World's second smallest cattle breed -- Kasaragod Dwarf -- gets attention.

Kasaragod Dwarf breed of Kerala. 

Ever heard of a cattle breed called Kasaragod Dwarf? No. Well, I am not surprised. I too hadn't heard of it till my colleague Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) in Hyderabad brought it to my notice. He talked about how an Andhra Pradesh farmer was rearing this endangered breed, which is among the smallest cattle breeds in the world.

Some more research and I found out the Kasaragod Dwarf breed is a little taller than the world's smallest breed -- Vechur, also native to Kerala. With an average height of 90 cms, it can survive on kitchen waste and jungle feeds. Requiring about 2 kg of feed per day it's milk yield on an average hovers around 1 litre. The milk is nutritious, rich in alpha-2 casein proteins which means it is particularly useful for diabetic and hypertension patients.

Kasaragod Dwarf has still not been included in the list of India's 37 native cattle breeds that have been documented by the National Bureau for Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) Karnal, in Haryana.

A report published in Times of India (July 4, 2012) Kasaragod Dwarf cattle may get native animal status (Link: http://bit.ly/1iheJ5l) says: "The species has not entered the endangered list in a strict sense as the non-descript category of dwarf cattle found in the district are generally included under this category. As per latest cattle census, there are 36,717 non-descript category of cattle in Kasaragod. But, tracing a pure Kasargod breed will be difficult because of the extensive cross-breeding, says professor Sosamma. There are 34 recognised native varieties of cattle in India and Vechur cow is the only one included in the native list from Kerala." 

A positive development is that Bela Cattle Farm in Badiadukka panchayat in Kerala is now being developed as a research centre under the Central Veterinary University to study, research and popularise this rare breed.

Further reading: Acclaimed abroad, despised at home
http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2010/09/holy-cows-acclaimed-abroad-despised-at.html

WTO is trying to strike at developing country food security. Accepting Peace Clause will kill domestic agriculture

If India has to save its agriculture; if India has to protect the livelihood security its 600 million farmers, it cannot allow to trade hunger at the altar of international trade and development. The Peace Clause being offered to India (for a period of 4-years) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is simply a temporary reprieve. It only defers for 4-years the dangerous fallout from an unjust and inequitable trade agreement. 

India cannot behave like a pigeon which is known to close its eyes when it sees a cat thinking that the danger will go away. India too cannot close its eyes to a lurking danger ahead. Peace Clause will only postpone the harm by another 4-years. The cat is not going to go away. 

In this video blog of mine, I have explained in detail what the food security issue would mean for India. I have also explained the double standards of the rich industrialised countries, which do not consider their own agricultural subsidies as trade distorting, but spare no chance at pointing fingers at the developing countries. Let us not be cowed down by the threat they try to convey. If the WTO has to be buried, let us not be afraid. It has already lapsed into irrelevance, and by accepting the Peace Clause India will only be trying to infuse some oxygen into an otherwise dying animal. 

Further reading: http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2013/10/peace-clause-in-wto-negotiations-will.html

US emerging as the world's largest cancer economy.

Is the US emerging as the world's largest cancer economy? Well, when I say a cancer economy what I mean is an economy sustained to a larger extent by the growing incidence of the killer disease. The more is the incidence of cancer, the more is the medical costs involved, and that adds on to the country's GDP. It's obviously a drain on the society but at the same time for the medical industry it provides an immense business opportunity. And some would say a profiteering medical industry will provide for more jobs !

In 2008, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) estimated the total annual cost that cancer was causing to the economy at $ 201.5 billion, which included $ 77.4 billion of health expenditures and $ 124 billion as the indirect mortality costs. After all, in a country where more than half a million people are expected to die of cancer this year, and that works out to 1,600 every day, nearly 75 per cent of the health care costs revolve around the cancer epidemic.

This startling analysis is presented in a blog Inspired Bites written by Robyn O' Brian (Link: http://blogs.prevention.com/inspired-bites/2013/11/18/how-the-cost-of-cancer-is-eating-our-economy/) that I came across yesterday. Quoting a report of the President's Cancer Panel she writes: " (The Panel) is urging all of us to do our part to reduce the burden of this disease.  Most notably, they encourage all Americans to reduce their exposures to contaminants like pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals now so pervasive in our food.  Why? Because 41 per cent of us are expected to get cancer in our lifetimes, 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women. It did not used to be this way.  And can we really eat to beat this disease as the President’s Cancer Panel suggests? It’s tough to do with a food supply so dependent on synthetic chemicals.  In the last fifteen years, new ingredients, synthetically engineered in laboratories to withstand increasing doses of toxic weedkillers, have quietly been inserted into our food.  And while correlation is not causation, the soaring use of these chemicals corresponds so directly with the soaring rates of certain cancers that at the very least, it merits an investigation."

Although, as she says, while correlation is not causation, there is a definitely a growth pattern that is clearly visible. Food contamination is certainly linked to the growing incidence of cancer. And if the Panel itself is suggesting to people to be watchful of pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals in food, the indications are loud and clear. I would have however expected more serious efforts visible in America to curb the use of chemicals, including pesticides and insecticides, based on the recommendations of this report. The failure to take the report seriously is not only disappointing but if I may be allowed to say so it is reflective of a criminal neglect. 

Especially at a time when US President Barack Obama has been trying to push for medicare, I thought the best way to prevent the disease from taking such a massive human toll in future would have been to go in for safe food. When Michelle Obama launch organic gardening in the White House complex, she obviously conveyed a powerful statement, but her husband failed to get the message right. As Charles Benbrook has conclusively shown that between 1996 and 2011, an era when GM crops proliferated in the US, the application of pesticides has risen by 404 million pounds. This data alone should have forced the US Department of Agriculture to come down heavily on the industrial farming systems. 

While the USDA continues to push for more of the same, the US President has been trying his best to push the harmful technologies to the developing world. His global food security initiative promotes the faulty and harmful technological approach as the mankind's saviour. This is where the US President fails, and fails miserably. In his desperation to find ways and means (even if these are harmful in the long run) to jack up the economy, he is trying to create conditions for the US health care industry to profit. He is aggressively using the g-20 to push his flawed economic approach. And that makes me wonder when will the world get a political leader who looks beyond the financial capital; who goes all out to build on the human capital.  

Till then, I can only pray for the well-being of Americans. If 1 in 2 men, and 1 in 3 women is expected to live with cancer in the years to come, God save America. But please don't pass on this deadly killer to the developing world. We already have enough problems at hand. 

It's high time the world shifts to A2 milk

If only these children were to be given A2 milk to drink 

Sale of healthy A2 milk in Britain and Ireland has reached £ 1 million in just one year after its launch. A2 milk is now available in 1000 stores across UK and Ireland, including big retailers like Tesco, Morrison and Co-op. In Australia and New Zealand, A2 milk is now the fastest growing with a share of 8 per cent of the milk market, the sales increasing by 57 per cent in a year.

 

This is not a promotion for yet another brand of milk. A2 is actually a beta-casein protein in the milk – A2 allele gene – that makes milk healthy and nutritious. What makes it more significant and relevant for us is that all domestic cow and buffalo breeds – often labeled as desi – contain A2 allele gene. In other words, 100 per cent of milk of desi cattle breeds contains the A2 allele making it richer in nutrients and much healthier than the milk of exotic cattle breeds.

 

If you are not drinking A2 milk, the chances are that in the long term you are likely to suffer from allergies, diabetes, obesity and cardio-vascular diseases. While the exotic cattle breeds may be producing higher milk but because of the concentration of A1 allele gene in their bodies, the milk they produce is much inferior in quality. As per a report in The Telegraph, London, the commonly consumed milk contains A1 allele leading to allergies, causing bloating, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and constipation.

 

Accordingly, a study published last month in the scientific journal Infant has linked A1 milk with increased risk of type 1 diabetes in some infants, adverse immune responses, digestive disorders and respiratory dysfunction. It is primarily for the health advantages that A2 milk offers that singer Dannii Minogue, who was faced with digestive disorders, has now become a brand ambassador for the A2 milk.  

 

In Australia and New Zealand, the sale of A2 milk has zipped beyond expectations, raising the share market for Freedom Foods, one of the best performing dairy companies. Pepsi Foods too has been on the forefront, and now plans to take A2 milk to the European market outside Britain. Meanwhile, China too has emerged as a strong market for A2 milk after the scandal surrounding the sale of spurious baby milk powder some years back. It is expected, China’s intake of A2 milk in the rapidly growing infant food market will double by 2020.

 

Meanwhile, studies by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal, have established the superiority of A2 milk in Indian breeds. In a detailed study scanning 22 desi breeds recently, it found A2 allele to be 100 per cent available in the five high-yielding milk breeds – Red Sindhi, Gir, Rathi, Shahiwal and Tharparkar. In the remaining breeds, the availability of A2 allele gene was 94 per cent. Comparatively, in the exotic breeds Jersey and Holstein Friesian, the availability of A2 allele gene was only 60 per cent. 

 

Although a lot of excitement was expressed some months back, when Pakistan gifted a high-yielding Nili-Ravibuffalo to the visiting deputy chief minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, it is high time Punjab takes a lead in promoting and making available A2 milk. With an average consumption of about 944 grams per day, Punjab does top the chart as far as milk intake in concerned. But it is the quality of the milk that should now be the hallmark of every dairy development expansion plan.

 

The economic cost of promoting desi breeds, even if the Indian domestic breeds are relatively low producing compared to some of the exotic breeds, is relatively much higher given the health advantages, especially in a population where diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, allergies, digestive disorders are on an upswing. Since A2 milk builds up immunity, it certainly offers a big advantage over the commonly sold milk. Punjabis would be willing to pay a premium if the Milkfed begins to sell A2 milk in pouches. At the same time, promotion for A2 milk will help farmers shift to traditional breeds which very well integrate with natural farming systems. Promotion of A2 milk will also make hundreds of gaushalas spread across the State turn economically viable. #

Spare a thought for a million cashew workers. They live in penury, work in appalling conditions, while the supermarkets rake in millions.

No, they are not in a metal pelting unit. Believe me, these women are processing cashews -- Guardian photo

Diwali -- the festival of lights has just passed by. I am sure hundreds of thousands of people must have distributed or received cashew nuts (and other dry fruits) as part of the gift exchange culture that prevails and predominates the festivities. More so, at a time when adulteration is becoming rampant in the production of sweets, the focus has not shifted to dry fruits. There is nothing wrong in this. My preference too is for dry fruits.

I am sure business worth several millions of rupees, just from the sale of cashews, must have transacted during this Diwali season. But how many of us even know the plight of roughly 10 lakh (1 million) cashew workers and another 200,000 cashew growers in the country? Roughly 60% of the global cashew processing takes place in India, and that according to what I have learnt is value addition. Every time I am listening to speakers at a seminar/conference I hear the world value addition. Unless Indians try to add value to the raw material they produce, the economics will not change for the better, we are repeatedly told. Isn't cashew processing also a part of the value addition chain that is tossed on to us every now and then?

The Guardian report Cashew nut workers suffer 'appalling' conditions as global slump dents profits (Nov 2, 2013. Link here: http://bit.ly/1e2cJLp) came as a shocker. I had thought that since India imports bulk of the cashews for processing (about 60% of the global output) it must be a good business for the people engaged in processing. But the report tells me, how wrong I was. Of course, I had known about the plight of people who suffered from the indiscriminate sprays of the deadly Endosulfan chemicals. My colleagues at the voluntary organisation Thanal had been on the forefront along with the villagers of Kasaragod that spearheaded the movement against Endosulfan. But somehow had remained oblivious to the crisis the cashew workers were faced with year after year, some for over 30 years now.

I must admit I have been to Kollam (in Kerala) a number of times to visit Mata Amrita but never used the opportunity to visit cashew growers and workers nearby. The next time I am there, you will get a first hand field report.

Spare a thought at the plight of the cashew works, and of course the cashew growers. The Guardian picture above is more than a thousand words.

Food Inflation: Farmers' Market is the answer

A Farmers' Market in India. Most Farmers' Market are unhygienic, dusty and filthy.  

In the midst of the food inflation period, especially during the time onion prices had shot through the roof, I had been often asked as to what is the way vegetable prices can be maintained at a reasonable level all through the year. This question assumes importance in the light of the exploitation of farmers as well as the consumers at the hand of the middlemen.

When onion prices had touched Rs 70/kg in August, a study by NABARD had shown that while farmers were paid Rs 8/kg in the month of April-May, the traders had collected the onions and stored it at several paces, only to make a killing by creating an artificial scarcity. The consumers paid as high as Rs 70/kg for onions in August, and two months later in October the prices had crossed Rs 100/kg at several places. A newspaper report has computed that the wholesale and retail trade had profiteered by at least Rs 8,000-crore by keeping the prices high in the past 4 months.

Not only onions, prices of all vegetables had remained on an upswing. No vegetable, except for potatoes, were available for less than Rs 40/kg. Even in case of leafy vegetables, prices had jumped by close to 200 per cent. Interestingly, even in the organized retail chains – like Reliance Fresh, Easy Day, Metro, Big Bazaar – the prices had remained almost at the same level as the open market. These organized retail chains were supposed to remove the array of middlemen and thereby provide vegetables and fruits much cheaper to the consumers. 

Even at the time when open market price of onions was around Rs 100/kg in the open market, prices in the wholesale were around Rs 55/Kg, which means the retail traders had also been making a fast buck. While it is known that the unorganized retail chain too had exploited the situation to sell onions at Rs 100/kg, I don’t understand why didn’t the organized retail chains sell it at Rs 60/kg or so. If Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar and the likes had made available onions at Rs 60/kg we would have seen an uncontrollable rush before these shops. There would have been long queues of buyers. 

It is therefore very clear that organized retail is not the answer to food mismanagement. Neither the farmers nor the consumers stand to benefit. The only beneficiaries are the organized retail chains, which have replaced the arhtiyas and the hawkers. They certainly have made huge profits. This shows that the big fish is no different from the smaller fish. Nor do I see much hope in corporate giants like Mahindra & Mahindra who have announced with much fanfare a proposal to diversify from its manufacturing activities. The auto-to-airspace giant now proposes to become a middleman. It plans to kickoff with branded apples – sourced from Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh – and sell them at its proposed 15 outlets in Hyderabad for a premium of about 10 per cent or so.

This may be suitable for the upwardly mobile section of the population who do not want to buy from the traditional vegetable markets.  But for the aam aadmi there seems to be no respite from the rising vegetable prices.

Expecting the agri-business industry to provide good quality fruits and vegetables at affordable prices will remain a fake dream. Nowhere in the world has the agri-business industry succeeded in doing so. But there is a new renaissance in food delivery, quality of produce and economics that is I find is slowly but steadily taking roots.  From Australia to United States, from Japan to Argentina, the local food systems are changing. Enhancing the livelihoods of local producers, and meeting the consumers’ aspiration, food markets are now becoming popular.

Even in America, where Wal-Mart dominates the retail market, the growth in farmers’ markets has been phenomenal. From just 370 farmers’ markets that existed in 1970, there were more than 7,000 in 2010. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2007, more than 136,000 farmers were selling food directly to consumers. In Australia, farmer markets too have grown rapidly. From none in 1999, there are 150 farmers markets in Australia today. The Australian Farmers’ Markets Association claims that as per a survey the Farmers Markets in the province of Victoria alone have registered sales of over $ 2 million every week.

Farmers Markets provides farmers and consumers a suitable environment to interact, and that enables farmers to meet the specific needs of the consumers. It enables greater consumption of fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables, and in the bargain reduces the carbon footprint. Since consumers are now becoming increasingly aware of the damage chemical pesticides and fertilizers do to health and immunity systems, the demand for organic food is growing by approximately 20 per cent every year. Moreover, since farmers come and sell directly to consumers on a regular basis, farmer’ markets eliminate middlemen thereby providing stable prices.

The concept is certainly not new. It was launched in Punjab as Apni Mandi a few decades back, but has never received the impetus and investments required. In Andhra Pradesh the farmers’ markets are called Ryatu Bazaars, again suffering from lack of support. In metros like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata the weekly bazaars that have been operating for years now stem from the same idea. But because these weekly bazaars have not been provided any permanent space, with adequate infrastructure and sanitation, they have failed to emerge as an alternate marketing hub. These bazaars are being held in open spaces wherever available. These spaces are unhygienic, dusty and filthy.

Over the years, I find that less number of farmers and more commission agents are now operating in these markets. This is contrary to the underlying objective of farmers’ markets. Some mechanism therefore has to be evolved that makes farmers’ markets only accessible for genuine farmers. To begin with, farmers could be encouraged to form cooperatives for marketing purposes. Each cooperative could then participate in farmers markets. This would leave farmers to undertake other farming operations.

In UK the community food sector has grown to 150 million pound sterlings in just a five-year period between 2007and 2012. The potential in India therefore is enormous. All it needs is a shift in thinking, and proper policy support. It will be the beginning of a new food culture in India, supporting farmers, consumers and reducing much of the environmental damage as well as health costs. #

Further reading: An edited version appeared in Deccan Herald: Open Farmers Markets, Oct 30, 2013. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/366044/open-farmers039-markets.html

What a stupid idea, Sir ji. Dehydrated onions is not what Indians need.

Chopping onions, and dehydrating them is not the answer to the price spiral India witnessed recently

Not only far-fetched, it's a stupid idea. I am referring to Ashok Gulati (who happens to be the chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) article: Onions at Rs 20/Kg? Not so far-fetched (Times of India, Oct 27, 2013,http:// bit.ly/HmuTtG ). The article begins by saying: "If I say that I am ready to supply onions, in an improvised form, at Rs 20 Kg home delivered, and round the year, people may think I have gone crazy or I am dipping into the general exchequer to pull off a massive subsidy scheme for onions. Wrong. I will make a cool profit of 15-20 per cent in this deal, do a great service to consumers and farmers of this country, and perhaps also help our policy makers under tremendous pressure following public outrage sparked by the rising onion prices."  

I know there would many takers among policy makers for this idiotic idea. Anything that is linked to industry, and in this case it is agribusiness industry, is something that the policy makers keenly fall for. I will therefore not be surprised if Ashok Gulati's stupid idea finds favour. Moreover, it does just the opposite of what he is trying to tell us in the beginning. At the end of the article he is seeking appropriate public policy to incentivize the setting up of such plants to create a win win situation. Incentivize means providing land and subsidy support.

Onion prices were at Rs 15/Kg before the recent spike. We all know it wasn't because of any shortfall in production, but because of manipulation and hoarding. After all, this year the production was higher than the total consumption by approximately 27 lakh tonnes. And as Business Standard (Hindi) has estimated, the traders have profiteered by at least Rs 8,000-crore in the past four months. So the challenge is to discipline the trade. 

There is nothing wrong in Jain Irrigation dehydrating onions and exporting it to Japan. That may be what the Japanese prefer, and so Jain Irrigation is meeting their requirement. But the food habits of Indian's is quite different from that of the Japanese. Indians love fresh onions, which as we all know are cooked into various dishes and are also consumed fresh. Moreover, if Jain Irrigation is purchasing 1.5 lakh tonnes of onions, and after dehydrating, exporting it to Japan, I wonder what stops them to supply in the domestic market? If Jain Irrigation can set up a dehydrating plant for export purposes, why cant it do the same for the domestic market? 

But if you have followed the reports/analysis of the Commission for Costs and Prices (CACP) what is very clear is that it has always lobbied for subsidy support for the industry (calling it incentives) while decrying subsidies being given to farmers. I am not in any way surprised at this suggestion. 

Some years back, when Pepsi Foods made a backdoor entry into India, it had come up with the proposal to import tomato varieties suitable for processing. The policy makers were swayed by this idea, technology introduction sells very well in this country. Eventually, Pepsi Foods relied on a tomato variety developed by Indo-American Hybrids, a Bangalore-based firm. No one ever questioned Pepsi as to what happened with their promise of importing improved tomato varieties. Nevertheless, just like the idiotic suggestion of Ashok Gulati, even at that time the company had maintained that by setting up a processing plant to make tomato puree, Pepsi will help provide tomato to the Indian consumers at a cheaper price. 

Well, tomato puree has been in Indian market for quite sometime now. But has it in any way reduced the demand for fresh tomatoes? The answer is: No. So will dehydrated onions, that Ashok Gulati is advocating primarily to seek State subsidies for the industry, reduce the demand for fresh onions? Well, you know the answer. 

Onions can be made available cheaper throughout the year provided the government chops the onion cartels.

By the way, what happened to the claims that organised retail can provide competition to the fruit and vegetable trade that exists in the country? Weren't Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Easy Day, Metro and the likes supposed to eliminate middlemen and thereby provide cheaper vegetables to the consumers? If these retail chains had marketed cheaper onions, I am sure we would have seen long queues before the stored. We didn't see any such rush outside these stores. I remember the CACP has been a strong votary of the organised retail, including FDI in retail. So why did it fail to deliver? Shouldn't CACP be questioning that now, and shouldn't CACP itself be questioned to know whose interests it is working for.

Moreover, how will the processing of onions that provides onions at Rs 20/Kg help the farmers? Who are you misleading, Mr Ashok Gulati?