India can emerge global power in 3-4 farm commodities: Niti Aayog member

India can emerge a global power in a select three or four agricultural produce if the government pursues modernisation and encourages corporates to invest in agriculture, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand said on Saturday.

Taking part in a panel session on ‘Can India be the food bowl for the world while ensuring food security’ at the Food Conclave here, he said India could look at rice, sugar and milk as commodities to become a global leader.

“India’s agricultural production is only 6-7 per cent of the total global output. But our share in global exports is 2-2.5 per cent. The rule of thumb is if we are among the top five, we can be a world power,” he said. 

India enjoys a 50 per cent share in rice in some years, and is bigger than a global power. “We account for 24 per cent of the global milk production and 18 per cent of sugar output,” Chand said. 

Lower yield

India’s per hectare and per animal yield is lower, however. “We can increase production and export. Within the country itself, there is scope to increase production in the states,” the Niti Aayog member said. 

Milk production in Assam is 1.5 kg per animal, as against 11-12 kg in other states. “We need to identify such commodities to increase production,” he said. 

On the milk front, we need to become an efficient producer and not be scared of imports. “Anyone scared of imports can never improve. We need to tap the potential through nature and government policies. We can become a global power in 10-15 years,” Chand said.

India would have to look at precision and science-based farming, besides producing more on arable area, the Niti Aayog member said.

Also read: Telangana launches Agri Innovation Challenge 

Emulating UPI

S Sivakumar, ITC CEO, said India’s agristack programme has the potential to emulate the success of UPI and the ecosystem for it is getting formed. However, there are a few problems to be sorted out, especially identifying farm owners and farmers separately. 

“We can go in for climate arbitrage and market proximity to decide on the crops with competitive advantage, to make headway in the global market,” he said. 

The ITC CEO said there was enough headroom to increase productivity and farmers need to be involved in the process to raise the yield. 

Listen: All you need to know about the Telangana government’s ‘The Food Conclave’

Climate resilient

Sanjay Sacheti, Country Head and Executive Director, Olam Agro India, said India is a resilient country in agriculture production. “No one thought India can produce 130 million tonnes of rice. With technology, government support and its climate resilient feature, India can do well,” he said.

However, India will have to look at the quality of exports and not volume. “Look at Indian cotton. It is discounted to cotton from Africa even,” Sacheti said. 

Even in rice, India was focussing on volume and selling the cereal as fair average quality. On the other hand, Thailand and Vietnam were selling their produce at a premium, with its growers moving to other crops from rice. 

Also read: Food Conclave 2023 to focus on Green, White, Blue, Yellow and Pink Revolutions

M Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd, said India needs to sow seeds with high potential. Calling for new practices to increase production, he said market demand and stocks will have to be digitised. 

Rao said an eye has to be kept on pesticide residue, particularly in fresh fruits and vegetables, which are set to emerge as a trend soon.

COMMENT NOW