Roping in Canada for food security
By A Didar Singh, mar 1, 2014 :
Indo-Canadian agriculture and food relationship has to move beyond a mere buyer-seller framework.
Playing a Major role
As such, despite being the world’s largest producer of pulses, India will in all likelihood continue to also be its largest importer. And it is here that Canada, which now accounts for 35 per cent of the world’s pulses trade, being the second largest producer, will continue to score especially given a zero tariff regime. By some accounts Canadian pulses are playing a major role in stabilising wholesale prices of lentils such as Masoor across India.
In the future greater potash supplies from Canada will also reach Indian shores via investments being made by companies like Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited which is looking to acquire a 40 per cent stake worth a billion US dollars (USD) in a joint venture with Western Potash Corp for a new mine in Saskatchewan. Other fertilisers too will be increasingly sourced from Canada in the years to come. IFFCO announced earlier this year that it is setting up a 1.27 million tonnes urea plant in Quebec’s Becancour Waterfront Industrial Park with a local partner and an investment of 1.2 billion USD. The plant which is expected to come online by 2017 will notably use shale gas as its feedstock.