Government Calls upon Industry to Invest in R&D in Agrochemicals Sector

The Government has called upon agrochemicals industry to invest in Research & Development and innovations in agrochemicals sector. Delivering the inaugural address at a two-day Third National Conference on July 30, 2013, the Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Indrajit Pal said that in order to remain globally competitive, the industry needs to innovate in products, for which innovative state-of-the-art R&D laboratories and financial resources would be required. Shri Indrajit Pal said that the Indian chemical sector spends 1-2% of their total turnover on R&D as compared to around 5-10% by the chemical industry in the developed countries. One of the emerging areas for R & D is green agrochemicals and the Indian industry is the development of eco-friendly green agrochemicals, he added. 

The Secretary informed that for ensuring quality of agrochemicals, the Government has set up 71 pesticides testing laboratories across the country that include 68 state laboratories, 2 regional laboratories and 1 central laboratory. Manufacturing units should adopt GMP (good manufacturing practices) and take all such measures that are necessary to ensure delivery of quality products to the farmers. Shri Indrajit Pal also informed that the Institute of Agrochemicals Formulation Technology (IPFT), an autonomous body of the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, has been developing state-of-the-art user and environment friendly formulations for the agrochemicals industry. During the last 5-6 years, IPFT has developed many formulations and transferred them to the industries. He urged the industry to take full advantage of the facilities offered by the institute. 

The Conference has been organised jointly by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Departments of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Department of Fertilizers and the Department of Agriculture & cooperation, Government of India. Tata Strategic Management Services (TSMG) are Knowledge and Strategy Partners and a Knowledge Paper on the sector was also released. 

With nearly a 1.2 billion population, India requires a robust, modernized agriculture sector to ensure the food security for its population. Scope for further increasing cultivable land is limited. In order to meet the food grain requirements of the country, the agricultural productivity and its growth needs to be sustained and further improved. Pesticides or Agrochemicals are recognized as an essential input for increasing agricultural production and preventing crop loss before and after harvesting. Their judicious usage is very important for the sustained growth of Indian agriculture and economy. 

India has low crop productivity as compared to other countries. Average productivity in India stands at 2 MT/ha as compared to 6 MT/ha in USA and world average of 3 MT/ha. At the same time, India’s pesticide consumption is also low at 0.60 kg/ha as compared to the world average of 3 kg/ha and for Japan 10.80 kgm. Hence, increased usage of pesticides could help the farmers to improve crop productivity. This also portrays the huge growth potential as the Indian economy moves forward. 

The two-day conference will cover topics of relevance to the sector, incl. new developments, innovations, export potential as also issues such as spurious pesticides, regulatory regime etc. A large number of Captains of the chemical industry, academia, policy makers as also the end-users viz: the farmers were present. 

Source: Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

Linking farmers to moving markets

In a new report, FAO is calling for more nuanced policy-making to boost smallholder farm output, requiring better knowledge of individual farm households and the constraints they face, to be able to target investments and policy support where they are needed to ensure that they can sell surpluses from their harvests.

"Smallholder farmers need to be better integrated into markets in order to reduce hunger and poverty," said David Hallam, Director of FAO's Trade and Markets Division. 

"Only with greater market integration and more inclusive value chains will they adopt the new technologies required to achieve productivity growth.

No one-size-fits-all solution

"Policy interventions that aim at encouraging greater levels of smallholder production for sale in markets need to take better account of the heterogeneity of smallholder households. 

Encouraging semi-subsistence producers to participate more in local markets and supporting more commercialized producers to better access sophisticated value chains raise different issues with respect to both their ability and willingness to increase production for sale. There is therefore no ‘one size fits all' solution to encourage greater market participation," Hallam said.

First and foremost, Hallam underlined, is the need for better links to buyers. Farmers will not expend more time, money and energy in producing more, if any surplus they produce will likely go to waste because there is no storage, no transport or, possibly, no market within a reasonable distance, he explained. The risk that any money spent to produce more will be lost is too great a risk for poor farmers to run.

In addition, smallholder farmers are usually the ones investing their own money, with little access to credit or insurance should something arise, such as unfavourable weather conditions.

"Just as smallholders are a heterogeneous group, the markets in which they participate are also diverse in terms of their size, geographic location, connectivity to other markets, power relations between market players, and institutional setting," the report states.

This combination of complex factors means that approaches to smallholder farmers' participation in markets have to be suitably nuanced. 

Closing the yield gap

"Small-scale agriculture is the main source of food in the developing world, producing up to 80% of the food consumed in many developing countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia," the report states. "Smallholders and small family farms are therefore central to an inclusive development process and their contribution is crucial to food security," it adds.

Yet, in sub-Saharan Africa, the yield gap between farmers' yields and potential yields is estimated at 76%, meaning farmers produce less than one quarter of what they could. In Central America and the Caribbean, the yield gap is 65%, meaning smallholders produce less than a third of their potential yield. In developing countries, the yield gap is often higher than 50%.

High food prices

High food prices are seen by many policy-makers as an opportunity for smallholders to produce more and earn more income. But experience shows that, often, smallholders have failed to respond as expected.

"High levels of price, production risks and uncertainty, and limited access to tools to manage them deter investment in more productive new technologies that would enable smallholders to produce surpluses for sale in markets. Inadequate infrastructure, high costs of storage and transportation, and non-competitive markets also militate against production of a marketable surplus," Hallam said.

"Given these constraints, it is not surprising that the supply response of many small producers to recent high food prices has been muted."

Beyond an enabling environment

According to the report, the public sector, together with international development partners, should have a strong role as moderator among different public, private and civil society actors, promoting what is in the best interests of the smallholder agricultural sector while encouraging development of markets.

Given the limitations of the public sector in many developing countries and reductions in foreign development aid, foreign direct investment (FDI) is also seen as a potential source of funding. 

This sort of investment can take many forms -- not just controversial land acquisitions -- and should ensure sustainable and equitable use of land while strengthening food security for indigenous populations, FAO emphasizes. 

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/179362/icode/

New UN food safety and nutrition standards will benefit consumers

The UN food standards body Codex Alimentarius has agreed on new standards to protect the health of consumers worldwide. These include standards on fruit, vegetables, fish and fishery products and animal feed.

 

Codex also adopted codes on the prevention and reduction of ochratoxin A, a carcinogenic contaminant, in cocoa, guidance on how to avoid microbiological contamination of berries and on use of claims for food that is labeled "non-addition of sodium salts" including "no added salt" on food packages, to assist consumers in choosing a healthy diet. 

 

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, jointly run by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), sets international food safety and quality standards to promote safer and more nutritious food for consumers worldwide. Codex standards serve in many cases as a basis for national legislation, and provide the food safety benchmarks for international food trade.

 

At its annual meeting last week, Codex celebrated its 50th anniversary. The session was attended by 620 delegates from 128 member countries and one member organization, one observer country and 41 international governmental and non-governmental organizations, including UN agencies.

 

Safe limits on contamination

 

One of the important work areas for Codex is setting safe limits and giving guidance along the food chain on prevention or reduction of contamination. Food can become contaminated by heavy metals, fungal toxins or bacteria and viruses.

 

The Commission adopted two important codes: prevention and reduction of ochratoxin A (a carcinogenic contaminant) in cocoa and of hydrocyanic acid in cassava, both important products for developing countries. 

 

Fresh berries can be a healthy part of the diet but are also prone to microbiological contamination and have been associated with several foodborne illness outbreaks caused by viruses (Hepatitis A, Norovirus), bacteria (E.coli) and protozoa. The new Codex text gives advice to producers and consumers on how to prevent this contamination.

 

Fair practice in food trade and protecting consumers' health

 

The Commission adopted a number of commodity standards that will protect consumers from fraud and ensure fair practices in the food trade: fresh and processed fruit and vegetables (e.g. avocados, chanterelles, pomegranates, table olives, date paste, and tempe) and fish and fishery products (smoked fish, abalone). The standards help buyers and sellers establish contracts based on Codex specifications and make sure that the consumers get from the products what they expect.

 

The Commission also adopted the nutrient reference values on sodium and saturated fatty acids, which are nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), to be included in the Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling.  This is part of Codex's on-going efforts to promote healthy dietary practices and address the increasing public health problem of diet-related NCDs. 

 

The Commission also adopted the revised and updated guidelines on formulated supplementary foods for older infants and young children to ensure the health and nutrition of the vulnerable population group. Furthermore, the Commission adopted hundreds of safe maximum limits for pesticide residues and veterinary drugs and provisions for food additives.

 

Guidance on control for food and animal feed

 

As animal feed can cause contamination in eggs, meat and milk products, the Commission adopted guidance to countries on how to control animal feed and assess the risk of contamination. The Commission also adopted guidelines for National Food Control Systems to assist countries in implementing food control.

 

Into the future

Because of the volume of trade  and need to harmonize national standards, the Commission agreed to create a new Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs, which will be hosted and chaired by India.

 

The Commission approved its Strategic Plan 2014-2019, which will guide the work on protecting consumers' health and ensure fair practices in the food trade over the next six years.

 

 

Source: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/179663/icode/ 

British to study how pests, diseases are spread through seed

The increasing global population continues to put pressure on food supplies. Combined with the impacts of climate change and global trade, which have increased the spread of plant pests and disease, this raises concerns about global food security.

Seed is the basic unit of crop production and therefore, food production. Seed-borne pathogens may cause disease or death of plants resulting in yield reduction. In addition, seed is produced and traded across the globe and can carry and spread pests and diseases very efficiently to key production areas.

Fera scientists are leading a major EU-funded project (TESTA) which will look at how and what pests and diseases are transmitted by seed, together with the reliable detection and disinfection of contaminated seed, thereby helping to boost yields.

One of the partners in the project is Prof. Terry Aveling, the chair of the Seed Health Committee for the International Seed Testing Association(ISTA). The Association’s involvement will ensure that results of the project are focussed on global needs and are available for use by seed testing laboratories around the world.

Source: Agropages