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Govt permits export of ~19 Lakh cotton bales

Government had banned the export of raw cotton on 5th March, 2012. This was revoked on 12th March, 2012. All Registration Certificates (RCs) were to be scrutinised before revalidation so that they could go ahead with their exports.

Government directed that priority be given to such cotton that had been pending for export through Land Custom Station on Indo-Bangladesh, Indo-Myanmar, Indo-Pak, Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders. The next priority was to be given to cotton that had been handed over to Customs. Such cases were revalidated on 23rd March, 2012 and again on 28th March, 2012.

As on 11.4.2012, RCs in respect of about 10 lakh bales were revalidated for exports, including the revalidation made on 23rd and 28th March, 2012.

DGFT has completed the scrutiny of the remaining applications. Government has decided that all these RCs be revalidated. Thus, RCs for approximately another 9 lakh bales of Cotton will be revalidated no later than 17th April, 2012.

Export of approximately 19 lakh bales of cotton would give a fresh impetus to cotton prices and would benefit both farmers and exporters.

Agriculture sector share in State Plan goes up

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) has succeded in incentivising States to allocate more funds to agriculture and allied sectors. It has emerged as a principal instrument of development and revival of agriculture. 

States allocated 6.04% of State Plan to agriculture in 2010-11 as compared to 4.88% in 2006-07. As such, their Plan contribution to agriculture and allied sector has gone up from Rs. 8770.16 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 22158.46 crore in 2010-11. States have taken up over 5290 projects in last five years across all segments of agriculture and allied sectors. 

RKVY format has also enabled taking up national priorities as sub-schemes while keeping States’ flexibility of project selection and implementation intact. In all, nine special programmes with focused objectives are being implemented as sub-scheme of RKVY. 

The scheme was launched in 2007 with a Plan outlay of Rs. 25000 crore for XI Plan. It was formulated with two strategic objectives- first, to incentivise States to allocate more funds for agriculture and allied sectors and second, to facilitate States to generate additional growth in agriculture and allied sectors by better planning and undertaking appropriate projects to achieve this goal. 

Funds under the scheme are provided to states as 100% grant by central government. Allocation of funds is dependent on additional resources committed by states for agriculture and allied sector in their states plans and the growth projected and generated. 

SPECIAL NEWS

Anil Agrawal, Whole-time Director, Sanwaria Agro Oils Ltd

Domestic News

APMCs haven't helped farmers: C Rangarajan

Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) have not helped the farmers in gaining higher level of income, Chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan said on Friday.

"The marketing arrangements with respect to agricultural products remain very archaic", he said while delivering the convocation address at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore.

"Some of the legislations such as APMC have also not helped the farmers. There is a big difference between what the farmers get for the products and what the consumers pay for the products. This difference is extremely glaring in the case of perishable commodities like vegetables," said Rangarajan.

Reform of the marketing arrangements must be given high priority by State Governments, he added.

Rangarajan also said that since the Green Revolution, there has been no breakthrough in the agriculture sector, adding that there is a clear evidence of technology fatigue. "The yields of almost all the crops have stagnated," he said.

"If we have to usher in a second green revolution, we need some significant technological revolution," said Rangarajan. "Unless a significant breakthrough in technology is made to raise yields of various crops, a sustained rate of growth of agriculture at four per cent per annum may not be possible".

Capital investment in agriculture rises to 20%

Anand Sharma seeks ten-fold jump in Himachal tea

Wheat procurement touches 22 lakh tons

Cotton output likely seen at record 35.2mn bales

India’s cotton arrivals at 26.92 mn bales as of April 8

Commodity exchanges to raise margins on various farm commodities

India begins direct rice exports to Iran on rupee payment agreement

International News

UK donates $25 million to improve agricultural statistics

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has signed an agreement with FAO to donate £16 mn ($25 million) to support an innovative new global partnership that will improve the agricultural statistics available to governments and farmers around the world.

The Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics builds capacity of developing countries to produce and use agricultural and rural statistics for more effective food security, sustainable agricultural and rural development policies and helps makes the information available to farmers when and where they need it.

The contribution covers the programme's first phase, from 2012 to 2016, and will support mainly African and Asian countries. The emphasis is on improving how governments organize and manage their statistical systems and on technical assistance and staff training in national statistics offices and ministries of agriculture.

DFID's contribution will also support research to identify innovative approaches for cost-efficient data collection, analysis and dissemination. This includes digital and georeferencing technology and devices, such as smartphones, GPS and satellites.

Improved statistics for better planning "Empowering farmers can change their lives. By improving statistics, this programme will contribute to this goal," says FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

Improved information and statistics enables them to develop better agricultural policies for eradicating hunger and poverty and makes it easier to monitor changes taking place.  However, many developing countries lack good statistical systems and collect data using costly, labour-intensive and time-consuming methods. Unreliable agricultural statistics and weak information hinder policy decision-making. This can lead to increased costs, weak policy design and reduced impacts from these policies.

In order to address these and other problems, FAO leads the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics programme, an international partnership for implementing the strategy, which was developed with the World Bank in consultation with national statistics organizations, ministries of agriculture and international agencies, and unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission. It will eventually operate in 90 developing countries in the first five years phase with a total budget of $82 million.

"The programme provides an excellent example of how FAO works with partners to translate global information into concrete results at household, community and country levels. The UK Government's generous support will help deliver enormous benefits to governments around the world and the people they serve," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

Ethiopia is a good example of how an upgraded statistical system can bring about profound change. Previously, the national crop production estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) often differed greatly, making it difficult for policy-makers to develop sound agricultural policies or to plan food aid allocation and distribution.

FAO supported a project bringing the CSA and the Ministry of Agriculture together, using new technologies to improve harvest area measurements, yield estimates and market price monitoring. Today, production estimates have converged and provide reliable data to underpin food security and agriculture policies.