{"id":43514,"date":"2025-05-16T22:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T16:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=43514"},"modified":"2025-05-16T22:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T16:31:00","slug":"why-agriculture-sector-missing-from-india-ftas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-05-2025\/why-agriculture-sector-missing-from-india-ftas","title":{"rendered":"Why is the Agriculture Sector Missing from India&#8217;s FTAs?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS\/ Economy, Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Despite India\u2019s active negotiations of Free Trade Agreements with global partners, the agriculture sector, vital to its economy and employment,\u00a0 remains largely excluded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Agriculture is Missing from India\u2019s FTAs?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fear of Import Surge:<\/strong> Entry into FTAs like RCEP was abandoned over concerns that cheap agri imports, especially dairy from New Zealand and Australia, would hurt Indian farmers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agriculture is a State subject<\/strong>, whereas trade is in the Union list. This leads to inconsistent policies \u2014 bans, export quotas, or quarantine rules \u2014 harming exporter confidence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructural Deficiencies:<\/strong> Absence of cold chains, agro-processing hubs, and efficient port logistics, especially in landlocked states limits agricultural trade potential.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Indian agricultural exports suffer from quality issues like <strong>pesticide residues, aflatoxins<\/strong>, and weak compliance with global <strong>SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) <\/strong>norms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Efforts taken by other countries<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Thailand:<\/strong> Thailand\u2019s agri-export success is driven by its focus on industrial crops like rubber, strong agro-processing linkages, and over 18 FTAs that enhance market access and boost value-added exports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Brazil:<\/strong> It leveraged mechanised farming, logistics corridors, and value addition in soy, coffee, and meat to reach $166 bn agri exports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Existing Strengths<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Basmati Rice: <\/strong>India\u2019s agricultural strength lies in its globally recognized products such as Basmati rice, which alone contributes to around 21% of the country\u2019s agricultural exports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>GI-Tagged Products:<\/strong> Gaining visibility under schemes like One District One Product (ODOP).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) <\/strong>works towards quality promotion and certification, though more integration with smallholder farmers is needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to make Indian Agriculture FTA-Ready?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Shift from Commodities to Branding &amp; Value Addition<\/strong> and develop agro-processing clusters near APMCs.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Promote branded products and niche categories like organic, GI-tagged, or processed food.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Reforms: <\/strong>Create a National Agricultural Trade Council with Centre-State-industry coordination.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensure single-window clearances and digital export compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Infrastructure and Logistics:<\/strong> Invest in inland container depots, cold storage, and rural logistics in landlocked states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agri-Investment Strategy:<\/strong> Move from input subsidies to Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) to incentivise diversification and innovation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Efforts taken by India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Agri Export Policy of 2018<\/strong> is a comprehensive initiative by the Indian government to boost agricultural exports and integrate Indian farmers into global value chains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority <\/strong>facilitates certification, market intelligence, export promotion, and capacity-building programs for stakeholders.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Initiatives like the <strong>Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)<\/strong> and <strong>National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP)<\/strong> aim to tap into growing global demand for chemical-free, sustainable produce.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Negotiation of Market Access:<\/strong> India continues to engage in bilateral and multilateral negotiations to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers for its agricultural goods and secure preferential market access.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India\u2019s cautious approach to agriculture in FTAs safeguards farmer interests but also restricts the sector\u2019s export potential.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moving forward, a balanced strategy with targeted reforms can help integrate Indian agriculture into global markets more effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deccanherald.com\/opinion\/why-agriculture-sector-is-missing-from-indias-ftas-3539836\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Despite India\u2019s active negotiations of Free Trade Agreements with global partners, the agriculture sector, vital to its economy and employment,\u00a0 remains largely excluded.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why Agriculture is Missing from India\u2019s FTAs?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Fear of Import Surge: Entry into FTAs like RCEP was abandoned over concerns that cheap agri imports, especially dairy from New Zealand and Australia, would hurt Indian farmers.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Agriculture is a State subject, whereas trade is in the Union list. This leads to inconsistent policies \u2014 bans, export quotas, or quarantine rules \u2014 harming exporter confidence.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Infrastructural Deficiencies: Absence of cold chains, agro-processing hubs, and efficient port logistics, especially in landlocked states limits agricultural trade potential.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Indian agricultural exports suffer from quality issues like pesticide residues, aflatoxins, and weak compliance with global SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) norms.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-05-2025\/why-agriculture-sector-missing-from-india-ftas\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43529,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43514\/revisions\/43529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}