India To Import Wheat + Industry's Study On Bt COTTON

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NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development ************************************ 1. Govt to import 5.11 lakh tonne (511,000 tonne) wheat at higher cost 2. BT cotton farmers rake in a moolah : Industry Study ---------------------------- Govt to import 5.11 lakh tonne (511,000 tonne) wheat at higher cost http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=169679 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, JUL 10: The government will import 5.11 lakh tonne (511,000

tonne) of wheat at prices ranging from $318 to $329 a tonne, paying at least $55 more a tonne than what April’s scrapped global tender had offered. The Centre entrusted State Trading Corporation of India (STC) with this task on Tuesday. Three global trading firms —Alfred E Toepfer of Germany, Cargill of the US and Riaz Trading of Pakistan—would deliver the wheat at the Mundra port in Gujarat between September and October, STC officials said. Toepfer had offered to supply 2.5 lakh tonne (250,000), Cargill 1.75 lakh tonne (175,000 tonne) and Riaz Trading 1.25 lakh tonne (125,000 tonne) at the time of bidding for an STC tender floated on behalf of the food ministry. Apart from these three, four other global companies – Glencore International AG of Germany, Concordia of the US, Louis Dreyfus of France and Agrilink Asia-Pacific of Singapore, had placed bids to supply a

total of 9.2 lakh tonne (920,000 tonne) of wheat in response to the 10-lakh-tonne (one million tonne) tender. This decision comes on the back of the Centre asking STC to cancel a previous tender to import 10 lakh tonne (one million tonne) of wheat. This tender was floated in April with a negotiating price of $263, which was termed high by the Centre. The irony is, the present buffer stock situation has pushed India to pay at least $55 more for a tonne, as is evident from the current negotiating price in the second STC tender. At the time of scrapping the previous tender, the food ministry had anticipated receiving cheaper bids, targeting as it were the EU, Australian and Black Sea region harvest. But, widening drought in Russia and Ukraine, and an erratic weather in the US, jacked up global wheat prices to an 11-year high on the Chicago Board of Trade over the past one month, leading to increased spends on

wheat imports by India. Pricey Grain • The tender was floated in April with a negotiating price of $263, which was termed high by the govt• Alfred E Toepfer of Germany, Cargill of the US and Riaz Trading of Pakistan will deliver the wheat • Apart from these three, four other companies had placed bids to supply 9.2 lakh tonne of wheat India, which is importing wheat for the second year in a row despite being the world’s second-largest producer, producing around 72 million tonne of the grain a year. It imported 5.5 million tonne of wheat in 2006 at an average price of $205 a tonne. The country’s wheat production is estimated to touch 74 million tonne this year, higher than earlier estimates of 73.7 million tonne and the last year’s of 69.48 million tonne. The total consumption demand in the country is only 60 million tonne. The government, however, targets to import up to 5

million tonne this year to boost wheat’s buffer stock and meet the requirement for the public distribution system. Despite the rise in prices, the government favours importing wheat to ensure adequate stocks. Against a target of 15 million tonne, FCI has so far been able to buy only about 11 million tonne. In April, FCI had a buffer stock of over 4 million tonne.-------- BT cotton farmers rake in a moolah : Industry Study Earn over Rs 7,000 crore more in 2006 http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=169723 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, JUL 10: Cotton farmers have

earned an additional income of Rs 7,039 crore in 2006 after a 50% increase in yield due to use of Bt cotton seed, a study conducted jointly by the Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Assocham) and IMRB International has revealed. Introduction of two-stacked genes Bollgaurd II Bt cotton has benefited famers by making a saving on pesticide use to the tune of Rs 1,600 per acre. Bollguard II Bt cotton was allowed for commercial cultivation in central and western India in 2006 and according to Assocham-IMRB study, farmers growing conventional cotton spend Rs 2,900 per acre on pesticide use, while those growing Bt cotton (with one gene cry 1 Ac) spend Rs 2,000 per acre and farmers growing Bollgaurd II Bt cotton spend Rs 1,300 per acre. Thus the farmers growing growing Bollguard II Bt cotton have the advantage of saving Rs 1,600 per acre on pesticide use over those growing conventional cotton. Bollgaurd II Bt cotton has the

advantage of controlling both Bollworm and the sucking pest, Spodopetra, while Bt cotton (with one gene cry 1 Ac) controls only Bollworm. The Bt technology do not totally eliminate pesticide use, it curtails the number of sprays said the study. The number of sprays was about 4.6 times less per acre for control of Bolloworm on Bt cotton (with one gene cry1Ac). The number of sprays was two times less per acre for control of Spodopetra on Bollguard II Bt cotton. Bollguard II farmers earned a profit of Rs 15,136 per acre, while farmers growing Bt cotton (with one gene cry 1 Ac) earned a profit of Rs 12,541 per acre. Farmers growing conventional cotton earned a profit of only Rs 4,784 per acre the study said and added “this is despite the fact that Bt seeds are 2.5 times costlier than conventional seeds” and increased used of water and fertilisers. Another study conducted by

Assocham in collaboration with Indicus Analytics found are under Bt cotton increased to over 8 million acres with 2 million farmers cultivating it.--

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