India's wheat exports

 India's food secretary Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey has stated that India is deeply conscious of its responsibilities towards vulnerable countries to provide humanitarian assistance through the supply of food consignments both during and after the pandemic. Last month, the government has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by a heat wave. Wheat exports were allowed to countries that had to meet their food security needs that have requested India and that have gotten the permission of the government. 

India has increased its market share in global wheat exports during 2021-22 with lower exports form Ukraine and a record domestic production during the year 2021. This has opened new markets for India in Egypt and Vietnam. India is the second largest producer of wheat globally after Russia. India has exported a total of 8.2 million tonnes till March 2022 and the government claims that India has the capacity to export up  to 10-15 million tonnes during the current fiscal year which ends March 2023. 

The UN is making continuous and prolonged efforts to increase global food security and has highlighted the need for resilient and uninterrupted food supply chains in a time where the world is experiencing disasters such as climate change induced calamities, pandemics and conflicts around the world. The most affected are the developing and the least developed countries as the world is hit by rising food, fertilizer and nutrition prices. 

Afghanistan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis at the moment. The country has no money to give out salaries or to buy food. The western aid has been suspended because of the Taliban government and its inclusion of designated terrorists. India has provided humanitarian assistance in the form of a 33,000 tonne wheat consignment to Afghanistan since the ban of wheat exports from India. The commitment was made to export 50,000 tonnes but only so much has been fulfilled. The ban was placed to ensure domestic availability and to ensure supply to vulnerable countries to whom supply cannot be guaranteed by market forces. India caters to the needs of neighboring countries through government-to-government mechanism.