India’s Latest Farm Exports Data

What’s in today’s article?

• India’s Latest Farm Exports
• India’s Latest Farm Imports
• Government Initiatives to Promote Agricultural Exports

India’s Latest Farm Exports

• The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and five states — Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand — over the failure to elect a Deputy Speaker.

India’s Latest Farm Imports

• Similar to exports, the imports are also growing.
• The imports of agri produce stood at USD 27.8 bn in Apr-Dec 2022.
  • This is a growth of 15.4% over the USD 24.1 bn for Apr-Dec 2021.
• As a result, there has been a further shrinking of the surplus on the farm trade account.

Image Caption: India’s Agricultural Trade

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• The growth in imports has come mainly from three commodities –
  • The first is vegetable oils, whose imports shot up from USD 11.09 bn in 2020-21 to USD 18.99 bn in 2021-22.
  • The other three commodities are cotton, cashew and spices. 
• Key Factors behind the increase in Exports –
  • India’s cotton production has declined from 398 lakh bales in 2013-14 to a 12-year low of 307.05 lakh bales in 2021-22.
  • The effects of not allowing new genetic modification (GM) technologies after the first-generation Bt cotton are showing, and impacting exports as well.
• A proactive approach is required in edible oils as well, where planting of GM hybrid mustard has been permitted with great reluctance.

Government Initiatives to Promote Agricultural Exports

• Promotion of exports of agricultural products is a continuous process.
• To promote agricultural exports, the Government has taken several steps at State/District levels.
• Agriculture Export Policy 2018 –
  • In order to boost farm exports, the Government introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy in 2018, with the following objectives –
  • To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high-value and value-added agricultural exports including focus on perishables.
  • To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional agri products exports.
  • To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues.
  • To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at the earliest.
  • To enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.
• District as Export Hub Initiative –
  • Under the DEH initiative, products including agricultural products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country.
• Transport and Marketing Assistance for Specified Agriculture Products –
  • It is a Central Sector Scheme.
  • It aims at providing assistance for the international component of freight to mitigate the freight disadvantage for the export of agriculture products.
• Besides, Product specific Export Promotion Forums (EPF) for eight high potential agri products i.e., Grapes, Mango, Banana, Onion, Rice, Nutri-Cereals, Pomegranate, Floriculture & Plant material have been created.

Q1) What is APEDA Act?

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985. It is an Act to provide for the establishment of an Authority for the development and promotion of exports of certain agricultural and processed food products and for matters connected therewith.

Q2) What is the contribution of agriculture to GDP 2022?

The share of the sector in total GVA of the economy has a long-term trend of around 18 per cent. The share of the agriculture & allied sector in total GVA, however, improved to 20.2 per cent in the year 2020-21 and 18.8 per cent in 2021-22.

Source: What India’s latest farm exports data show | PIB