Icrisat Setting Up $5.25 M Bio-Food Knowledge Centre

Hyderabad: A $5.25 million Bio-Food Knowledge Centre (BFKC), with participation of corporates and institutes, will be established by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat).

The Icrisat is also in the process of setting up the Centre for Excellence in Genomics (CEG), with a financial support of $1 million from the Union Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

Making these announcements, the Director-General of Icrisat, Dr William Dar, told newspersons today that the BFKC would be a public-private partnership venture in the Agri-Science Park at the Icrisat campus, with major support from the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Corporate interest

The State has sanctioned a support of $500,000 to the venture. Interest in the venture has come from the Yes Bank, corporates such as ITC and Nandan Biometrix etc.

The Icrisat has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Crop and Food Research, a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand.

“We would work together to develop the BFKC. Discussions to leverage New Zealand’s expertise in agri science have been undertaken for accelerating the commissioning.”

“The objective is to completely develop the Centre in 5 years with $ 5.25 m outlay”, Dr Dar said.

R&D platform

The BFKC aims to develop a platform for R&D, innovation, technology transfer and commercialisation in food processing with focus on cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables.

It would have pilot facilities, create knowledge with no commercial intent but supporting innovation and start ups, said Mr Raveen K. Reddy, Secretary, Biotechnology of the AP Government.

Dr Barry Shapiro, Managing Director of the Agri Science Park, said new products and new business that would benefit farmers and entrepreneurs would be taken up at BKC.

For example, the areas of nutraceuticals, fortified products and beverages will be prime focus.

Database

The CEG, on the other hand, has been equipped with high throughput, low cost equipment, which will help create useful genetic databases and finally reduce the development cycles and thus costs on developing new varieties by half, which in turn, benefit farmers.

The CEG would also provide training for building the capacity of Indian and developing country scientists.

Already, 19 scientists from the Indian Council for Agriculture Research Institutes are undergoing training.

Edible Oil Prices Shoot Up By 20-50%

Hyderabad: After gold, it is the turn of edible oils to get affected by international factors. Consumers, who have witnessed huge increase in the prices of the yellow metal in the last few weeks, are in for yet another shock. Run-up to Budget 2008-09

Prices of edible oil have shot up 20-50 per cent due to a sharp rise in the price of raw oil globally.

While the price of sunflower oil (packed) has gone up to Rs 100 from Rs 78, soya oil reached Rs 70 (Rs 55) and rice bran oil Rs 66 (Rs 44).

Bio-diesel factor

“This is largely attributed to huge sops being given to bio-diesel by countries in the European Union,” said O.P. Goenka, a national expert on edible oil and former President of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“The EU member countries offer huge subsidies and high prices for bio-diesel. Encouraged by this lucre, part of crude palm oil and rape seed oil stocks are being diverted to units that produce bio-diesel,” he said. This has resulted in scarcity, raising prices globally.

Rajender Prashad Agarwal, President of AP Oil Millers’ Association, said the price of soya oil in the retail market had gone up to Rs 70 a kg from Rs 55 a month ago. “International price for this soft oil is ruling at $1,450 a tonne,” he said. He said about 20 per cent of edible oil source was going to the bio-diesel industry, leading to a sudden shortage for the edible component.

Some good news

However, there is good news. The phenomenal increase in cotton and groundnut production have helped in stabilising cottonseed and groundnut oil.

While international developments resulted in rising prices, increase in domestic consumption of edible oil is also a contributing factor.

“Per capita consumption, which was hovering as low as 5-6 kilograms annually increased to 11-12 kilograms this year. The rise was up to 40 per cent in the last two years,” Goenka said.

This was due to a sharp increase in purchasing capacities of the consumers across the country. Agarwal suggested removal of the four per cent value added taxon edible oils as it benefited the farming community.

D1-BP Fuel Set To Extract Bio-Diesel From Jatropha

Hyderabad: D1-BP Fuel Crops India, a joint venture between the UK-based D1 Oils Plc and British Petroleum, expects to extract first batches of bio-diesel this year from its jatropha plantations in the North-East.

A refinery too, would come up there two years from now to process the extracted oil from the preliminary plants.

“We expect to extract substantial quantities the following year with about 10,000 tonnes,” Samiran Das, Chief Executive Officer, told Business Line.

Das is in the city in connection with Bio Asia-2008. The company focuses on producing bio-diesel oil from non-edible oils, particularly jatropha.

Jatropha acreage

As part of the parent company’s plans to establish one million hectares of jatropha plantation globally, with an investment of £80 million, D1-BP is targeting to have 3.50 lakh hectares of plantation in India in the next four years.

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At present, the company has 90,000 hectares, with North-East contributing two-thirds. “We have added 62,500 hectares this year alone,” he said.

It entered into joint ventures with Williamson Magor, a leading tea producer in the North-East, and Mohan Breweries, a South-based liquor company.

Model plantations

“We are having different models to raise plantations. We have contract farming agreements in the North-East. We joined hands with panchayats and women self-help groups to reach out to the wastelands and do the preliminary collection of the grain,” he said.

Once sizeable plantation area is raised, the company would set up a chain of extraction units in different States.

Icrisat, New Zealand Institute Sign Pact

Hyderabad: The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Crops (Icrisat) has signed an agreement with the Crop and Food Research, New Zealand.

The MoU, which was signed recently by William Dar, Icrisat Director, was carried to New Zealand by a delegation comprising officials from Icrisat and the Andhra Pradesh Government.

It was then countersigned by the Crop and Food Research CEO, Mark Ward, in Lincoln.

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“The collaboration will strengthen the partnership between Icrisat and New Zealand’s national research institutes. It will leverage mutual strengths in agriculture and food science research,” Dr Dar said here, commenting on the agreement.

The two organisations would work together to develop the proposed Bio Food Knowledge Centre (BFKC) at the Agri-Science Park within Icrisat, a press release here said.

NABARD Asks Ngos To Reach Out To Rural Communities

Hyderabad: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has asked non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to chalk out new plans in rural areas to increase incomes of farmers.

NABARD organised a meeting with about 30 NGOs here on Tuesday to familiarise them with bank’s assistance offered for developmental activities, particularly in the areas of micro credit, natural resource management and non-farm sector.

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Addressing the meeting, S. R. Aluru, Chief General Manager of bank’s regional office, asked the organisations to use their reach and help out the rural communities.

Traders Expect Gold Prices To Continue Rising

Hyderabad: Gold continues to hit new highs. On Tuesday, the price of standard gold was Rs 11,895 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market, adversely impacting sales in the commodity in the local market.

Traders expect that it will further increase and rule in the range of Rs 12,000-12,500 by March. The price of gold was at Rs 8,850 in January 2007.

“The slowdown in the US economy, increase in crude prices, and stagnant mining have resulted in the sudden spurt in gold prices,” M.L. Gupta, Vice-President of Twin Cities Jewellers Association, told Business Line.

Safe option

“The fluctuations in the global economy have led investors to look at precious metals as a safe investment option. This has led to the growth. We expect this will further grow in the next few weeks and reach Rs 12,500 in March,” Gupta, who promotes Mussadilal Jewellers Exporters, said.

“Recession and sub-prime crisis in the US made the investors and equity funds opt for heavy buying into gold. The European Banks, which used to sell gold, also reduced the volumes,” Mahabaleshwar, President of Andhra Pradesh Bullion Importers’ Association, said.

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Stoppage of a mine in South Africa due to power shortage contributed to the problem as well.

Impact

Consumers have put off their plans to buy gold and jewellery, unless it is necessary. “They are buying only when there is a wedding round the corner. They are waiting for the price to come down,” he said.

With the wedding season approaching, traders are expecting an increase in sales in the next few weeks.

Trading On Energy Exchange Help Realise Price Discovery

Hyderabad: The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the first exclusive bourse to trade energy that is expected to commence operations in a few months, has discounted fears that trading of the precious commodity on the bourse could make it costlier. It, in fact, would help in realising better price discovery, while marrying the short demands and short surpluses, according to Joseph Massey, Director of IEX.

Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, which promotes the Multi Commodities Exchange, holds 46 per cent in IEX. While PTC India owns 26 per cent, Tata Power, Reliance Energy and Lanco hold five per cent each.

“Learning from our commodities experience, I would say that an electronic platform seemingly integrates the existing fragmented spot markets, making India as one energy market,” he told Business Line over phone from Mumbai. In this process, it would bring in the advantages of transparency, counterparty guarantee, and anonymity resulting in better price discovery, he explained.

“The exchange derived energy prices through the transparent process would soon become far superior to the existing mechanism in energy trading. Therefore, the apprehension of price hike due to trading on a power exchange is unjustified,” Joseph Massey said. Apart from other benefits, the exchange would ensure the energy generators to focus on generation while not bothering about the trading part.

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It would offer a level-playing field for sellers and buyers as it ensures anonymous trading. The Central Electric Regulatory Commission (CERC) would act as a regulator for the exchange.

“We are making efforts to make it functional in the next few months. We are also familiarizing the exchange operations to various stakeholders,” he said.

When asked about the concerns with regard to distribution, he said the exchange expected that large per cent age of trades would be intra-regional.

The fact that there was no congestion in the intra-regional transmission network would make the IEX trade seamlessly deliverable.