Class IX started day three with an early morning flight from
Mumbai to New Delhi that took half of the day.
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| Early morning at the Mumbai Airport |
When arriving in New Delhi our first
stop was at the American Embassy and had a meeting with representatives with
USDA. First up was Andrew Edlefsen with the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS).
The main goal of the FCS is to help American businesses expand into India.
India is the 9th largest trade partner with the United States and
import the most amount of goods from the US. The FCS’s primary focus is in seven
areas including energy (mostly renewable), infrastructure, education, tourism,
defense and aviation, healthcare and agribusiness.
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| Meeting at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi |
Our next speaker at the Foreign Ag Service was Mark Wallace
with USDA in the foreign ag service. He told us, “Everything you’ve heard about
India is true, but also not true.” For
example we learned that India is home to the three richest men in the world,
and yet 70% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. The Foreign Ag Service primary focus is
trade, with the three pillars being market access, market development, and
market intelligence. They work with locals to get an overview of agriculture in
different regions in India, through crop reporting and market activity. India
is the largest producer in the world of canola, peanuts (groundnuts), milk,
cashews, coconuts, and tea. And, the
second largest producer of sugar, rice, wheat, and cotton.
After leaving the Embassy we traveled to a grocery store. The
grocery store was very similar to grocery stores in the United States. There were
a variety of prepackaged foods, spices, bulk lentils and rice, along with a
small meat section. Many people in India are vegetarian.
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| Visiting a modern shopping mall in New Delhi |
Due to the Muslim and Hindu faiths, the meats commonly eaten
are lamb, goat, chicken, and fish. There
are a variety of chicken products including chicken lunch meat and sausage
substitutes. The grocery store also included a large section of fruits and
vegetables, with a larger variety of fresh foods than we see in the United
States. There were many fruits and vegetables that we could not identify. Some
of the fruit was imported U.S., for example we saw Washington Apples. We also
learned that many people don’t like to buy refrigerated meats, they prefer to
buy fresh. And, while this was a modern
grocery store, the majority of Indian consumers still purchase their items
primarily from street market type vendors.
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| Fresh produce is readily available, like these Washington Apples. |
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| Our tour guide Raj translated and explained many of the eating habits and grocery store details to us. In the foreground are bulk bins of dry lentils and various beans which are a staple of the diet. |
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| Rice of various varieties and other dry grains are available at the grocery store in these bulk bins. |
Today was interesting learning about international policy
and how 20% percent of the population purchases its food from a grocery store
verses a local or farmer direct market.
This blog post was written by Rebecca Christman and Lee
Sanderson.
Class IX started day three with an early morning flight from
Mumbai to New Delhi that took half of the day.
