by
Rebecca Sherratt, production editor, Milling and Grain
Forecast of yet another normal monsoon year is indeed good news and will help
Indian livestock sector in multiple ways”, says B Soundararajan, Chairman of
CLFMA of India, the association representing the animal protein industry in
India.
“The news itself boosts the confidence of the industry stakeholders. What we need to be watchful is the spatial and temporal spread of the monsoon across the country during the Kharif season. Indian agriculture still depends on monsoons as half of the cultivable area is fed by seasonal rains. With a 97 percent normal rainfall, we expect production and thereby availability of feed raw materials such as maize will improve which in turn will make them more affordable too,” he continues.
Agriculture is a key industry in India, providing almost 58 percent of the county’s total employment through farming industries and sectors, a drastic difference to the UK’s agriculture industry, which only provides 18 percent of our jobs in total.
“Livestock sector is the biggest consumer (nearly 70%) of feed grains such as maize, which are primarily Kharif crops. The animal protein sector certainly benefits from year-round availability of sufficient volumes of good quality feed grains. Hence, we need to ensure not only yield is improved but also storage and distribution of harvested crops” said Soundararajan.
Whilst normal monsoons keep the cost of food relatively stable in India, at times of droughts prices soar rapidly, making costs of living ominously high and causing difficulties for many people to afford to eat. If monsoons never reach India, food sometimes has to be imported, heightening the costs even further. Crop failures and deficient rainfall are a big reason behind mass farmer suicides in India, as farmers who do not turn a profit quickly fall into debt and find themselves unable to buy food or afford housing.
Despite this, monsoons in India are still a fairly reliable occurrence. The monsoon of South Asia is an annual occurrence that usually takes place throughout June – September, usually beginning by hitting Thiruvananthapuram on the West. This monsoon in particular usually has positive agricultural impacts on multiple locations, including Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It has been so crucial to India’s success that the monsoon has even been dubbed the ‘real finance minister of India.’
Read the full article in Milling and Grain magazine, HERE.
“The news itself boosts the confidence of the industry stakeholders. What we need to be watchful is the spatial and temporal spread of the monsoon across the country during the Kharif season. Indian agriculture still depends on monsoons as half of the cultivable area is fed by seasonal rains. With a 97 percent normal rainfall, we expect production and thereby availability of feed raw materials such as maize will improve which in turn will make them more affordable too,” he continues.
Agriculture is a key industry in India, providing almost 58 percent of the county’s total employment through farming industries and sectors, a drastic difference to the UK’s agriculture industry, which only provides 18 percent of our jobs in total.
“Livestock sector is the biggest consumer (nearly 70%) of feed grains such as maize, which are primarily Kharif crops. The animal protein sector certainly benefits from year-round availability of sufficient volumes of good quality feed grains. Hence, we need to ensure not only yield is improved but also storage and distribution of harvested crops” said Soundararajan.
Whilst normal monsoons keep the cost of food relatively stable in India, at times of droughts prices soar rapidly, making costs of living ominously high and causing difficulties for many people to afford to eat. If monsoons never reach India, food sometimes has to be imported, heightening the costs even further. Crop failures and deficient rainfall are a big reason behind mass farmer suicides in India, as farmers who do not turn a profit quickly fall into debt and find themselves unable to buy food or afford housing.
Despite this, monsoons in India are still a fairly reliable occurrence. The monsoon of South Asia is an annual occurrence that usually takes place throughout June – September, usually beginning by hitting Thiruvananthapuram on the West. This monsoon in particular usually has positive agricultural impacts on multiple locations, including Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It has been so crucial to India’s success that the monsoon has even been dubbed the ‘real finance minister of India.’
Read the full article in Milling and Grain magazine, HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com
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