OP-ED
/ INDO-US WHEAT ROW
Weeding out wheat
Claiming highest quality standards in the world when it comes to its own
agricultural imports, the United States has no qualms in exporting
sub-standard wheat to India. US participation in India's wheat procurement
cannot be at the cost of India softening quarantine standards,
says
Devinder Sharma.
19 June 2007 -
It is a queer case of double standards. Claiming highest quality standards in
the world when it comes to its own agricultural imports, the United States has no qualms
in exporting sub-standard wheat to India. In fact, diplomatic pressure is being
built upon India to import weed-infested wheat.
Failing to reach an agreement after recent bilateral discussions on plant
health, a statement from the US Embassy in New Delhi said "
Substantial hurdles
still remain, as the US cannot agree to import standards that are impossible to
certify and are not in line with international norms." At the heart of the row
are the quarantine norms that do not allow wheat consignments with dangerous
weeds beyond the permissible limit.
The American wheat comes with 21 alien weeds which are not known to exist
in India. As per the weed risk analysis done by the Ministry of
Agriculture, all these weeds are of quarantine importance and carry high risk.
More worrying is the presence of two weeds Bromus rigidus and Bromus scealinus
- better known as foxtail wheat, which is similar in appearance to wheat and
therefore difficult to identify.
While the US accepts that its wheat contains 21 weeds, it has
expressed its helplessness in cleaning wheat shipments to bring it in tune with
the Indian threshold limits.
Wheat imports: Subverting procurement
Fungus threat to Indian wheat
Already, surreptitiously imported along with wheat, several weeds and pests have
turned into a national menace. India is spending crores of rupees every year in
fighting these alien invasive species.
Earlier too, India had in 1996 rejected wheat imports from America on reasons of
inferior quality, and had instead imported one million tonne from Australia. In
2006, when India imported 5.5 million tones of wheat from Australia and some
other countries, the US was unable to find a foothold into Indias burgeoning
wheat market. Aware that India is likely to turn into a major wheat importer in
the years to come, the US has stepped up diplomatic and political efforts to
exert pressure.
Not that the Australian wheat is much superior. In 2006, bending backwards to
allow the highly contaminated wheat shipments from Australia, Indian Food and
Agriculture ministry had turned a blind eye to the presence of 14 weeds, two
fungal diseases and one insect pest that the import consignments contained. Of
the 14 weeds, 11 species are not found in India.
Interestingly, while the US accepts that its wheat contains 21 weeds, it has
expressed its helplessness in cleaning wheat shipments to bring it in tune with
the Indian threshold limits. At the Portland port from where much of its wheat
is exported, the US grain merchants were unable to clean wheat of the menacing
weeds. The US is seeking import norms of 0.3 per cent weed infestation. At this
level, the total number of weed seeds per 200 kg of wheat comes to a massive
12,000. India, on the other hand, is insisting on not more than 100 weeds in
a consignment of 200 kg of wheat.
Although the US is publicly claiming that its "wheat is among the highest
quality in the world and is safely shipped to over 110 nations including every
importer of significance except India", the fact remains that much of the
American wheat imported by rich and developed countries like Japan is actually
for milling purposes. In India, wheat imports are used as grain by farmers and
therefore the worry that the weeds will take root.
Several of the minor weeds that came along with PL-480 wheat shipments into
India in past have turned into biological nuisances, often the weed becoming a
national menace. Lantana camera was among such weeds, which entered India three
decades ago. Today, it has spread wide and wild, and has withstood all control
measures. Being poisonous, not even the cattle feed on it. Phalaris minor too
came with the wheat consignments from the United States. This weed, already
resistant to chemicals in the US and Australia, has established itself as a
strong competitor of wheat in India. The weed has also become resistant to
chemicals in India and is responsible for reducing wheat yields by an estimated
25 per cent.
It is not the first time that the US is trying to export sub-standard
agricultural products. In September 2000, the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) sent a delegation to press for opening up the Indian market
for what would have turned into the first major import consignment of
genetically modified soybeans. If allowed, the soybean imports would have
brought along five exotic weeds and at least 11 viral diseases, of which two are
economically dangerous. The US did insist that the accompanying pests would not
pose any problem for Indian agriculture.
Earlier too, during 1998-99, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources
(NBPGR) had received 359 samples of transgenic soybean from the USA for
quarantine. Nearly 143 of these were rejected because of the presence of downy
mildew fungus (Peronospora manshurica), which is known to cause serious losses
and is not known to occur in India. Bulk imports, however, fail to eliminate the
threat of import of nematodes, viruses and several fungi.
For reasons unexplained, India appears more eager to allow sub-standard imports.
As noted earlier, in 2006, it relaxed most quality norms for
Australian wheat by asking the exporting country to provide a certificate saying
that the imports are "essentially free from weeds". At the time of tender, the
requirement was "free from weeds". Over-ruling all objections raised by the
plant quarantine directorate, the Food and Agriculture Ministry has relaxed the
provisions of Plant Quarantine Order 2003.
The US regulates weeds under the Plant Protection Act 2000. The PPA defines a
noxious weed as a weed that could bring harm to agriculture, the public health,
navigation, irrigation, natural resources, or the environment.
Under the PPA, noxious weeds are regulated similarly to plant pests. The PPA lists some
170 weeds that cannot be imported into the US.
Subverting wheat procurement
Fungus threat to Indian wheat
After the current din dies down, India might relax quality norms for American wheat.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has already been quoted as saying: "It is true
that talks have been held with the US government. We want that the US should
also participate in our wheat import process." What is however not being
perceived is that the US participation cannot be at the cost of softening the
quarantine standards. At a time when international quality parameters are being
tightened the world over to ensure that invasive alien species do not use the
vehicle of commodity trade to enter into a country, India should not relax the
quality norms thereby opening the floodgates to noxious weeds, deadly insect
pests and dreaded plant diseases.
What Sharad Pawar needs to understand is that wheat with foreign weeds would not
be accepted for import in the United States for the same reasons -- quality standards --
that we are being asked to do away with.
Devinder Sharma is a food and trade policy analyst. He also chairs the New Delhi-based Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security. Among his recent works include two books GATT to WTO: Seeds of Despair and In the Famine Trap.