China may enhance rice import from India in coming years in the wake of rise in cost of farm production, an expert said today.
"China's total rice import was 2-3 million tonnes from Vietnam and India last year. I can't say how much rice has been imported from India but definitely some quantity has been imported for the first time after a gap of many years," US- based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Director General Shenggen Fan said at an event here.
India emerged as the world's largest rice exporter in 2012 beating its Asian counterpart Thailand with shipment of around 10 million tonnes.
"It is just a beginning and China's rice import from India could enhance in the coming years with cost of labour, water and land increasing. Also, it is cheaper to import foodgrains from India instead of providing subsidies to farmers," he said.
As far as wheat is concerned, the country is buying largely from the US, Canada and Australia and not from India. "However, there is scope for import as India has a massive stocks of rice and wheat," he said on the sidelines of a function here.
India has sufficient rice and wheat stocks due to bumper production. Last year, rice and wheat output was at record 104.32 million tonnes and 93.90 million tonnes, respectively.
On poverty level in Asian countries like India and China, Fan said, "The region as a whole is not on track in meeting the millennium development goal (MDG) of cutting the rate of undernourishment by half between 1990 and 2015."
Only in the southeastern Asia, the trend is on the MDG target, he said, adding that food and nutrition insecurity continues to be an important challenge in Asia.
"India accounts for some 217 million or a quarter of all undernourished people globally. As a result, India is likely to miss the MDG target," he said.
Innovations in agri-technologies, institutions and policy are to be improved to address the challenges of food and nutritional insecurity in Asia, he added.
Emphasizing that investment in agri-research have substantially reduced rural poverty by stimulating farm growth and reducing food prices, Fan said: "The research finding shows that for every rupee invested in agri-research in India, Rs 13.5 is returned.
"Therefore, Indian government should increase investment in agriculture, rural infrastructure and education as these have high payoffs in terms of raising smallholder farmers' productivity and incomes," he added.
Doubling investment in agriculture research and output maximizing scenario results in 261 million people moving out of poverty globally by 2025, IFPRI observed.
Source: Economic Times
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