India’s rising wheat exports: A glimpse at wheat trade and the history of wheat cultivation.

It has been quite a number of weeks in the year of 2022, that Russia and Ukraine are engaged in what looks like a very unpleasant conflict. While peace talks and negotiations are still underway, one cannot neglect the ever-widening hole in the global wheat export market.

Source: https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/golden-wheat-field-sunny-day_20979478.htm#query=wheat&position=12&from_view=search

According to several reports by The Times of India, The Economic Times and Reuters, India is devising and rolling out measures to eventually transition towards becoming a major exporter of high-quality wheat. For the unversed, India happens to be the world’s biggest wheat producer, second only to China.

The Modi administration has been actively engaged in deals to export wheat and take advantage of:

a.  1. The surplus stocks of the highly proteinaceous crop at home 

b.  2. The sharp rise in global prices.

If reports are to be believed, exports of the wheat crop picked pace last year to scale 6.12 million tonnes of wheat from 1.12 million tons, just a year earlier. According to government sources, the new measures that are being adopted could pave the way for the export of 10 million tonnes of wheat after the commencement of the new harvest season in this year’s March.

It should be mentioned in this context, that although India has a huge amount of surplus wheat stock, exporting wheat from home was always a tough nut to crack, primarily because of logistical bottlenecks and inadequate quality standards.

Source: https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/quality-assurance-clipboard-icon_17076785.htm#query=quality%20check&position=7&from_view=search

To eradicate these major loopholes in the export of the crop, the Modi government is extensively tying up with as many as 213 government approved laboratories to run a quality check on the wheat crop that is up for export and has also put forth a proposal to the Bureau of Indian Standards to monitor quality.

As far as the history of wheat cultivation in India goes, it should be borne in mind that India is a land of heavenly local cuisines which comprise majorly of rice and wheat. Each agricultural and harvesting season, India produces a few million tonnes of wheat – ready for consumption by the 138-crore populace of the country and a part of which is also exported for purposes of trade. However, more often than not we forget who is to get all the credit for the humongous amount of wheat that Indian farmers are able to harvest every year.

Dr. Norman Borlaug – who is often referred to as “God” by Indian kisaans is the one strong force whose extraordinary vision and zeal aided him to permanently reverse the bleak food scenario in India and Pakistan in the 1960s. Due to his efforts, India and Pakistan were blessed with high-yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties – a feat which also lead him to win the Nobel Peace prize.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiH11UcCqy8&t=47s

Right from the day Borlaug had stepped in into the wheat cultivation scenario of the country, India’s wheat production has undoubtedly scaled up.

Apart from helping India gain a strong foothold in wheat cultivation, the intelligent Dr, Borlaug had also prophesised a concept known as “wheat rust” or “stem rust” – which is nothing but a disease of the stems in the wheat crop, caused predominantly by a virulent strain. This prophecy came true in 2007-2008 when a virulent strain that originated in East Africa travelled at a very quick pace to infect crops in Asia. This strain was popularly labelled as Ug 99.

Thanks to the valiant efforts invested by Indian scientists, Indian agricultural firms and endeavours and Indian farmers, several genetically engineered wheat strains like the Super 152 and the Super 172 slowly but steadily gained popularity.

Thus, as India progresses from being a food deficient land to a food sufficient/surplus land, each and every Indian citizen should never forget Borlaug’s legacy in the agricultural scenario of the country. If at all India is able to export wheat to its neighbouring countries and is looking at closing a gaping hole in the wheat export market, it is solely due to the unanimous efforts invested by Indian farmers, scientists and most importantly, Dr. Norman Borlaug!