India’s agricultural exports reach an all-time high
According to the Department of Commerce (DoC) data, India’s total agricultural exports during 2022-23 stand at $53.1 billion. This has surpassed last year’s record level of $50.2 billion.
- Marine products, rice and sugar are the major drivers of recent growth in India’s agricultural exports.
- However, India’s imports are also set to reach an all-time high of $35.69 billion during 2022-23.
The main factors driving the agriculture business are –
- Domestic production: Low production leads to high imports.
- Domestic Policy: Price support, liberalization of exports/imports etc.
- Global factors: Fluctuations in global food prices, demand for agricultural products, etc.
Initiatives taken to promote agricultural exports –
- To diversify the export basket and export destinations, the Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 (AEP) has been announced. The policy will also promote high value added agriculture exports.
- To achieve the objectives of AEP, the scheme ‘District as Export Hub’ has been launched. Under this scheme, products with export potential will be identified in more than 700 districts across the country.
- Initiatives of APEDA: It is implementing ‘Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Promotion Scheme’.
- It collaborates with Indian missions abroad and promotes Geographical Indication (GI) products.
- State specific action plans are being prepared in individual states. Along with this, state level monitoring committees, nodal agencies for agricultural exports and cluster level committees are being formed.
Source – The Hindu
