New Delhi, Jan 20: The target of $100 billion in agricultural exports by 2030 is achievable with clear and bolder steps, said experts. Closing the policy gaps and providing vital linkages for agricultural commodities can deliver better incomes to India's farmers.
The experts said these at a recent roundtable on Boosting India's Agri Exports by Transforming Infrastructure organised in Delhi by the newly launched Centre for Agri Infrastructure Research and Action (CAIRA), an initiative of The Infravision Foundation.
Several key public sector leaders addressed the roundtable, among them Subrata Gupta, Secretary of Food Processing; Santosh Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade; Siraj Chaudhry, Country Chairman, SATS India; Abhishek Dev, Chairman, APEDA; and Siraj Hussain, former Union Agriculture Secretary.
The speakers recommended that existing agri infrastructure needs improvement to enable large-scale adoption of resilient farming practices and align India's exports with changing requirements of the global market.
The transition from a producer-centric approach, focused on food security, to a customer-oriented policy focused on demand, is an imperative for agri exports.
This necessitates a stable and coherent policy environment and a unified vision that matches the targeted commodities and quantities of production for exports with the preferences and demands of receiving countries and markets, the experts said.
Agriculture contributes 18.2 per cent to India's GDP and provides livelihoods for over 42 per cent of the population, making it a cornerstone of the nation's economy.
Despite being the world's 8th largest exporter of agri commodities, the Indian farmer faces several challenges due to gaps and shortages in infrastructure and market access. While India is a market leader in certain categories of exports, its productivity is far lower than global standards.
The experts called on to create conducive ecosystems for agri and marine exports to flourish.
This requires a unified vision across ministries, a stable export policy environment, upgrading of cold chain, storage and logistics infrastructure, and a balance between cultivating large clusters of land.
The event also witnessed the presentation of CAIRA's first Background Paper, which highlighted the urgent need for infrastructure transformation to support global supply chains originating in India.
The paper provided actionable recommendations to modernise ports, enhance cold chain networks, and adopt cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and IoT to reduce post-harvest losses and improve supply chain transparency.
The roundtable participants emphasised the seminal role of the public sector but also cautioned against its overreach.
Public solutions for private challenges should use government intervention sparingly and precisely. Public attention should be directed towards the mindset changes required to transform agri exports; importantly, the embrace of policy clustering that fosters collaboration among various government and industry stakeholders.
CAIRA is an initiative of The Infravision Foundation (TIF) designed to transform India's agri-export landscape through research, policy advocacy and real-world solutions.
