DIVERSIFYTHE 222 FOODEXPORT BASKET

To join the major league in the global agri market, India must leverage the opportunities in animal husbandry, dairy, fisheries and horticulture

- Siraj Hussain

In 2023-24, India's agriculture exports amounted to $48.8 billion (Rs 4.1 lakh crore), 8 per cent lower than the previous year, one of the many reasons being restrictions on export of several agri commodities. India is a small player in the global agriculture produce trade now (less than 3 per cent share), but there is huge potential, provided it can produce reliable surpluses in agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy, fisheries and horticulture. Building modern infrastructure for the product categories in which we are globally competitive will be crucial in this. In the 10 years of the UPA government, agriculture exports rose from $8.7 billion (Rs. 72,867 crore) in 2004-05 to $43.3 billion (Rs 3.6 lakh crore) in 2013-14. Since then, growth has been muted, initially due to depressed global prices and, lately, due to adverse weather conditions, which persuaded the government to impose restrictions on export of wheat, rice, sugar and even onions.

Rice: Rice ($10.4 billion or Rs 87,110 crore) and marine products ($7.4 billion or Rs 61,986 crore) made up about 35 per cent of India's export earnings from agri products in 2023-24. Export of basmati rice was 5.2 million tonnes ($5.8 billion or Rs 48,580 crore). This was despite the imposition of a minimum export price. Most of this rice is sourced from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Even if the efforts at crop diversification succeed, rice production and export are unlikely to go down as it is remunerative for farmers and is in high demand in West Asia, the UK and the US.