Continuation of ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme - National Food Security Mission during 12th Plan period

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs recently gave its approval for continuation of the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) during 12^th Five Year Plan with an allocation of Rs. 12,350 crore.

This would help in increasing additional food grains production of 25 million tonnes consisting of 10 million tonnes of rice, 8 million tonnes of wheat, 4 million tonnes of pulses  and 3 million tonnes of coarse cereals by 2016-17.

The Mission’s main focus will be on cropping systems instead of individual crops and inclusion of coarse cereals through development of Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs), creating value chains and providing market linkages.

NFSM would be implemented in 27 States including the North-Eastern and Hill States. The Mission would be implemented in selected districts as per the criteria laid down for NFSM, giving the priority to the districts that have yields lower than the State average.

The outlay for the first two years of the 12^th  Plan is as follows:(Rs. in crore)

Year	Outlay
2012-13	1850.00
2013-14	2250.00

The basic strategy is to promote improved technologies, i.e., adoption of quality seeds, enhancing farm efficiency through improved agronomic practices like line sowing, SRI, direct seeding, soil amendments, integrated nutrient management, integrated pest management, water use efficiency and resource conservation technologies. Proven crop production technologies developed by the National Agricultural 

Research System would be made available to the farmers through a series of planned interventions and financial incentives.

Background:NFSM was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs. 4,882.48 crore for 11th Plan and succeeded in meeting its objective of increasing food grains production by 20 million tonnes by 2011-12.  The average annual production of about 202.5 million tonnes of food grains during the 10th Plan rose to the level of about 237.5 million tonnes during the 11th Plan.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture

Global Agrochemical Companies Eye India Deals

With billions of dollars worth agrochemical patents expiring by 2020, global players keen to make the most of the situation are looking to buy or tie-up with Indian companies known for their low-cost manufacturing expertise. 

At least $9 billion (about Rs 61,000 crore) worth of patents for more than 50 agrochemical products are expected to be taken off the patent list and manufacturing is likely to move to emerging markets like India. 

First off the mark has been Japan. Its agrochemical firms have already begun fordging alliances with Indian firms. While Sumitomo Chemicals acquired Mumbai- based New Chemi in 2010 for an undisclosed amount, Otsuka Agritechno formed a joint venture in R&D with Insecticides IndiaBSE 3.10%. Another Japanese ISK is conducting field trials of new pesticides with United PhosphorousBSE -0.59% in India. Many Indian manufacturers are also in talks with companies from other regions and deals are likely to be announced soon.

"We see the trend," said Aditya Jhawar, an analyst with the Mumbai-based Espirito Santo Investment Bank. "Global players focus on India for two broad reasons: lower cost of production and environmental issues." He said increasing environmental issues and ban on production on certain products in some countries were pushing manufacturers to look at India, which currently exports over Rs 3,000 Crore worth of agrochemicals every year to the United States, Europe and other regions.

Another advantage that India has over other countries is that its companies offer better data protection. The Rs 13,000 Crore Indian agrochemical sector, which has been growing at 8 to 10% annually,  has about 130 companies making active ingredients and intermediates. Globally, the agrochemical market size is about 45 to 47 billion dollars, with Japanese companies making up a tenth of it. 

Source: Agropages (http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---10410.htm)