New Delhi, June 17: India is under pressure from the US to relax its wheat import norms. The US, after lifting a ban on Indian mangoes, appears to be asking for a quid pro quo.
A statement from Washington says that the US cannot agree to import standards that are impossible to certify and are not in line with international norms. The controversy arose after India introduced strict import norms to remove weeds in the US wheat.
After failing to reach an agreement during a recent bilateral discussion on plant health, the US said its “wheat is among the best quality in the world and is safely shipped to over 110 nations, including every importer of significance, except India.
“This year, the US is again expected to be the world’s largest wheat exporter. By excluding the US from its market, India decreases competition, which significantly raises the cost of imported wheat and translates into higher flour prices for Indian consumers,” the statement added.
According to a weed risk analysis conducted by the agriculture ministry, wheat imported from the US has many weeds, including Bromus rigidus and Bromus scealinus, also known as foxtail wheat.
The weeds resemble wheat and are difficult to identify. Weed management involves high costs and the chemicals used to control them pollute the environment.
India had refused to import American wheat in 1996 and imported a million tonne of Australian wheat. It imported 5.5 million tonnes of wheat from Australia and some other countries in 2006. The US accepted that its wheat contains weeds, but said it was unable to clean up the crops to meet the strict Indian import standards.
India said the developed countries imported American wheat for milling. On the other hand, Indian farmers use it as grain, and therefore the threat from weeds was greater.
Many weeds that came with the PL-480 shipments in the mid-sixties have had a harmful effect on the environment. The weeds, already resistant to chemicals, have caused a significant decline in the crop yield. The agriculture ministry had earlier come under fire for relaxing the norms for Australian wheat, which contained a number of weeds.
