The Government has said Indian spices have not been banned by Singapore and Hong Kong. Replying to a query on foreign restrictions on Indian spices in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said specific batches of a few spice mixtures exported from India were recalled by food safety authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore due to the presence of ethylene oxide (EtO) above permissible limits.
As part of its import surveillance, the Singapore Food Agency put the consignments of spices from the associated brands under hold-and-test regime for a period of one month, he said, reiterating that Indian spices have not been banned by Singapore and Hong Kong.
Board’s measures
The Spices Board has taken various steps, including mandatory pre-shipment testing of spices being exported to these destinations, issuance of comprehensive guidelines to be followed by exporters to prevent possible EtO contamination at all stages, namely, procurement of raw materials, processing, packing, storage, transportation etc., to meet the varying EtO limits of the importing country, he said.
All the food commodities, including spices, whether manufactured/processed domestically or imported for consumption in domestic markets in India are required to comply with the standards laid down under the food safety and standards regulations. The regulations provide for the quality and safety parameters that every food product has to comply with, he added.
Supply, demand projection
Answering a question on assessment of production and consumption of foodgrains in the country, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ramnath Thakur, said the ‘Working group report on Crop Husbandry, Agriculture Inputs, Demand and Supply’, published by NITI Aayog in 2024, has projected demand and supply of various commodities under business-as-usual scenario at all-India level.
According to the report, the demand for foodgrains and cereals is estimated to be 303 million tonnes (mt) and 272 mt, respectively, by 2025-26, compared to the supply estimates of 332 mt and 305 mt, respectively.
However, supply is estimated to be less than demand for pulses and vegetables during the same period. The report estimates the demand for pulses and vegetables to be 31 mt and 238 mt, respectively, by 2025-26, compared to the supply estimates of 27 mt and 224 mt, respectively.
FPOs
To a separate question on the number of Farmer Producer Ogranisations (FPOs) registered in the country under FPO scheme of the Government, Thakur said 8,875 FPOs have been registered across the country as on June 30 2024.
The total paid up capital to above mentioned FPOs was ₹630.3 crore under the Central Sector Scheme for the ‘Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs’. As on June 30 2024, a cumulative amount of ₹210.1 crore was released to eligible FPOs as matching equity grant under the 10,000 FPOs scheme.
Stating that the scheme provides supports for a credit guarantee fund, he said loans worth ₹50.4 crore have been issued to these FPOs. There are 19,68,868 shareholder farmers registered in FPOs as on June 30, 2024.