Conference on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures
Towards Global Competitiveness in the Food Processing Sector
Monday, September 19, 2005, Taj Bengal, Kolkata

Conference report

This conference in Bengali was held at Kolkata on September 19, 2005. The introduction to the study was given by the Amir Ullah Khan, project head for this study funded by the British High Commission and Fellow at IDF who spoke on the need for capacity building, trade facilitation and the potential for agri exports. He emphasised the need for such conferences to be held in local languages to be able to reach out to large number of small and medium food processors in the export sector. Mr Ravi Poddar, Chairman CII Eastern region welcomed the participants and underlined the new focus that the Confederation of Indian Industry has placed on agri business. The chief guest at the conference was Mr S S Ahuja, Principal Secretary, Department of Food Processing, Industry and Horticulture, Government of West Bengal. He emphasised that quality is the need of the hour. He started with stating that SPS is indeed an opportunity for Indian farmers, who are already the largest producers of a number of food products. However being the largest is not enough, it is important to meet higher standards. In this regard he pointed to the initiative taken by the central government in moving towards an integrated food law. The Government of West Bengal is in agreement with this move and has already sent in its approval for integration and simplification.

The Government is working closely with industry associations and acknowledges the leadership played by research institutions like the India Development Foundation in raising awareness and in studying the impact of complying with higher standards. The scientific justification called for under the SPS agreement clearly is a positive sign and therefore ensures that the agreement is not used as a trade distortionary method and conforms to high standards of transparency. Therefore it is important for us to domestically apply high standards in our entire production cycle. The government of West Bengal has already started involving four universities in the state in enhancing exports. At the trade diplomacy level, India has been successful in countering unjustified standards. He gave the example of one export to Germany where the exporting firm has followed all rules but at the port was rejected - after examination it was found that the problem was at the farm level where the farmer was unaware of permissible residue levels.

The other example he gave was form Kenya where the country was able to raise its exports form US $23 million to US $140 million by training its farmers who now follow the new rules. Mr Ahuja congratulated the British High Commission in taking the entire process of trade facilitation forward and in supporting such an important study. He called for many more such workshops to reach all corners of the state and promised his commitment to this endeavour. He called for IDF, CII and the government to work together in spreading this awareness.

Mr Arun Grower of the Goodricke group drew the attention of the audience to the need for industry to come forward in implementing this long term vision of achieving higher standards. He stated that our industry is already competitive in a large number of crops but need to now gear up for higher standards. The need is to go towards a complete package of good practices, hygienic work conditions and healthy packing. He proposed a vote of thanks and thanked Mr S S Ahuja, IDF and the BHC.

The technical session started where the questionnaire based on the 'Testing the basic knowledge on SPS issues' was filled by all participants. The purpose was to assess existing awareness on SPS issue. After which was the main IDF presentation on SPS related issues by Prof. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay. He spoke to the audience in Bengali. His talk detailed the genesis of the SPS agreement and the advantage of high standards in food and agri products. Higher standards permit firms to charge higher margins and raise the quality level in any market. India needs to behave proactively in setting standards. If we don't do our own investigation and our preparation, we will be forced to follow rules and standards laid down by others. Presentation

 

After a short break, the third and final session started where the keynote speaker Mr. Ujjal Nag, Technologist at Exodus Aquatics who is framing procedures that would facilitate its farmers in producing good quality output. He pointed out that the Seafood Processing Industry in India is now facing a serious threat due to poor sanitary and hygienic practices and lack of proper infrastructure facilities. It is high time to improve the sanitary and hygienic practices; otherwise there will be a huge loss in the export market because the consumer sensitivity regarding healthy and safe food is improving day by day with the fast paced development of technology, medicine and communication. He spoke of the need to build awareness and to train farmers on SPS, quality parameters and quality measures. Such initiatives will not be possible without the efforts of organisations such as India Development Foundation. Presentation

Sridevi Tandley from IDF spoke about West Bengal's potential export commodity - Marine Products. A brief outline of the marine sector and its trade performance was given to the audience. The concern on SPS was discussed starting from the need to follow SPS measures and what would be their impact on trade. Presentation She then gave a brief explanation on using the CD which was then disseminated among the delegated along with the workbook on "Capacity Building for Policy Makers, Regulators, Inspecting Firms, Small Agricultural Exporters, and Importers in India to Face the SPS Measures". Then the same questionnaire based on 'Testing the knowledge on SPS issues' was filled in by all participants. The purpose now was to get to know how much knowledge has been gained by the audience at this conference on SPS measure.