India, with its  price and product competitiveness and production of agri products, is aiming to reach the fourth or fifth position in agri exports by 2030, said M Angamuthu, Chairman of APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority).

In his special address on “Agriculture exports – Striking a balance with domestic demand in meeting the $60 billion target” at the businessline Agri-Business and Commodities Summit in New Delhi on Friday, Angamuthu said: “We have not only price competitiveness, we have production and the product competitiveness also.” The range and the number of products India has cannot be compared with other countries.

The agri export competitiveness index focuses on products range, cost-effective and price-competitive product matrix.

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He said, India which was at 12th position four years back in agri exports, has gone up to the eighth now. With inching towards seventh position now, he said, India hopes to reach fourth or fifth position by 2030.

The summit is powered by Bayer with NCDEX as exchange partner and Tata Chemicals, Rallis India Ltd, APEDA, Olam Agri, NSE and SSVM Insitutions and Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka as associate partners. State Bank of India is the banking partner of the event, Casagrand the Realty Partner and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University the knowledge partner.

Angamuthu said India’s agri exports touched $50 billion in 2021-22. The country, which used to export to around 100 countries a few years ago, is now exporting to almost 200 countries. In the agri export basket, India is the dominant player in rice with 40 per cent share in global trade.

On other commodities, especially animal products, India is touching almost 50 per cent share globally. The country has a 700-plus different product range. He said there is an increasing momentum where there is a deliberate focus on improving the product range for the past seven years.

FPOs are sourcing points

Highlighting the role of FPOs (farmer producer organisations) in the agri exports, he said nowadays they are acting as a sourcing point for exports. The most critical factor for export is FPOs. Apart from sourcing, they are acting as aggregators, he said.

GI product

Stating that there is a focus to promote GI products, he said, around 150 of them have been identified for this purpose. The country has sent around 100 GI products to different countries. “There was so much of reception where we have a good advantage for our our GI product,” he said.

The country has touched $1 billion in organic products export in the last one year. The country has an excellent potential in this sector, and it intends to promote natural products, vegan products, etc.

The Government’s schemes such as PLI and Gati Shakti Yojna are helping the export also, he said.

Referring to the cluster approach for horticulture product exports, he said this has helped the country to export around 15 per cent of its total grapes production. This approach is being tried for banana and mango exports also, he said.

Tech-driven approach

Highlighting the technology-driven approach of the Government for promoting agri exports, he said technologies such as blockchain, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence are being used in this regard. “There is a plethora of technology driven platform wherein we can promote our agri and food products,” he said.

Stressing the need to promote a start-up ecosystem to boost agri exports, he said over  500 startups are working on food products. Around 100-plus start-ups have been identified in millets alone.

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