$100 billion agri export target by 2030 achievable but needs clear and bold policies, say experts
CAIRA's inaugural roundtable convened leading experts to strategize on achieving the ambitious $100 billion agri-export target.
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India’s ambition of reaching $100 billion in agricultural exports by 2030 is achievable if the country takes bold policy steps and strengthens infrastructure, experts said at a recent roundtable in New Delhi.
Despite being the world’s 8th largest exporter of agri commodities, the Indian farmer faces several challenges due to gaps and shortages in infrastructure and market access. While India is a market leader in certain categories of exports, its productivity is far lower than global standards. Closing these gaps and enhancing supply chain linkages could significantly boost farmers’ incomes and the nation’s export potential.
Creating conducive ecosystems for agri and marine exports to flourish requires a unified vision across ministries, a stable export policy environment, upgrading of cold chain, storage and logistics infrastructure, and a balance between cultivating large clusters of land for specific commodities as well as the individual needs of numerous small farmers.
These were the main findings of a roundtable on Boosting India’s Agri Exports by Transforming Infrastructure organised in New Delhi by the newly launched Centre for Agri Infrastructure Research and Action (CAIRA), an initiative of The Infravision Foundation, on January 18. A centrepiece of the event was the presentation of CAIRA’s first Background Paper, which highlighted the urgent need for infrastructure transformation to support global supply chains originating in India.
Several key public sector leaders addressed the roundtable, among them Subrata Gupta, Secretary of Food Processing; Santosh Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade; Siraj Chaudhry, Country Chairman, SATS India; Abhishek Dev, Chairman, APEDA; and Siraj Hussain, former Union Agriculture Secretary.
The policy perspective was provided by several business leaders and expertd including S. Sivakumar, Group Head, Agri and IT Businesses at ITC; Thomas Jose, Director of the Choice Group; Amit Pant, Senior Vice President at Tata Consumer Products; Azhar Tambuwala, Head of International Business at Sahyadri Farms; Atul Chhura, Chief Business Officer, Agribazaar; Aneesh Jain, CEO & MD of Gram Unnati, Harvir Singh, Editor-in-chief of Rural Voice and Andrew Goodland from World Bank.
The speakers recommended that existing agri infrastructure needs improvement to enable large-scale adoption of resilient farming practices and align India’s exports with changing requirements of the global market. The transition from a producer-centric approach, focused on food security, to a customer-oriented policy focused on demand, is an imperative for agri exports.
The roundtable participants emphasized the seminal role of the public sector but also cautioned against its overreach. Public solutions for private challenges should use government intervention sparingly and precisely. Public attention should be directed towards the mindset changes required to transform agri exports; importantly, the embrace of policy clustering that fosters collaboration among various government and industry stakeholders.
Experts emphasized on implementing systems for traceability, sustainability, and providing market intelligence on production and trade are imperatives. Remedies are required to reduce the instability in local prices, which disrupts the export-import engagement between market actors. Quality consciousness has to change domestically to keep pace with global standards, therefore domestic markets should not be regarded as secondary to the cause of improving exports.
CAIRA is an initiative of The Infravision Foundation (TIF) designed to transform India’s agri-export landscape through research, policy advocacy and real-world solutions. CAIRA will serve as a hub for advancing agricultural infrastructure, fostering collaboration, and driving policy reforms.
