Way to increase agricultural exports

Vijay Garg 

 

By speeding up the farm-to-table supply chain, promoting collaboration in the global and Indian food sector, and promoting on-farm food processing units, farmers will be able to ensure better profits and avoid post-harvest losses. can be avoided. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, playing a leadership role in this direction, is organizing 'Word Food India' from 19-22 September in New Delhi. Along with this, in the Union Budget of 2024-25A provision of Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been made for agricultural sector development. Through this funding, the focus will be on tackling climate problems and promoting productivity, exploration and processed food exports. This is necessary to increase the export of agricultural products which has declined by 8 percent. It declined from $53.52 billion in 2022-23 to $48.9 billion in 2023-24. Agricultural exports grew at an average pace of only 2 percent annually between 2014-23. It is notable that the five products are rice, wheat, meat The share of tea, spices, sugar and coffee is more than 50 percent in the total agricultural product exports. Sometimes exports have to be controlled to meet domestic demand and control inflation. Only a percentage of our agricultural exports are processed or value-added. There has been almost no change in this figure in the last decade. However, this is sufficient considering the more tech-based operational size and production capacity and meeting international standards in the global market. But 111 billion processed foods and drinks Looking at the success of companies like Nestle, an exporter of goods, it becomes clear what can be possible with the use of technology and research. Amul, a prominent Indian domestic processed agricultural products seller with a turnover of $9 billion, is far behind Nestle in terms of operational efficiency, production capacity and meeting international standards. Despite this, with proper support and attitude, she too can achieve similar success. Exports of processed agricultural products amount to approximately $1 trillion annually.In which Germany is at the top position with 63 billion dollars. After this is America with 58 billion dollars, Netherlands with 57 billion dollars, China with 53 billion dollars and France with 50 billion dollars. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are major exporters of processed agricultural products in Southeast Asia. However, India's value-added exports have increased by $6.5 billion in the last five years after the implementation of the Agri-Export Policy promoting export of value-added agricultural products and This total has reached 15 billion dollars. But despite this, there has been only a slight improvement in the global rank and we have been able to rise from 21st position to 17th position. This situation can definitely improve. The Economic Survey 2023-24 said India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. With a production of 300 million tonnes it is second only to China. But the processing level in India is very low. It is 4.5 percent for fruits, 2.7 percent for vegetables, 21 percent for milk.1 percent, 34.2 percent for meat and 15.4 percent for fish. In comparison, processing in China is 25-30 percent and in Western countries it is 60-80 percent. Due to this lack of processing capacity, a large part of the product in India goes waste. The level of post-harvest wastage in the country is estimated to be between 18 to 25 per cent across the supply chain, although in the case of fruits and vegetables it is around 45 per cent. NITI Aayog estimates post-harvest wastage to be around Rs 90,000 crore. is wasted.  To improve the situation, a need is felt to increase proper sorting and grading and processing on the farms themselves. By making changes in agricultural incentives, it is necessary to motivate the farmers to make efforts to stop wastage in and near the fields. In 2020, the central government announced an Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 trillion to provide medium to long-term debt financing to build cold chain chains and post-harvest management infrastructure on farms and crop collection centers., The new food processing policy recently announced by Tamil Nadu takes steps to prevent wastage and increase the value of agricultural produce. In this policy, efforts have been made to ensure financial assistance and access to central schemes for the promotion of agricultural producer organizations, FPO and food processing industry. But it is noteworthy that Punjab has not taken any steps in this direction till now, whereas neighboring state Haryana has made a committed agribusiness food processing policy. food processing A provision of Rs 10,900 crore has been made for the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Industry – PLISF between 2021-22 to 2026-27. Its objective is to attract globally competitive firms into the produce and agricultural export sector in India. The objective of this scheme is to improve processing capacity, strengthen Indian brands, increase presence in the world market, generate employment and increase the income of farmers. As of May 2024, 90 percent of PLSF funds were not utilized. The government has identified 158 SME beneficiaries.Only Rs 1,073 crore was given and thus even after half the time of the scheme had passed, only 10 per cent of the funds were utilised. Thus, very little use of money highlights the need for more focused policy intervention. The aim of the PLI scheme is to increase global competitiveness and exports. In view of this, SMEs should form joint ventures with globally established 'anchor' firms. In the last decade, India received Rs 500 billion of FDI after allowing 100 per cent FDI. ThisIn view of this, food processing should be considered as the 'Sunrise Industry' of India which is important from the point of view of effectively providing benefits to the farmers, adopting a multi-dimensional approach towards MSP and establishing value addition and coordination in the industry. For the development of agriculture, it is necessary to give strategic importance to food processing. As the world's most populous country, we are experiencing environmental pressure on Earth. Due to this, ecological issues like soil erosion, reduction in biodiversity and water crisis are coming to the fore., Preventing waste in broader food systems is critical to avoiding the harmful effects of climate change. This will help in improving the food supply from farms to the dinner table and reduce harmful emissions. This focused strategy can achieve our goals by attracting large global firms through the use of latest food processing technologies, adopting globally accepted quality standards and opening up access to international markets. 'Apple' targeted in electronic sector The approach is a model for success. The same model should therefore be implemented in various industries. The Ministry of Food Processing should develop a time-bound program to promote partnerships between agricultural producer organizations, FPOs and SMEs with leading global firms.