GS Paper 3:
Topics Covered: Different crops and cropping patterns.
Context:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent western sanctions on Russia have affected wheat exports from the Black Sea region and impacted food security in several countries, especially in Africa and West Asia.
- The disruption to global wheat supplies in turn has thrown open opportunities that India’s grain exporters are eyeing, especially given the domestic surplus availability of the cereal.
India’s wheat production and consumption:
India expects to produce 112 million tonnes of wheat in the current season. The government requires 24-26 million tonnes a year for its food security programmes.
Status of India’s wheat exports:
- Wheat exports in the 2021-2022 financial year were estimated at 7.85 million tonnes, a quadrupling from 2.1 million tonnes in the previous year.
- Exports this fiscal are expected to be almost 10 million tonnes worth $3 billion.
Why India?
More countries are turning to India because of the competitive price, acceptable quality, availability of surplus wheat and geopolitical reasons.
Which new markets are expected to buy from India?
Egypt, Jordan and countries in East Africa are also likely to source the foodgrain from India.
What is being done to facilitate exports?
- The Commerce Ministry has put in place an internal mechanism to facilitate it and get the paperwork ready for the related sanitary and phytosanitary applications to help facilitate shipments.
- The railways are providing rakes on priority to move the wheat.
- The railways, ports, and testing laboratories are all geared up to meet the requirements.
Insta Curious:
Did you know that Russia is the market leader for wheat exports (almost 15% share)?
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Wheat- Production.
- Wheat imports and exports from India.
- APEDA.
Mains Link:
Discuss the need for and significance of wheat exports from India.
Sources: the Hindu.
