India’s exports of agricultural products, including marine and plantation products, for the year 2021-22 have crossed USD 50 billion, highest level ever achieved for agriculture exports, the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry said on Wednesday.
The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic during first quarter of 2020 resulted in increased demand for staples, which resulted in increasing agriculture exports.
As per the provisional figures released by DGCI&S, agricultural exports have grown by 19.92 per cent in 2021-22 to touch $50.21 billion as against the previous year’s growth rate of 17.66 pr cent at $41.87 billion. This achievement will go a long way in realising the Prime Minister’s vision of improving farmers’ income.
Highest ever exports have been achieved for staples like rice (USD 9.65 billion), wheat (USD 2.19 billion), sugar (USD (4.6 billion) and other cereals (USD 1.08 billion).
Wheat has recorded an unprecedented growth of more than 273 per cent, jumping nearly four-fold from $568 million in 2020-21 to touch close to $2119 million in 2021-22. Increase in exports of these products has benefitted farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc. India has captured nearly 50 per cent of the world market for rice.
Export of marine products, at USD 7.71 billion, is also the highest ever, benefitting farmers in the coastal states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Spices exports touched USD 4 billion for second year in a row, while coffee exports have crossed USD 1 billion for the first time, which has improved realisations for coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The ministry stated that in order to ensure that the farmers benefit from exports, the department of Commerce set up the Farmer Connect Portal set up for providing a platform for farmers, FPOs/FPCs, cooperatives to interact with exporters. This has resulted in agriculture exports taking place from hitherto unexplored areas, it added.
Exports have taken place from clusters like Varanasi (fresh vegetables, mangoes), Ananthpur (banana), Nagpur (orange), Lucknow (mango), Theni (banana), Solapur (pomegranate), Krishna & Chittoor (mango) etc. Initiatives like ‘Happy Banana’ train, an exclusive train with reefer containers to transport bananas from Anantapur to JNPT, Mumbai have been taken to boost exports from unconventional areas.
The ministry said that because of the institutional framework, already in place at state and district levels, and special efforts made to overcome the pandemic-induced bottlenecks, India was able to rise to the occasion and emerge as a reliable supplier of food during the pandemic. Even during the current crisis due to Russia–Ukraine war, the world is looking at India for supplies of wheat and other food grains, it added.
