India To Ship Wheat To Afghanistan As Aid: Sources

[Gabbar]

India To Ship Wheat To Afghanistan As Aid: Sources
Saturday, 25 April 2009

India, facing surplus stocks of grains, will soon send 250,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as aid, official sources said, raising hopes the ban on exports of the staple will be lifted after elections.

India is expected to produce 77.78 million tonnes of wheat in 2009, almost as much as last year's record, creating a shortage of storage space as exports have been banned for two years.

Analysts say the new government, which would be elected after the month-long elections are completed in May, is likely to allow exports.

Wheat would be sent to Afghanistan via Iran as Pakistan did not allow transit across its territory, which is a shorter route, senior government officials involved in the decision told Reuters on Friday.

One of India's state-run trading firms will supply the grain to Afghanistan through Chabahar, termed as the closest access point of Iran to the Indian ocean, one official told Reuters.

"An Afghan delegation is in India and currently visiting many wholesale wheat markets of Punjab," another official, who did not wish to be identified, said.

The northern state of Punjab is one of the leading wheat producers in the country.

He said the delegation has met senior officials of some trading firms.

 

[BATMAN]

This is not an issue at all.
I don't have any difference in opinion!!

 

[shravan]

"An Afghan delegation is in India and currently visiting many wholesale wheat markets of Punjab," another official, who did not wish to be identified, said.

I don't think when a country buys something they go to the wholesale market....

 

[wtf]

I don't think when a country buys something they go to the wholesale market....

India announces a wheat support price every so often. Then they go about buying wheat at the minimum price from the "farmers" and then distribute it through ration shops/ PDS. This often leads to corruption at both procurement and distribution side since the purchase is made at above market price and sale is at below market prices.

In this case corruption should go down since Afghan people are buying wheat straight off the market and also due to the fact that it gives them a shorter time period to establish a "working relationship" with corrupt shopkeepers. Nicely done, I think.

 

[shravan]

In this case corruption should go down since Afghan people are buying wheat straight off the market and also due to the fact that it gives them a shorter time period to establish a "working relationship" with corrupt shopkeepers.

Transport ? The quantity would be in Tonnes.

 

[wtf]

Transport ? The quantity would be in Tonnes.

Here is what I understand about the food supply chain in India. There are farmers who grow food. Then some agents buy it from them and take it to food processors (de husking,packing etc.). They then sell it to whole sale merchants in gunny sacks. They in turn take this and ship it to different markets where they have orders. (How the order is placed varies from state to state and market to market - sometimes futures, sometimes spot and sometimes some really complicated transactions). From there it gets sent to district wholesalers who then sell it to retailers who sell it to consumer.

If you want to get at large amounts of wheat you have to target the factory or go to wholesale market. If you go to a factory, you lose variety of choice and may move local prices. Shipping is also easier since there are big transport agents right next to markets (and sometimes the vendor will take care of it for you).
Delhi/UP has a market too, but it is much more complicated with a few really big merchants controlling some essential food items.

Have you seen what happens when Karnataka and Tamilnadu get into a fight or Tamilnadu decides to blockade Kerala or have a bundh ? That's when you realize just how much of food gets shipped in a day across the country.

 

[BATMAN]

I don't think when a country buys something they go to the wholesale market....

ironic...
NGO's in western world are working hard to solve india's food shortage and malnutrition problems but Afghanis are on shopping spree in indian food markets....

 

[wtf]

ironic...
NGO's in western world are working hard to solve india's food shortage and malnutrition problems but Afghanis are on shopping spree in indian food markets....

Actually India has not had food production problems in a long while. We have not had western intervention in the food sector for a long time either.

Malnutrition is common, there are also people who go without food in the midst of plenty but none of this is caused by actual lack of food production. India's problem is distribution and lack of purchasing power for many. The first part can be fixed through better transport facilities which will give more access and bring prices down. The second one is more complicated - Government can try to fix it by giving free food or subsidizing it, but every so often the system gets corrupt and they have to overhaul the whole thing.

This year has been a good year, so there is excess wheat (http://www.commodityonline.com/crop...urement-this-season-2009-04-24-17182-3-1.html) .If we don't use it all up, the prices will crash and the farmers will be worse off than if there had been a crop failure. Government could buy it out, but election time is not a good time to have another corruption scandal.

The way it is being done, Afghanistan gets cheap food and Indian farmers get higher income (they are poor too). I would say this is a good way of fixing poverty.

 

[Gabbar]

I think the food might be shipped through Iran. India has good relation ships with Iran and we will good use the highway that we build for Afganishtan.

 

[wtf]

I think the food might be shipped through Iran. India has good relation ships with Iran and we will good use the highway that we build for Afganishtan.

Russia recently OK'ed non-war supply routes through Tajikistan, but I don't think we'll airlift all that food to Tajikistan.

I agreed with what you said, most likely it will be shipped to Iran and then taken on trucks to Afghanistan. Can't see any other way since Pakistan won't be a shipping agent for Indian food (not to mention the constant route disruptions) - a shame too, since there is good money and free publicity to be gained for Pakistan by transporting food.

 

[Gabbar]

Russia recently OK'ed non-war supply routes through Tajikistan, but I don't think we'll airlift all that food to Tajikistan.

I agreed with what you said, most likely it will be shipped to Iran and then taken on trucks to Afghanistan. Can't see any other way since Pakistan won't be a shipping agent for Indian food (not to mention the constant route disruptions) - a shame too, since there is good money and free publicity to be gained for Pakistan by transporting food.

It doesn't really matter, even if GOP decided to let India use its land, trucks stil have to go through Khyber pass area and talibans will burn and loot those trucks anyway.

 

[yh1]

India To Ship Wheat To Afghanistan As Aid: Sources
Saturday, 25 April 2009

India, facing surplus stocks of grains, will soon send 250,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as aid, official sources said, raising hopes the ban on exports of the staple will be lifted after elections.

India is expected to produce 77.78 million tonnes of wheat in 2009, almost as much as last year's record, creating a shortage of storage space as exports have been banned for two years.

Analysts say the new government, which would be elected after the month-long elections are completed in May, is likely to allow exports.

Wheat would be sent to Afghanistan via Iran as Pakistan did not allow transit across its territory, which is a shorter route, senior government officials involved in the decision told Reuters on Friday.

One of India's state-run trading firms will supply the grain to Afghanistan through Chabahar, termed as the closest access point of Iran to the Indian ocean, one official told Reuters.

"An Afghan delegation is in India and currently visiting many wholesale wheat markets of Punjab," another official, who did not wish to be identified, said.

The northern state of Punjab is one of the leading wheat producers in the country.

He said the delegation has met senior officials of some trading firms.

Does India have surplus of food?

China produces twice (500m tones) as much as India (200m tones) of food grains, and yet we are importers. How can Indian government feed the hungry Indians?

 

[paritosh]

Does India have surplus of food?

China produces twice (500m tones) as much as India (200m tones) of food grains, and yet we are importers. How can Indian government feed the hungry Indians?

that is an impossible figure to attain...post links...
india's wheat production for 2008 was around 80 million tonnes....

 

[wtf]

that is an impossible figure to attain...post links...
india's wheat production for 2008 was around 80 million tonnes....

I think he was quoting total food grain production.If that's the case and China is producing so much, China must be using up the rest for either biofuels, cattlefeed or for production of secondary goods for exports.In turn it must be importing meat or something.

And to the original question of how we can feed everyone, we call it the "green revolution". We aimed to stop imports by 1960's and after that govt. has kept a tight grip on food sector.
http://www.unescap.org/rural/doc/GreenFood/NIB-Sept2000_3.PDF

 

[yh1]

that is an impossible figure to attain...post links...
india's wheat production for 2008 was around 80 million tonnes....

Wheat is part of total grain yield. The total production of India is 210m tones in 2008. Google it!

Btw, India has three times more cultivable land than China. Incredible!