Agriculture Current Affair 27 July 2020

Piperine content: Indian pepper farmers seek clarity on Vietnam imports

The rise in Vietnam pepper imports has prompted the Indian farming community to reiterate its objection on the lower piperine content in the imported spice. It urged the Spices Board to find out whether the Vietnam pepper is meeting the 6 per cent piperine content restrictions imposed by the DGFT, as recommended by the Board.

The import of Vietnam pepper for extraction below 6 per cent oil/piperine content is not permitted by the Centre from 2018 to protect the interest of Indian farmers.

Karnataka cuts APMC market fee to 0.35 per cent

The Karnataka government has further reduced the market fee charged by APMCs to 0.35 per cent from one per cent, a move that’s expected to provide traders in the APMC market yards a level playing field with private markets and other entities. This is the second such revision in market fee this month.

Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) traders have been demanding removal of the 1.5 per cent market cess after the Centre introduced agri-marketing reforms through an ordinance recently, giving farmers a choice to sell their produce at the farm gate. As a result, Karnataka government reduced the market cess to 1 per cent in early July.

India’s first NABL-accredited honey testing lab inaugurated

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday inaugurated India’s first honey testing lab set up by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) at Anand.

The testing lab will unlock potential for apiarists to not just get domestic business but also take advantage of exports to the US and Europe. Till recently, the exporters were required to ship their samples to Germany for testing.