World Grain - November 2023 - 38

India wheat situation
(in 1,000 tonnes)
Production
Exports
Consumption
Ending stocks
2015-16
86,527
1,130
88,548
14,540
* Estimated ** Projected
wheat? The prospect of growing GM wheat commercially
is gaining momentum in South America. And
given the climate-related shortfalls of wheat, other
countries are considering whether to go that route.
" I wouldn't say the application of GM varieties
of wheat and other crops is completely off the
table in India, " Tjakra said. " However, this will depend
on public acceptance (including farmers) of
GM technology. "
The Indian government has taken measures, many
of which have been effective, in the past 20 years to
address food security. The National Food Security
Mission (NFSM) was launched by the government
in 2007-08 to increase the production of rice, wheat
and pulses.
" The government is going to achieve the objective
of this scheme through area expansion and productivity
enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified
districts of the country, " Tjakra said.
" Other than that, measures like restoring soil fertility,
improving productivity at the individual farm
level, enhancing the farm economy, etc., will also be
taken in order to improve production, " Tjakra said.
" Special focus will be on the low-productivity areas
and high-potential districts. "
He noted that under the NFSM, distribution of
seeds, farm machinery, conservation tools, efficient
water application tools, plant protection, nutrient
management, and cropping systems-based training to
the farmers are provided.
Also, as part of a larger effort to boost modern
grain storage capacity, the Food Corporation of India
(FCI) plans to complete construction of numerous
3-million-tonne-capacity wheat silos throughout the
country by the end of November, according to a report
from the Financial Express.
India needs more modern grain storage facilities
to reduce post-harvest waste. The FCI already
has completed construction of 1-million-tonne and
2-million-tonne silos and eventually, as part of this
grain storage expansion project, plans to build wheat
silos with 9.4 million tonnes of capacity during
38
the next three to four years at 196 locations across
the country.
Protectionist measures with rice
While India has never been a significant player in global
wheat trade, it has been historically at or near the top in
rice exports due to a significant surplus of the food grain.
In fact, India typically accounts for around 40% of world
rice trade. But the recent spike in food prices has led the
Indian government to ban exports of non-basmati rice
and include a 20% duty on parboiled rice exports.
The ban impacts 7 million to 8 million tonnes of Indian
rice exports, or 15% of global rice trade. It remains to be
seen how much of the rice impacted by the ban will be
diverted to domestic consumption.
While the Indian government pulls out all the stops to
decrease food inflation ahead of the 2024 election, the export
bans on wheat and rice and other protectionist measures
are negatively impacting countries who depend on
imports of the world's two most important food grains.
Countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, United Arab
Emirates, Yemen and the Philippines are among the
nations that heavily depend on shipments of wheat
from India. And the rice export ban, which was announced
in August, has contributed to a spike in global
rice prices. The United Nations' Food and Agricultural
Organization's All Rice Price Index in September fell by
0.5% month-on-month but was still 28% higher than the
same month in 2022.
According to a CoBank report, Indian rice farmers are
insulated from falling rice prices by the government so
rice production will not likely be impacted by the export
ban.
" Rice consumption in India has generally been stable
over the past few years, " Tjakra said. " However,
domestic rice consumption over the last few years has
been stimulated by the Indian government's efforts to
build and offload its rice stocks to manage food inflation
concerns. "
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November 2023 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
2016-17
87,000
501
97,234
9,800
2017-18
98,510
569
95,677
13,230
2018-19
99,870
496
95,629
16,992
2019-20
103,600
509
95,403
24,700
2020-21
107,860
2,561
102,217
27,800
2021-22 2022-23*
109,586
8,033
104,000
5,377
109,882
19,500
108,676
9,500
2023-24**
113,500
1,000
108,100
14,000
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, ©Nitr-stock.adobe.com
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World Grain - November 2023

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