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21 Apr, 2022 News Image UK PM Boris Johnson to begin two-day India visit to 'deepen strategic ties'.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to arrive in India on Thursday for a two-day visit to deepen the long-term partnership for peace and prosperity with a fellow leading democracy.
 
Ahead of Johnson's two-day visit, Downing Street has stressed that the UK would not look to 'lecture' India over its neutral stance in the United Nations or its decision to hike Russian oil imports, reported ANI.
 
The UK has been trying to persuade India to reduce its reliance on Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Addressing the House of Commons for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), Johnson said the trip to Ahmedabad and New Delhi will build on India being invited as a guest country for the G7 Summit hosted by the UK in Cornwall in June last year.
 
'I will be travelling to India to deepen the strategic trade, defence and people-to-people ties between our two countries, building on India's involvement in the Carbis Bay G7 summit,' Johnson told members of Parliament. It will be Johnson's first major trip to India as Prime Minister after previous visits were postponed due to Covid.
 
Johnson will begin his India visit from Ahmedabad in Gujarat by meeting with leading business group leaders and discussing the UK and India's thriving commercial, trade and people links. This will be the first time a UK Prime Minister will visit Gujarat, India's fifth-largest state and the ancestral home of around half of the British-Indian population in the UK.
 
On Friday morning, Johnson will attend a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan and later a wreath-laying at the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi. The UK Prime Minister will then travel to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Modi on April 22 where the leaders will hold in-depth talks on the UK and India's strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership, aimed at bolstering close partnership and stepping up security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
 
UK Prime Minister will also hold talks with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar. On the same afternoon, the two sides will issue a press statement at around 1 pm at Hyderabad House.
 
According to the British High Commission statement, Johnson will use the visit to drive progress in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations launched earlier this year as a deal with India is predicted to boost UK's total trade by up to 28 billion pounds annually by 2035 and increase incomes across the UK by up to 3 billion pounds.
 
Last year, Johnson and PM Modi agreed on a UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, announcing more than 530 million pounds in investment into the UK and committing to a deeper bilateral relationship across trade, health, climate, defence and security, and connecting our people.
 
India was also identified as a priority relationship for the UK in the 2021 Integrated Review and was invited by the UK as a guest to last year's G7 in Carbis Bay.

 Source:  zeenews.india.com
21 Apr, 2022 News Image Foodgrains production target at 163.15 million tonnes for kharif 2022.
The Centre has set a production target of 163.15 million tonnes (mt) during kharif season of 2022-23 crop year (July-June) and assured that there will not be any problem of availability of fertilisers when the sowing begins from June with the arrival of south-west monsoon.
 
The foodgrains target for next year includes 112 tonnes of rice, 40.60 mt of nutri/coarse cereals and 10.55 mt of pulses. Besides, the government also aims for producing 26.89 mt of oilsseds. The country is estimated to have produced record 153.54 mt, exceeding the target of 150.58 mt in 2021-22 on the back of a favourable monsoon with good spatial distribution across the country.
 
Addressing the annual kharif conference on Tuesday, Agriculture Commissioner AK Singh said the government has kept a target keeping in mind its aim to replace old rice varieties with the latest ones in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which can help increase the production of rice, currently at record 128 mt (kharif and rabi).
 
More production of oilseeds is possible if yield gaps are addressed, he said, and asked Karnataka to increase the area under sunflower, which has declined to 2.26 lakh hectare in 2020-21 from 26.68 lakh hectare in 1993-94.
 
On the fertilisers front, Fertiliser Secretary RK Chaturvedi said, 'We have made both short and long-term arrangements with global suppliers for import of fertilisers. There will not be any shortage of fertilisers during the kharif season.'
 
The fertiliser availability has been pegged at 485.59 lt, including 104.72 lt of imported fertiliser and 254.79 lt of domestically manufactured soil nutrients, over and above the requirement of 354.34 lt, he said. Availability of urea is estimated to be at 256.22 lt in kharif season, higher than the requirement of 179 lt while availability of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is likely to be 81.42 lt, against the requirement of 58.82 lt.
 
In the case of Muriate of Potash (MoP), for which India is fully dependent on imports, the secretary said availability would be 29.03 lt against the need for 19.81 lt. Chaturvedi did not clarify how that could be possible as the country had imported less last fiscal and prices are already very high.
 
The availability of NPK fertiliser is pegged at 77.87 lt over 63.71 lt requirement, while the availability of Single Superphosphate (SSP) is estimated at 41 lt against 33 lt that is required, Chaturvedi added.
 
According to Chaturvedi, the country is estimated to import about 104.72 lt of fertilisers—which includes 40 lt of urea, 29 lt of DAP, 23.18 lt of MoP and 13.22 lt of SSP—to meet the demand during the upcoming kharif season.
 
A long-term agreement has been signed with Oman India Fertiliser Company SAOC (OMIFCO) for the import of 10 lt of urea every year for three years. A monthly supply of 90,000 tonnes has started from February, he said.
 
In his address, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar asked State governments to chalk out strategies to boost seed production and reduce farmers’ dependency on private players.
 
Tomar said States have a bigger role in curbing the sale of fake seeds and pesticides, which he felt is key to further boost agri-exports, which touched $50 billion in 2021-22 fiscal.

 Source:  thehindubusinessline.com
21 Apr, 2022 News Image Russia's Ryazan region seeks higher trade relations with India.
The governor of Russia's most industrialised state of Ryazan met with Indian entrepreneurs including from the pharma, entertainment, water treatment and tourism industry seeking investment and to boost trade.
 
Promoting his region Nikolay Lyubimov also assured the entrepreneurs that the Ryazan region will ensure free and fair business transactions with Indian partners.
 
According to latest data, bilateral trade between India and Russia stands at around $13.6 billion, which Moscow is aiming to double in a year or two.
 
'The economic sanctions are an opportunity to start new businesses,' Lyubimov told ET. 'From Ryazan region, we have begun a world tour starting with India as we are keen to increase trades with select countries.'
 
'Earlier too we were planning it, but now we are ramping it up to make good for dollar trades,' he said.
 
The delegation from Ryazan met executives in Mumbai for the first time after global economic sanctions on Moscow. It will proceed to Malaysia and China later.
 
'This is our first international business trip after the pandemic,' Lyubimov said.
 
Pharmaceutical, tourism, films, medical equipment, agriculture, water treatment and construction are the areas earmarked for potential trade relations, which could well be an alternative for dollar-backed trades.
 
Oil remains a key trading discussion. However, that is being delegated at a different level involving government officials from both the countries.
 
"We are interested in boosting our trades with India and Indian entities,' said the governor, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2017.
 
The Russian representatives held a flurry of business meetings at Indian Merchants’ Chamber. They also met Vijay Kalantri, chairman of World Trade Centre, Mumbai.
 
'We aim to at least double our trade volumes with Indian companies,' said Lyubimov, adding that Russian entities can get into joint ventures while tying up with Indian companies for both exports and imports.
 
Hindi films, which are popular across the world, also came up for business discussions. The scenic beauty of Ryazan holds great potential for film shooting by Indian producers.
 
'We received encouraging responses from Indian entrepreneurs, who also have suggested innovative proposals,' he said.
 
The Ryazan region, about three hours away from Moscow, is billed as a key centre for European trades. The destination holds potential for industrial activities.
 
Industrial production is the main economic sector in the Ryazan region, accounting for about 30% of the regional GDP. Oil refining, machinery, metal processing, electricity, chemicals, construction as well as food and the manufacturing of consumer goods and ferrous and non-ferrous metals are developing in the region.

 Source:  economictimes.indiatimes.com
21 Apr, 2022 News Image Exports is the virtuous circle of prosperity that we have to focus upon, says Shri Goyal.
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal has called upon the Cost & Management Accountants to ensure quality production by industry and help boost India’s exports. Cost Accountants help make the Indian Industry cost competitive and cost conscious, he said.
 
'If we start loading costs to our export products and if we literally start doing marginal costing on the other hand, it can make a world of difference to our cost competitiveness, our ability to increase our exports and, frankly, our ability to (a) recover its cost and (b) start reporting profits,' said Shri Goyal, after giving away the ‘17th National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management-2019’ and ‘5th CMA awards-2017 & 6th CMA Awards-2019’, organised by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) here today.
 
Shri Goyal said ‘Exports’ is the 'virtuous circle of prosperity' that we have to focus upon.
 
'Anything we add on the exports front is adding to our economic activity; when we add to our economic activity, look at what all we are doing, - (a) we earn precious foreign exchange, which will help us balance our import requirements, our foreign currency requirements, in addition to, of course, investments and large remittances that over 3 crore Indians all over the world send to India, but we still have a shortfall,' he said.
 
Underlining a strong and stable Rupee will be for the 'wider good' of foreign trade, Shri Goyal said our higher Forex reserves help our currency from depreciation.
 
'If we can save our currency from depreciating, we can reduce interest rates, we can reduce the impact of inflation on our society, after all we have a large number of products that we are importing,' he said.
 
Shri Goyal said ICAI has been nurturing the Cost & Management Accountant (CMA) professionals for 78 years. Today, it is the 2nd largest Cost & Management Accounting body in the world & largest in Asia, with more than 85,000 professionals, and about 5 lakh students pursuing CMA.
 
Shri Goyal said the CMAs are the guardians of growth. Keeping a check on costs, they help organizations in ensuring that there’s efficiency in every activity, he said.
 
'Let’s all take one step ahead in this journey. And as the Prime Minister says, ‘When each one of us takes one step, it’s 135 crore steps towards prosperity,' he said.

 Source:  pib.gov.in
21 Apr, 2022 News Image Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) will help us create global champions Shri Piyush Goyal.
The Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, food and Public Distribution and textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today said that India had the potential to achieve USD 1 Trillion services and merchandise exports each by 2030. Addressing the ‘21st Civil Services Day 2022, Plenary Session on Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Focus on Exports’ in New Delhi today, the minister stressed upon the need to make exports the fulcrum of India’s growth. 
 
Conveying his congratulations and best wishes in advance to Civil Services officers across the country on the occasion of 21st Civil Services Day, Shri Goyal said that it was indeed an occasion for the civil servants to renew their dedication to the cause of the nation and reiterate their commitment to public service. 'Always be conscious that lakhs of lives are affected by every decision, action and signature of yours', the Minister told the officers. 
 
Dwelling on the History of the Indian Civil Services, the Minister said that during the pre-independence era, the approach of service largely remained pro-British due to compulsions of being under the foreign rule. On a positive note, the Minister said that in the last 75 years, there have been a lot of deliberation on the outlook, character and design of Indian civil services, which have helped it performed very well in the last seven decades. 
 
 
The minister congratulated all the winners of PM Awards for providing innovative, participative and technology driven administrative solutions to modern problems.  
Speaking of the challenges thrown by the COVID 19 pandemic, the Minister said that India was able to turn the crisis into an opportunity to realize the enormous potential that it had to engage with the world from a position of strength. 
 
 
The Minister observed that one of the biggest beneficiaries of our hard work during the pandemic was the services sector which has grown by leaps and bounds. We had a USD 250 billion export of services during the last year and this was achieved despite travel, tourism and hospitality being severely affected due to Covid-19, he said. 
 
 
Applauding the achievement, Shri Goyal said that one of the reasons it was made possible was the adaptability and speed with which we reconfigured our processes and rules, facilitated working from home, ensured that people could move equipment, secured broadband access to all. Asserting that all through COVID, India did not let down a single international commitment, the Minister said that the world wanted to deepen its engagement with India because India was trusted to deliver, even in the most adverse of circumstances.  
 
 
Speaking of India’s robust, living and active democracy, Shri Goyal said that rule of law prevailed across the country and that we had transparent models of governance, a very active media, strong judiciary and democratic institutions and systems that always upheld the right against the wrong. This makes India a trusted partners to the world, both in the geopolitical sphere as well as trade, he added. 
 
It may be noted that India achieved USD 419 bn in FY 21-22, touched USD 30 billion of exports every month and in March, it touched USD 42 billion. The growth momentum has been maintained in the first 14 days of April with touching USD 18.5 billion. 
 
 
The Minister said that the achievement of such targets was only possible because of the ‘whole of the government’ and ‘whole of the nation’ approaches that we have adopted, the Minister said, with Centre, States Local Bodies, Public Sector Undertakings, autonomous bodies working together to achieve feats like USD 420 billion merchandise exports and USD 250 billion services export, both first of its kind accomplishments.
 
 
This achievement is not just a milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey, but also a message to the rest of world - that New India offers quality, reliability and scale, Shri Goyal added. 
Highlighting the immense potential for growth in exports, the Minister said that labor-oriented sectors like gems and jwellery, textiles, pharma, handloom, handicrafts, leather, etc must receive greater push to boost employment and income generation. 
 
 
Touching upon the need to develop scale, the Minister said that Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes are making our industry competitive by bringing in Economies of Scale and will help us create global champions. 
 
 
Elaborating upon the importance of peaceful labor environment to ensure flow of investment into the country, Shri Goyal complement labor for the hard work they put in and for peaceful conduct of economic activity all over the country. He added that there was no significant incident of labor disruption in the last 8 years and added that even when businesses had to be shut because of the lack of viability, the government took care to give the labor their due. Stating that having robust labor laws will ultimately benefit labor and create more job opportunities, the Minister said. 
 
 
Speaking of the recent decision to remove the import duty on cotton, the Minister clarified that that the decision was made to ensure the affordability of cotton particularly in a scenario where cotton prices stood at almost twice the Minimum Support Price, making textile exports uncompetitive. 
 
 
 
The lower import costs will boost manufacturing, create jobs, increase the disposable income of people, boost investment, demand and economic activity and create a virtuous cycle, he added. The minister said that the government also recently removed anti-dumping duty on several raw materials for the same reasons.
 
 
Mentioning that our share in global goods trade was under 3% in 2021, the Minister said that there is immense scope for growth. For this to happen, the Centre and States have to work in tandem, he added and asked District collectors to promote exports in their districts. 
 
 
Observing that India had the 2nd largest US FDA approved Pharma manufacturing units, Shri Goyal asked all pharma units, big and small to adopt good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and global quality standards in all processes. He said that India must strive to become a member of Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PICS) so that we may succeed in taking our pharma export to USD 200 billion by earning the trust of the world through certification.

 Source:  pib.gov.in
20 Apr, 2022 News Image Wheat export: Madhya Pradesh stays one jump ahead of Punjab, Haryana.
The surge in wheat export from India owing to the Ukraine crisis has once again demonstrated how farmers in states that have flexible marketing frameworks and low taxes benefit more from an emerging situation.
 
The bulk of the wheat exported from India, trade and industry sources say, is being sourced at rates significantly higher than the state-mandated price of Rs 2,015 per quintal in Madhya Pradesh (MP), Uttar Pradesh (UP), and Gujarat — states which have low mandi taxes compared to Punjab and Haryana.

 Source:  business-standard.com
20 Apr, 2022 News Image Finland keen on more tie-ups with India.
Finland is keen to step up cooperation with India in areas like waste-to-energy, low carbon mobility and communication, said Finland’s visiting minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintila, who on Monday made a joint announcement with science and technology minister Jitendra Singh on cooperation in quantum computing. 
 
 
Lintila said in an interview that India and Finland are exploring more tie ups and that the two sides would be announcing partnerships in the areas of energy too. Lintila, who is on a week-long visit to India said Finnish companies have expertise in areas like quantum computing, 5G technology, renewable energy and low emission mobility, the areas that could benefit from greater bilateral cooperation.
 
India’s collaboration with Finland in the technology segment has done well for companies like Nokia and digital technology would naturally be an area of future collaboration between the two countries, he said. 
 
 
Under the deal announced by both the sides on Monday, an Indo-Finnish virtual network centre on quantum computing would be set up, said an official statement from the ministry of science and technology. A deal to this effect was signed by officials from both the sides in the presence of Singh and Lintila. 
 
Lintila said that he would be meeting commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri. 'We try to open doors for companies for cooperation. In energy sector we have solutions which could be very interesting for India, for example in ‘waste-to-energy’ and circular economy,' said Lintila.  
 
The minister said that connectivity is a key area in bilateral cooperation. 'The MoU signed today looks at quantum technology opportunity. There are specific areas where Finland is really advanced. We have strong research (capability) and companies that have technology,' said the minister. 
 
 
The statement from the science and technology ministry said quoting Jitendra Singh that bilateral collaboration between the two countries was an attempt to stimulate innovative research and development projects that address specific needs or challenges, demonstrate high industrial relevance and commercial potential and aim to deliver benefit to both the nations.  
 
Singh said that the Department of Science & Technology has started several mission mode programs covering electric vehicles, quantum technologies, future manufacturing and green hydrogen fuel and have sought collaboration with Finland in solving issues of societal challenges.  
 
'We are an export country. More than 40% of our GDP come from exports. We strongly support open trade. We (India and Finland) have good trade relations and we have to continue that and companies have a big role in that,' said Lintila.

 Source:  livemint.com
20 Apr, 2022 News Image India's sugar output seen 13 pc up at 35 mn tons, exports at 9.5 mn tons in 2021-22: Govt.
The country's sugar production is projected to rise by 13 per cent to 35 million tonne, while exports are likely to be 9.5 million tonne in the ongoing marketing year ending September 2022, according to the Food Ministry. About 99.5 per cent of cane dues amounting to Rs 92,480 crore of the previous year have been cleared, and about 80 per cent of cane dues of the current year have also been paid to farmers, it said.
 
The assessment of the sugar availability and export situation was discussed in a virtual meeting chaired by Food Secretary Sudhansu Pandey with the state cane commissioners here on Tuesday, the ministry added.
 
As per the revised estimates, the ministry said sugar output of 35 million tonne has been estimated for the ongoing 2021-22 marketing year after discounting 3.5 million tonne of sugar for ethanol.
 
The production, however, is higher than the estimated domestic consumption of about 27.8 million tonne, it said in a statement.
 
There was a carry-over stock of about 8.5 million tonne at the beginning of the 2021-22 marketing year.
 
According to the ministry, the availability of sugar in the country is sufficient to meet domestic requirements.
 
'As such, there will be smooth availability of sugar and sugar prices in the domestic market are expected to remain stable at reasonable levels,' it said.
 
In the current marketing year, sugar exports are likely to be 9.5 million tonne. After exports, there would be a closing stock of over 6 million tonne at the end of September 2022, it said.
 
In the ongoing 2021-22 marketing year, the ministry said out of total cane dues payable of Rs 91,468 crores, about Rs 74,149 crores have been paid to farmers as of April 18 this year.
 
'It is expected that in the current sugar season, cane price payment of more than Rs 1,00,000 crores would be made by sugar mills to farmers. Increase in export and diversion of sugarcane to ethanol has expedited cane price payments to farmers,' it added.
 
Further, the ministry said the government is encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane for ethanol blending with petrol, which not only serves as a green fuel but also saves foreign exchange on account of crude oil import.
 
There has been an increase in the diversion of sugar for ethanol making in the last three years. About 3,37,000 tonne of sugar was diverted for ethanol in 2018-19, 9,26,000 tonne in 2019-20 and 22,00,000 tonne in 2020-21.
 
In the current marketing year, about 35,00,000 tonne of sugar is estimated to be diverted for ethanol making, it said, adding that by 2024-25, about 60,00,000 tonne of sugar is estimated to be diverted for ethanol that would address the problem of excess sugarcane as well as delayed payment issue to farmers.
 
From the sale of ethanol to oil marketing companies, sugar mills have generated about Rs 53,000 crore in revenue between 2013-14 and 2020-21. In the current 2021-22 year, more than Rs 18,000 crore revenue is expected to be generated.

 Source:  economictimes.indiatimes.com
20 Apr, 2022 News Image Top Wheat Importer Approves Indian Wheat, India In Trade Talks With Other Nations.
Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, has approved India as a supplier to fill a significant void in the North African country's food stocks caused by the Ukraine conflict, officials said on Friday, a move that will open up a lucrative market for Indian farmers while also deepening agricultural ties between the two countries.
 
 
In the midst of a worldwide scarcity precipitated by the conflict, India has stepped up attempts to export wheat supplies from its huge domestic reserves.
 
India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, is in talks with 'a number of nations, including Egypt, Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, and others' about starting wheat exports, according to an official who requested anonymity. New farm export potential are expected to boost India's export revenues, which are expected to reach a record $418 billion (Rs 31.4 lakh crore) in 2021-22. Analysts predict domestic grain prices to grow as a result of exports, resulting in greater prices for farmers.
 
Egypt authorised Indian wheat types after a visiting delegation from that nation travelled Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Maharashtra to assess quality, storage, and other export factors. Egypt has traditionally depended on inexpensive Ukrainian and Russian wheat imports to fulfil local need. Together, the two warring nations account for up to 30% of world wheat exports and roughly 80% of Egypt's imports.

 Source:  krishijagran.com
20 Apr, 2022 News Image Potential and gaps in food processing in northeast.

The Central Government has given a big push to food processing sector in the country to reduce food wastage. North-eastern States failing to submit adequate number of proposals despite special concessions for the region is baffling. Various studies indicate that about 40% of perishable food is wasted in the country for dearth of adequate food processing units, cold chain and storage despite significant growth in the sector. The Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology at Ludhiana has estimated the harvest and post-harvest losses of major agricultural produces in India at Rs. 92651 crores. The estimate also indicates at the potential of growth in food processing sector in the country, provided allocated fund under various schemes is judiciously utilised. A recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing has brought to light that with regard to all the plan Schemes, especially the Food storage and Warehousing and North-Eastern Areas, there has been consistently negative variation for the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively, as compared to the previous years. The committee points out that the receipt of inadequate proposals from the region is a recurring problem appearing year after year and accuses the Ministry of Food Processing Industries of remaining only as a mute spectator. The parliamentary panel finds the argument of the Ministry that receipt of inadequate proposals is the reason behind negative variation in the region "unacceptable" and held the view that the Ministry should have taken corrective steps to overcome the problem at the planning stage. The committee's recommendation for tangible steps to solve this problem during current financial year puts the onus on the Ministry to undertake focussed initiatives for the region.Various concessions available to projects in northeast region for under plan schemes include-higher rate of grants at the rate of 50% on eligible project cost for NER region against 35% in general areas; longer duration allowed for project completion time andlower requirement of promoter's capital - only 10% against 20% required for other regions. The increase in the allocation for the region from Rs. 121.12 crore in 2021-22 to Rs. 180 crore for 2022-23, is on account of higher budget allocations under two key schemes- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) and the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprise (PMFME). The PMKSY, is a comprehensive package aimed at creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet and reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the level of processing and enhancing the export of the processed foods. A key component of PMKSY is creation of Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure. The report states that the Saumitra Chaudhuri Committee constituted by the erstwhile Planning Commission in 2012 estimated the country's cold storage requirement at 61 million tonnes. A study undertaken by the National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD), an autonomous body under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, on All India Cold Chain Infrastructure Capacity (Assessment of Status and Gap) in 2015, estimated the existing cold storage capacity at 32 million tonnes and the requirement at 35 million tonnes. Progress made is significant but bridging the gap continues to be challenging task. The study also highlighted that against requirement of 70,000 integrated pack houses the existing capacity is only 250 pack houses, and against existing 10,000 Reefer Trucks, the requirement is 62,000 such trucks. While the country requires 9000 ripening chambers, it has only 800 chambers to meet the cold chain requirement. About the requirement of northeast region, the least said is better given the poor track record of failure to submit proposals despite higher incentives. Under the One District One Product (ODOP) approach of the PMFME, one product is identified in each district which is either a perishable agro-produce or cereals-based product and the Ministry supports micro units processing the product with funding pattern of 35% for common infrastructure and 50% for branding and marketing. The Ministry has signed MoU with the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) for providing marketing and branding support for the products identified under the Scheme. The parliamentary panel has pointed out that only seven ODOP brands have been launched by NAFED so far which speaks volume about the pace of implementation of the PMFME scheme under which an ambitious target of providing credit linked subsidy to two lakh micro food processing units across the country with an approved outlay of Rs 10,000 crores. These central sector schemes have brought huge opportunities for agricultural and horticultural producers, entrepreneurs in northeast region which enjoys advantage of farming practice being organic by default. The region identifying gaps in scheme implementation and adopting innovative approach can ensure the desired change.


 Source:  sentinelassam.com