Effective solutions. Vision 2030: Opportunity for India to feed the world

The agricultural sector is one of the largest sources of livelihood in India. It employs 152 million Indians as of 2021, with a 4.1 per cent year-on-year growth. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, agri-food exports from India increased 28 per cent in FY21 to around $30 billion, making up approximately 10 per cent of total exports.

The country ranks second globally in agricultural production, at $367 billion, yet India’s share in global agri-produce exports is negligible. As global value chain diversification becomes a priority for the world, India has an excellent opportunity to scale up agri exports and rapidly turn around the agri economy to help millions of farming-dependent families thrive and prosper.

Effective action at multiple levels, from farm inputs, quality assurance, traceability and certification, to building connections to global value chains (GVCs) will help India reach the $100 billion milestone in agri-food exports in the next few years.

Empowering the farmer to improve quality

Over 95 per cent of India’s farm produce is consumed domestically. Therefore, exports haven’t been an avenue explored by many farmers. Currently, only a few Indian farmers have the scale and financial capacity to fulfil export compliances and connect with the GVCs.

Quantity and quality of yield are still hampered by a lack of good farm inputs and equipment. Most farmers also struggle with access to cold chains and other logistical infrastructure and thus are not able to maintain export standards and compliance metrics.

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To solve the resource challenge, bringing farmers together and helping them partner with the right service provider is crucial. Today, FPOs and FPCs in India have made unprecedented progress in helping farmers scale up the production of food. It’s important for govt and non-govt agencies to empower the FPOs with the right agri-tech that expands their access to developed markets.

Training about export standards and compliance are already available online through nodal organisations such as APEDA. Pairing these with digital tools that check and measure quality, while also ensuring traceability and certification of the produce will go a long way in making our farm produce export-competent.

Branding produce from export clusters

The government of India has established export clusters for certain crops. For example, the Anantpur cluster in Andhra Pradesh for banana exports or the Nagpur cluster in Maharashtra for orange exports. The farmers from the clusters have benefitted from export-oriented policy support.

Yet, they lag behind due to a lack of organised marketing and branding support for their products, which would ease their entry into international retail chains. Products such as Zespri Kiwi, Washington Apples, and California Almonds have benefitted greatly from marketing and branding, helping the farmer-producers get fair compensation for their produce.

Promote niche Indian products

Traditional wisdom and nutritional value of niche Indian food products, such as Indian variants of millets, fruits, rice, and oilseeds make them excellent export choices. India’s GI-tagged Alphonso mango, Indian gooseberry, tribal millets, and other niche products are already reaching new markets through the Indian immigrant community.

Government support in promoting these products in international markets and platforms, conceptually similar to the International Yoga Day initiative, will go a long way in making niche Indian products stand out in international markets.

Apart from the niche products, organic, sustainably grown, and environmentally positive plant-based products also need to be highlighted, as international consumers are willing to pay a premium for these.

Connect to GVCs and importers from other markets

Possibly the most important gap that needs to be addressed immediately is the FPOs' connection with the global value chains and importers from other markets. The front-end support to put Indian produce on the map and assure assuring the importers from other markets about quality standards and predictable, timely supply is urgently required.

Government organisations such as APEDA have helped ease this journey to a large extent, but here, agri-tech platforms are also playing a constructive role in getting the FPOs and FPCs market-ready.

Traceability, transparency in pricing, quality compliance, packaging, branding, and marketing support provided by agri-tech platforms will boost India’s food exports to a new milestone soon.

In short, India definitely has the potential to feed the world and become one of the top food exporters by 2030. We should not let this opportunity go to waste by acting now and turning our vast potential into reality.

(The author is Business Head at Innoterra B2B Marketplace)

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