly overlooked health problem affecting 60 to 90 per cent of children and the majority of adults in industrialised countries,” lead researcher Dr Damien Brady, of the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland, said.

“Incorporating enzymemodified coconut oil into dental hygiene products would be an attractive alternative to chemical additives, particularly as it works at relatively low concentrations,” he said.

Brady added that his findings could prove to be important considering the problem of bugs increasing resistance to many existing antibiotic treatments.

Brady’s experiments were inspired by previous research showing that partially digested milk made S. mutans less likely to stick to tooth enamel.

The oils were then tested

against Streptococcus bacteria which are common inhabitants of the mouth.

Only the enzyme-modified coconut oil showed an ability to inhibit the growth of most strains of the bacteria.

It also attacked Streptococcus mutans, an acidproducing bacterium which is a major cause of tooth decay.

“Our data suggests that products of human digestion show antimicrobial activity.

This could have implications for how bacteria colonise the cells lining the digestive tract and for overall gut health,” Brady said.

He now plans to check if the enzyme-treated coconut oil has any other killer qualities.

Their studies are also looking into the workings of antibacterial activity in the human gut The study was presented at the Society for General Microbiology’s autumn conference.

Vimal Group to launch dairy alternatives

A

hm e dabad headquartered Vimal Group will launch dairy alternatives for Indians who are vegans or are simply lactose intolerant. Vimal Oil and Foods Ltd will launch an entire portfolio of dairy alternative products in 2013.

“The category will target consumers who wish to substitute milk with non-dairy alternatives in their diet,” said Jayesh Patel, CMD of Vimal Group. The Group will launch tofu to substitute paneer, soya cheese and rice cheese to replace cheese, margarine to replace butter, soya cheese spreads against cheese spread and soya mozzarella against mozzarella. Plant milk that goes into making of dairy alternative products could be derived from soy, oats, nuts, seeds, legumes, hemp, rice, et al.

The Indian market for dairy alternatives is below Rs 100 crore against the dairy industry that the industry chamber ASSOCHAM peg at Rs 5 lakh crore by 2015.

“Consumers do not compromise on taste. Efforts have been on to push soya milk in the country since last three decades without much success,” said RS Sodhi of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation that owns the $2.4 bn co-operative dairy brand Amul.

Amul is present in almost the entire range of dairy products and believes that dairy alternatives will not harm to the category. “But the companies concerned must be open about the ingredients and should inform the consumers that the products do not contain milk,” Sodhi asserted.

Another Vimal Group company Vimal Dairy Ltd sells dairy products under the Vimal brand. Patel says the company would sell the dairy alternatives

under a Vimal sub-brand. “In developed markets like the US and EU, increasing number of consumers (except children) are avoiding dairy products due to health awareness. They see dairy alternatives as a healthier option. In future, Indians too would start looking for dairy alternatives,” Patel reasons for plunging into the category.

About 60% of 123 million tonnes milk produced in India is consumed in liquid form, while the rest is consumed in the form of butter, clarified butter (desi ghee), cheese, curd, paneer, ice cream, dairy whiteners and traditional sweets.

In the US and EU markets, dairy alternatives sell more than dairy products. Although Indian alternative diary market yet to make an impact, developed markets like the US has seen total retail sales of soymilk, almond milk, rice milk and other plant milk reach $1.33 billion in 2011, as per US-based Packaged Facts on “Dairy Alternative Beverages in the US”. Gupta sees Indian consumers resisting a shift from dairy to dairy alternatives.

“But, it will gradually happen when people become more health conscious. Others to shift would be those allergic to milk based products,” he said.

As per the US Packaged Facts report, more than half (54%) of US’ adults buy soymilk due to its nutritional characteristics and other half do so because of nutritional advantages related to the need of a specific personal or household health concerns.

Health issues including lactose intolerance, milk allergy and the genetic disorder phenylketonuria can be addressed through the consumption of dairy alternative beverages because these plant-based milks are free of animal proteins.

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