Wrong Moves Could Lead to Market Discrepancies Why would the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Food want to hike import duties on pulses from a rate of zero to 7.5 percent when imported commodities are already expensive because of a weak rupee? The Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices had recommended a 10 percent import duty, and the Ministry of Food had asked for a 7.5 percent duty. Any hike conflicts with the Ministry of Finance notification issued on 26 March 2013 that allows for the duty-free import of pulses through 31 March 2014.The thought behind this action is that coupling the previously announced higher minimum support price (MSP) with a higher duty on the cheaper imported pulses will encourage farmers to grow more cr...
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Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.