US passes wheat weed buck to India
Surinder Sud / New Delhi July 19, 2007
The US today sought to lend a fresh twist to the controversy over the
permissible weed content in imported wheat by claiming that the
pervasive weed had not come to India through the US wheat imported in
the 1950s but was present in the country even earlier.

India had been justifying its stringent grain purity norms for wheat
imports on the plea that it cannot risk the induction of fresh weeds
into the country.

This has virtually barred the US from exporting wheat to India as its
grains are unable to meet Indian standards. The US has been disputing
these standards and pressing India to liberalise its norms to allow
wheat import from the US.

US embassy spokesperson Larry Schwartz today stated that documented
reports published in 1888 by Dr D Brandis of the Dehradun-based Forest
Research Institute and by other researchers in 1914 observed the
presence of these invasive weeds in India.

He, therefore, refuted Indian researchers claim that the US wheat
imported to India in the 1950s as part of the PL-480 Food for Peace
programme had brought invasive �Congress grass� (Parthenium
hysterophorus) weed to this country.

Schwartz said, �We call on Indian officials to disregard baseless
allegations for keeping American wheat out of this market.� He also
reiterated the US stand that Indian consumers would be paying 10 to 20
per cent less if American wheat was purchased by the Centre.

Last week, US Ambassador Mulford had urged the Indian government to
conduct independent tests of imported wheat arriving at Indian ports
to verify that its standards are being met.

A statement issued on July 10 by the US embassy in New Delhi had
sought to even question India�s import inspection process, besides the
phyto-sanitary requirements stipulated by it.

�India�s very low weed seed standard is nearly impossible for any
global exporter to meet, raising questions about the reliability of
India�s import inspection process. The US calls upon the government of
India to conduct independent tests on imported wheat arriving in
Indian ports to verify that these standards are truly being met,� the
statement had said.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has ruled out any relaxation in the
weed standards for wheat imports to avert introduction of any new weed
into the country. The US is keen to export wheat to India as the
government has already announced that it intended to import 5 million
tonnes of wheat this year.

Ironically, the STC has already accepted bids for import of 5.11 lakh
tonnes of wheat at prices ranging between $317 and $330 per tonne.

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