This article, I have to admit, caught my attention. I was perhaps blissfully unaware that our country had to IMPORT wheat! Perhaps, I had assumed that a large nation with a predominantly agricultural economy had no need to import food grains.
India started importing wheat 2 years back. This was due to the population increase and also the increased standard of living creating a need for more wheat based products. The import was done in order to safeguard cultivation of other food grains like lentils and oil seeds. India may import more wheat this year than last year. Almost 68% more wheat is to be imported. The reason for this is the dry weather. The details in the article is quite confusing. It talks about how the wheat harvest this season might be lower due to dry weather and that Indian government might import more to keep sufficient emergency reserves. The subsequent part mentions that since the global price has been sky rocketing, the government might buy from the farmers instead paying them a premium. This would help get the reserves filled but how would it suffice the current demand for wheat? The article lacks clarity on this fact.
To elevate the confusion, the following article "France gears up for longterm supplies of wheat to India" states the following points. It mentions that India imported wheat last year from France. France seems to be producing abundant wheat, enough for it to export to both Europe and outside of Europe and is set to become a long term exporter to India. However, this year India may not import any wheat at all due to a bumper crop.
The 2 articles seem to give contradictory facts. This makes the import or no import a confusion.
However, a small point I noticed is the mention of the fact that "lifestyle changes are increasing the need for wheat based products". It is quite true. The unfortunate part is that wheat crops need a lot of water. Ragi, is amongst the few food crops that is very convenient to grow. It's health benefits are also an additional plus point. Surprisingly, very few people know of this food grain! It is time to introduce and educate people of this wonderful food grain.
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India has been importing wheat regularly... off n on. But for a few years of wonderful success of green revolution, India has always been an importer.
One small nugget of interesting information - parthenium came as a bye-product of wheat imports. It came when India got its wheat from the US in the 50's or 60's!
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