MONSANTO Chief On GM Crops + PESTICIDES In Soft Drinks + Other AGRI Issues

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In This NEWS Bulletin ******************************* On GMOs & Hybrid Seeds--- 1. Monsanto to develop drought resistance crops 2. New Bt cotton cultivation unlikely this summer 3. DuPont to develop hybrids of five crops PESTICIDES IN SOFT DRINKS--- 4. Panel raises pesticide limit in water, soft drinks Other AGRI ISSUES--- 5. Govt to buy wheat at Rs 850 a quintal from farmers, says Pawar 6. EGoM meet on wheat support price inconclusive 7. Edible oil price regulation inadequate: Vanaspati

players 8. STC diversifies trading basket 9. Maize futures will not be banned: Pawar 10. Seafood exports potential seen at $4 billion: Assocham --------------------------- Monsanto to develop drought resistance crops http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=158079 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 0010 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 16: The US seed multinational, Monsanto, will deprive China of its second generation Bt technology due to intellectual property violation. Instead, it is ready to transfer the next generation transgenic technology to India. “We had

transferred our first generation Bt cotton technology to China and had a bad experience. That country has no respect for intellectual property rights,” executive vice president, Monsanto Inc, Jerry Steiner, told FE. “We are ready to transfer our next generation transgenic technology to India,” he added. Steiner said that his company was concentrating on developing new transgenic traits of three key crops like corn, soybeans and cotton. These crops will be developed for drought resistance, for ensuring higher and stable yields in rainfed areas and for ensuring lesser use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The next generation of transgenic soybeans will be producing ‘heart-healthy oils’. Transgenic fruits and vegetables would be developed for ‘increasing flavour’. These transgenic crops would be developed within a decade and a half. Steiner claimed that Bt cotton cultivation has helped farmers raise their

income. “The very fact that area under Bt cotton is increasing shows the growing acceptability among farmers,” he said. However, he admitted there were failure of Bt cotton crops in some areas of the country and attributed it to ‘weather conditions’. When asked about how much profit his company earned on account of 5 years of Bt cotton cultivation in India, he quipped, “We do not maintain country specific accounts.” Monsanto has transferred Bt technology to the joint venture Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB). MMB apart from marketing Bt cotton seeds produced by Mahyco has sub-licenced the technology to 23 Indian seed companies. On the issue of high pricing of Bt cotton seeds, Steiner said, “It is a competitive market. Farmers buy our seeds despite the price factor.” Steiner also interacted with the industry and exporters at luncheon session organised by the Confederation of India Industries (CII) here on Friday. Exporters

raised the issue of global consumers not preferring GM food and this may come in the way of export prospects. To this Steiner replied, “Consumers preference may be different, but farmers gain through cultivation.” On recent reports of sheep and goats dying after grazing on Bt cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh, he said, “Bt gene is absolutely safe. It can be inserted in food crops also. Toxicology studies have proved the fact.------ New Bt cotton cultivation unlikely this summer http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157772 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR14: The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC)

which met on Wednesday withheld any fresh approval of bt cotton for commercial cultivation in the ensuing summer season. About 11 Bt cotton hybrids with cry 1 Ac gene expression, 5 Bt cotton hybrids expressing stacked genes (cry 1 Ac + cry2 Ab – MON 15985) and one Bt cotton hybrid expressing cry 1 Ac event 1 was on the agenda for approval for commercial cultivation. All these hybrids have gone through the requisite processes of field trials. “We did not approve any new BT cotton hybrids for commercial cultivation as the matter is subjudiced in the Supreme Court,” said a senior GEAC official. The GEAC is awaiting further orders from the apex court, which in response to a PIL filed by Aruna Rodrigues and other, had directed not to accord any fresh approval for field trials of any genetically modified (GM) crop, till the pendency of the case. However, the apex court made an exception for the field trials of GM mustard. The Supreme Court is

slated to hear the case again on April 16. However, in its last meeting on February 14, 2007, the GEAC had given its approval for renewal of its permission for commercial cultivation of 8 Bt cotton hybrids for three years. Usually GM crops are approved for commercial cultivation in specific regions for a fixed period – say three years, after which permission for a fresh renewal is sought. Interestingly, Mahyco’s Mech 162 Bt cotton, which was banned for commercial cultivation in entire south India since 2005 after three successive years of its failure, has received the fresh nod for cultivation in the region with the exception of Andhra Pradesh. The GEAC in its Wednesday’s meeting also discussed the Supreme Court’s directions of September 22, 2006 in response to the PIL filed by Aruna Rodgriues and others and the recommendations of the expert panel constituted by the commerce ministry urging to keep Basmati rice areas and Agri Export Zones

free from GM crops. It also discussed the recent ruling of the Northern California district court in US issuing a preliminary injunction banning sale of Monsanto’s GM alfalfa seeds and planting materials. GEAC also discussed amendments to section 13 of Rules, 1989 under the Environment Protection Act relating to the renewal of permission for GM crops.-------- DuPont to develop hybrids of five crops http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157906 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Friday, March 16, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 15: The science-based products and services company DuPont on Wednesday said it plans to set up a plant biotech

research centre in Hyderabad. First such centre outside the US would help scientists develop hybrids of rice, pearl millet, maize, mustard and sunflower for cultivation in India. At present biotech tools would be deployed to develop non-transgenic hybrids. Terming India as a strategic market for the company, DuPont India president and chief executive officer Balvinder S Kalsi said about 20 crop scientists have already started work in the temporary facilities near the site. DuPont on February 1, 2007, had announced an initial investment of over Rs 100 crore to set up DuPont Knowledge Centre. Investment would be increased by another Rs 100 crore in the next year as 100 scientists are expected to join the plant biotech centre by the end of 2007 another 150 in the next year. The company would incur similar amount every year on maintaining the R & D

centre as recurring expense. The centre is expected to be up and running by the first quarter of 2008 and accommodate over 300 scientists, Kalsi added. The trait discovery work conducted on the site would help create advanced seed products to meet the growing global demand for increased food production, improved animal feed products and expanding energy needs. The technologies developed would be incorporated into multiple crops for worldwide markets. "We will be launching every year two or three hybrid seeds in the crops which the company focuses," K V Subbarao, country manager, Pioneer (a DuPont company) said. DuPont India, a subsidiary of the American parent, has seven production facilities at Baroda, Madurai and Hyderabad and is growing at CAGR of 25% in last five years posting a revenue of about Rs 1,600 crore in 2006.------------------------- Panel raises pesticide limit in water, soft drinks http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157896 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Friday, March 16, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 15: The MK Ganguly panel constituted by the health ministry in November 2004 to suggest the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides in carbonated beverages, fruits, vegetable juices and other finished products has recommended a maximum residue limit (MRL) of one part per billion (ppb) for pesticide in carbonated water. In contrast, a government notification of 2003 had prescribed that MRLs for any pesticide in water used for carbonated beverages should not be more than 0.1 ppb.

Collectively, the total pesticide residue should not be more than 0.5 ppb. India’s largest soft drinks manufacturers Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India welcomed the recommendation saying the companies would adhere to the standards as and when they are notified along with a validated test methodology. The panel claimed “this value is based on consumer safety, analytical measurability and achievability with good manufacturing practices.” It also called for setting up of an independent cell for “promptly providing an objective risk assessment evaluation on a wide array of food safety issues and also for effective risk communication in a transparent manner.” The panel said that the prescribed MRLs for a group of pesticides like DDT-R, chloropyriphos, malathion and endosulfan should be for 3 years and reviewed after newer purification technologies emerge in future. The panel suggested generation of data

on consumption pattern of carbonated beverages and processed food. It also suggested generation of data on consumption pattern of different socio-economic groups for different food commodities and geographical regionwise consumption pattern. The national level expert panel was set up under the chairmanship of the director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) NK Ganguly to guide the ministry’s sub-committee in fixing the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides in carbonated beverages, fruits and vegetable juices and other finished products, including the methodology, toxicity, risk analysis. The Ganguly panel concurred with the report of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) that the MRLs for pesticides in fruit and vegetable juices should be different from that in carbonated water. ICMR study revealed “there is no significant contribution of sugar towards contamination of carbonated

water” and any higher levels of contamination due to sugar should be removed through good manufacturing practices.---------------------- Govt to buy wheat at Rs 850 a quintal from farmers, says Pawar ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 16: The government has hiked the purchase price for wheat from farmers to Rs 850 a quintal by rendering a bonus price of Rs 100 over the declared minimum support price (MSP) of 750 a quintal. With a firm commitment towards liberalising import and export of agro commodities, the government also allowed dutyfree import of wheat by private trade and corporate houses till December 31, 2007. The public sector, State Trading Corporation of India (STC) has been allowed import 3 million tonne of wheat to augment domestic supply. This was

announced in the in Rajya Sabha on Friday by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. admitted that in the previous year, the government agencies could purchase only 92.26 million tonne wheat from farmers as the MSP was low at Rs 650 a quintal. The MSP was, however, raised to Rs 700 a quintal in the middle of season by adding a bonus price of Rs 50 a quintal. But this had very little effect as the MNCs and corporate houses which were allowed free entry in agricultural marketing offered prices at about Rs 850 a quintal. As the government could not procure sufficient stock for the central pool, it had to import 5.5 million tonne. This year the government has fixed a wheat procurement target of 155.1 million tonne. The wheat output in the current season is expected to be a bumper at over 80 million tonne according to several experts, but government’s estimate points to a conservative figure of 72 million tonne. It seems that the

government is not interested in banning marketing of wheat by MNCs and corporate houses from farmers, despite several reports of deliberate hoarding of stocks and market manipulation leading to sharp rise in prices. Government has rather resorted to imports of wheat to augment availability and hold the price line. But the Economic Survey 2006 had cautioned that previous year’s wheat imports did not result in a fall in prices. Rather the global prices of wheat shot up as India became an importer.--------------------------- EGoM meet on wheat support price inconclusive http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157668 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 0000 hours

IST NEW DELHI, MAR 13: An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee failed to resolve the issue of hiking the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by fixing an adequate ‘‘bonus price’’, owing to infightings and differences of opinion. The eGoM referred the issue back to the Cabinet. ‘‘The matter would be decided by the Cabinet within the next 10 days,’’ agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said after the meeting. The Cabinet had earlier fixed the MSP for wheat at Rs 750 per quintal on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices. The governments of major wheat producing states like Punjab, Haryana and various farmers’ organisations demanded that the central government raise the MSP by adding a ‘‘bonus price’’. The farmers’ organisations had demanded that the MSP should be raised to Rs 1,000-1,100 per quintal. Accordingly, the agriculture

ministry had proposed a formula to the Cabinet, which in turn constituted an eGoM to decide on the issue. The eGoM headed by Pranab Mukherjee consists of the finance minister, P Chidambaram and agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar and commerce minister, Kamal Nath. Four different slabs for bonus price was on the agenda for discussion – Rs 25, Rs 50, Rs 75 and Rs 100 per quintal. According to sources, the finance minister, P Chidambaram was not agreeable to any further hike in wheat MSP. Other agenda for discussion was allowing further dutyfree import of wheat. This was also not decided. However, Pawar said : “We may import wheat in the interest of food security.” This year a good wheat harvest is expected with an increase in area under wheat crop by over 28 million hectare and the government has projected a conservative production estimate of around 72 million tonne. Market arrivals of wheat is expected towards the end of this

month and the government has decided to procure around 15 million tonne wheat for buffer stocking.------------------------------- Edible oil price regulation inadequate: Vanaspati players http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157142 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Friday, March 09, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MARCH 8 : The producers of vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oils) have criticised the Union Budget 2007-08 and have said that steps taken by the finance minister, P Chidambaram for regulating the prices of edible oils are neither adequate nor appropriate. “It is very disappointing

that the exemption given to crude and refined vegetable oils from the additional CVD of 4%, was too insignificant amounting to only Rs 1400 per tonne. Consequently, there has been no visible impact on the current level of prices of edible oils,” Indian Vanaspati Producers’ Association said. They have demanded to place vanaspati in the negative list for imports under all the existing free trade agreements (FTAs) and allow them to import crude palm oil against a concessional duty of 20% under actual user conditions. The Indian Vanaspati Producers’ Association (IVPA) in a press statement said so far as the domestic industry is concerned, despite numerous representations, nothing tangible has been done to correct the inverted duty structure, which makes it helpless to contend with the duty free imports from Nepal, Sri Lanka and other SAARC countries under the Free Trade Agreements. Whilst the import of the

finished product is at zero percent duty, the raw material that is, crude palm oil (CPO) is imported from Indonesia / Malaysia at 61.8% duty (60% duty +3% cess). On the other hand, the same raw material i.e. CPO is available to a manufacturer in Nepal at zero duty and to a manufacturer in Sri Lanka at a duty of only $25 per tonne. The result thereof of is that even as on date an exporter in these countries has a cost advantage of over Rs. 9,000 per tonne in comparison to an Indian producer, due to the duty differential on the raw material. On account of the disparity in the cost of production, a manufacturter in Nepal/Sri Lanka is able to cut the cost and sell its product in India at Rs.50 to Rs.60 per 15kg that is, around Rs.4000 per tonne lower than the leading domestic brands, the press statement said. Consequently, 148 out of 264 installed units are closed, the national production of vanaspati has come

down drastically to around 11 lakh tonnes per annum and the capacity utilisation has dropped to 20%. The domestic industry was very hopeful that some relief would be given to it in the budget by correcting the inverted duty structure and reducing the duty on the raw material viz. imported crude palm oil (CPO) to at least around 20% / 25% on actual user basis. The hopes have been belied in the Budget, IVPA said.---------------------- STC diversifies trading basket http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157144 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Friday, March 09, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MARCH 8 : The public sector, State Trading Corporation of India (STC) has been

able to make a successful turnaround in its profitability by diversifying its export-import basket of commodities and also by expanding its related activities. STC is likely to achieve Rs 57 crore profit before tax in 2005-06 with a turnover of Rs 7100 crore. It is aiming at a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore in 2007-08. The turnover from wheat imports in 2006-07 was Rs 400 crore. STC was presented with MoU Excellence Award by prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday. “There is a wide fluctuation in global commodity prices year-on-year and the production of agro commodities also vary. Judging the global trend we in the STC decided to concentrate on select commodities and sectors for promoting our activities on a sustained basis. This has really worked and since the last two years it has helped us to increase both our turnover and profits,” said the STC chairman and managing director, Arvind Pandalai on Thursday.

The push to STC’s profitability came from imports of thermal and metallurgical coal, scrap and minerals, edible oils and pulses. The profitability margin also increased due exports of iron ore, hot rolled products, steel, gold jewellery, pharmaceuticals. It purchased oilseeds from Nafed and gave custom processing oil units and sold edible oils thus helping Nafed to reduce its inventory and also caused an upward movement in oilseed prices, befitting the growers. “We have added a new dimension to our activities. We import commodities in bulk and sell to processors as per their time-bound needs,” said Pandalai. He further said that about Rs 500 crore worth pharmaceuticals were exported to Uzbekistan in last two-and-half years. “The bulk drugs exported to Uzbekistan was for processing it into formulation by a joint venture set up by an Indian firm in that country. “We, therefore, helped

setting up of an Indian joint venture,” said Pandalai and added STC was setting up of a similar joint sector in Uzbekistan for producing oil from cotton seeds. STC had facilitated Mysore Minerals to export iron and has been allotted a mining lease in Karnataka. Pandalai said that the margin from import of gold biscuits were as low as 0.03% to 0.1% and therefore STC began exporting gold jewellery produced by jewelers in the country. Another new activity where STC entered was offsets and counter trade. Explaining this, Pandalai said that in the recent triparti contract for purchase of Boeing by Air India, STC mediated for 30% counter trade in which certain components of the aircraft would be manufactured in India for exports. Similar counter trade to the extent of 40% was struck in a deal for purchase of Air Bus by Indian Airlines.---------------------- Maize futures will not be banned:

Pawar http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157018 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 7 : Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday ruled out any possibility of banning futures trading of maize, as demanded by starch manufacturers and the poultry industry. “Maize is not for human consumption. Let farmers also get a better price,” Pawar told reporters here on the sidelines of India-Africa Agrifood Summit organised by industry chamber FICCI. After the government announced a ban on new contracts of wheat and rice in the futures market, the starch manufacturers demanded a similar action on maize, the

main raw material for production of starch. Despite increase in acreage, maize prices has shot up to Rs 950 per quintal as against Rs 600 per quintal in the comparable period of last year, a poultry industry official said. Government on Monday banned maize export by private traders while allowing the shipment from the country only through state-run agencies like STC, MMTC, PEC and Nafed. It had already allowed duty-free maize import till December 31 this year to ensure adequate supplies. Meanwhile, government has decided, as a special case, to make the export of kabuli chana, free without any quantitative restrictions. DGFT has issued notification accordingly. A complete ban on export of pulses was imposed, during June last year, keeping in view the price rise. A number of representations were received in the department of commerce, that because of a general ban on

export of pulses, prices of Dollar Gram (chana), which is not used as pulse but exported in its primary form, have plummeted. There were reports that the prices have fallen between Rs.2000 to Rs 2300, as against the last year prices of Rs 4000-Rs 4500 per quintal. ------------------- Seafood exports potential seen at $4 billion: Assocham ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Tuesday, March 06, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAR 5: India’s seafood exports can be doubled to over $4 billion by the year 2010 from current exports estimates of $2 billion provided fish catching vessels capacities are expanded by equipping these with more accurate remote sensing tools, according to a study conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). It also called for substantially enhancing fiscal assistance to seafood exporters through

Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). The study titled “Neglected Seafood Exports,” said that India’s seafood exports which stagnated at $1.6 billion in 2005-06 and moved up to $2 billion in first 9 months of current fiscal have potential to accelerate faster in view of their growing demand in trading blocs like the European Union, the US, Canada & the west Asian countries. The paper estimated the strength of current fleet of fish catching vessels in India at less than 50,000 in number with capacity at about 1.5 tonne each and suggested the need to be expanded the capacity to 5 tonne. The paper has pointed out the financial assistance extended by MPEDA to marine products exporters in the last 3-4 years has declined considerably from Rs 78.401 million to Rs 73.583 million in the following year and to Rs 60.791 million by March 31, 2006 adversely impacting seafood exports which has been

growing consistently at an average rate of 10% per annum. Inadequate financial assistance to marine product exporters is one of the causes for India’s poorer export performance to its potential market destinations overseas. However, the paper cautioned that in the emerging global thrust to adoption of hygienic production practices for adhering to the WTO standards, compliance to hazard analysis and clinical control point (HACCP) by seafood exporters as a pre-requisite. The supply chain in India is not strong enough to meet these rigorous standards. Incidentally the whole area of attention to fishermen remains neglected as out of 40 exporting schemes of MPEDA, only 1 is devoted to fishermen.---------------------------

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