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Notwithstanding the surge in agricultural exports, challenges posed by Covid-19, especially in the last one and half year (2020-21 and April-September 2021) is an indication that India’s ecosystem for entrepreneurs, businesses and farmers is robust and the future holds much promise provided we continue to give thrust on region specific product promotion through investment in infrastructure for strengthening the agricultural logistics value chain.
Despite challenges faced because of Covid-19 pandemic, which caused disruption of supply chains across the globe, India was one of the few countries which continued to export agricultural commodities especially cereals, livestock products, fruits and vegetables.
India’s exports of export of agriculture and allied products (including marine and plantation products) during 2020-21 rose sharply by more than 17 per cent to $41.25 billion, after stagnation in shipment for the previous three years ($38.43 billion in 2017-18, $38.74 billion in 2018-19 and $35.16 billion 2019-20). The increase in exports trend under the APEDA monitored products in 2020-21 was 24 per cent (US dollar) and 22 per cent (Rs) in 2020-21 compared with the previous fiscal.
Reliable supplier
In the first half of the current financial year, the overall export of APEDA basket products has witnessed 17.6 per cent growth in terms of US dollars over the same period a year ago. The overall export of APEDA-monitored products increased from $8,512 million in April-September 2020-21 to $10,007 million in April-September 2021-22. This rise in exports also implies that India has emerged a reliable supplier of various agricultural commodities globally.
The initiatives taken by us (APEDA) has helped the country achieve this milestone at a time when most of the business activities suffered a huge setback due to the restrictions imposed after the outbreak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products is because of APEDA’s various initiatives taken for the export promotion of agricultural and processed food products such as organizing B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product specific and general marketing campaigns by active involvement of Indian embassies.
Master plan
To further enhance India’s exports of agricultural commodities, several measures are being taken considering the overall vision of the GatiShakti – National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. Under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, all the sectors are being linked from roads to railways, from aviation to agriculture, various ministries and departments.
There are several areas where work has been initiated or being taken up to implement GatiShakti . Mapping of existing agri-infrastructure specifically focussed on domestic trade as well as exports prospects would help in identifying areas where infrastructure needed to be revamped. Mapping would help in identifying bottlenecks in India's agricultural exports value chain.
The work on augmentation of the existing infrastructure or logistical value chain in India’s agricultural exports value chain is being taken up. APEDA is aiming at adding new destinations and products for exports promotion keeping in mind the one district one product or clusters-based approaches. Scope of eastern and north-eastern states in boosting India’s agricultural and processed food products is immense and there has been considerable efforts by APEDA to boost infrastructure like cold chains, pack houses, and assistance to farmers for quality productions in the last couple of years. Identifying unique products from the regions and investing in developing infrastructure for setting up cold chains, packhouses, custom clearance facilities and farmers’ training on quality crop production could boost India’s agri-exports further.
Key focus
Creation of new infrastructure like setting up Centre for Perishable Cargo, Integrated Pack houses, Laboratories which are accredited to National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), cold storage units, warehouses, integrated container terminals in all the agricultural exports clusters is being taken up with close inter-ministerial collaborations. The setting up of multimodal logistics hubs and multimodal transport hubs should be key focus of work for coming years.
APEDA has been giving thrust on registration and promotion of more Geographical Indication (GI) tagged products, which would help expand diversification of products basket for the exports. Strengthening the existing backward linkages with the farmers through inter-ministerial collaborations for production of quality produce which are compatible with global norms are some of the initiatives APEDA has initiated in recent years.
Another area of work being taken up under the GatiShakti initiatives is to expand the existing networks of Kisan rail and linking them with key producing regions can give a boost to exports as well as the domestic market. The consultations between various ministries, state governments as well as local bodies, agencies and mandis boards for expansion in circuits for Kisan Rail services for movement of vegetables, fruits and other perishable are being identified. Till July, 2021 1040 Kisan Rail services have been operated over 72 routes across the country so far.
Meanwhile, APEDA has announced operational guidelines for the financial assistance scheme for export promotion 2021-22 to 2025-26. The scheme aims to facilitate the export of agri-products by providing assistance to exporters in three broad areas - development of export infrastructure, bringing quality in production and market development.
The two mega initiatives National Monetisation Pipeline which seeks to augment infrastructure through private investment and GatiShakti initiatives are expected to boost India’s agricultural and processed food products exports and sustain it in the years to come.
(The author is Chairman, APEDA. Views expressed are personal)
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