Page 17 - ITLN JAN-FEB 2022 for Magzter

go straight from farm to export, so the
whole preservation industry needs to be
built up. Unless the incentive for value-
add exports is given, they won’t grow. So
the idea of Krishi Udan 2.0 is that this will
boost the domestic warehousing capacity
so that such linkages are built up. Earlier
there was no policy of agricultural
exports specifically because the domestic
market was so large. If you did not sell
at home then you were exporting. Now
Advantage North East under Krishi Udan 2.0 the government is
Despite no international connectivity making a specific policy and trying to link
from the northeastern states, plans are agriculture to trade which brings us to There is no direct
afoot to connect Guwahati to six South value-added products.”
east Asian countries soon. This move He adds, “With Northeast the main international flight
is expected to boost trade and rev up problem is that capacity is very low, but operating from
the export sector and perhaps pave the demand will pick up via trade. Value Guwahati till recently,
way for more airports from NE states to addition is the only next step for the which meant that the
connect internationally as well. policy especially when it comes to value exporters have to send
Under the Krishi Udan 2.0 scheme, exports, so that is critical. Agriculture the perishable products
a total of 53 AAI operated airports have was not part of reforms earlier, now it is
been strategically selected for the first along with trade. How do we incentivize to Delhi or Kolkata
phase of the scheme, including in the the domestic market, how do we ensure Bidyut Baruah
Northeast region. These will provide linkages - I believe this is something the APEDA
access to regional domestic markets traders would do.”
but also connect them to international Speaking to ITLN, Dr Vinod Kumar and it had reached 2.03 percent in 2019
gateways of the country and facilitate Vidyarthi, an agri economist and deputy showing that India's trade in agriculture
the hub and spoke model. GM at NABARD put low productivity, is also highly volatile in nature.
A freight grid has also identified high logistics cost, limited value Addressing several challenges in
locations for cargo terminals to addition, export promotion and branding his paper, Vidyarthi says, “We have a
be developed within a proposed challenges, non-tariff barriers and low level of agricultural productivity
timeline of 2021 to 2025. Be it sending quality issues as some of the roadblocks as compared to developed countries,
pineapples from Agartala to Delhi contributing to India’s relatively low rank because we have very small holdings
and Dubai or pulses, fruits and among global agriculture exporters. of land. Transportation costs are quite
vegetables from Guwahati to Hong In his recent paper ‘Trends and high for small farmers which is why they
Kong- identification of focus routes Performance of India's Agricultural will benefit from schemes like Krishi
and products like this for example is Trade in the Midst of Covid-19 Pandemic’ Udaan and Krishi Rail, under which
another key highlight of the scheme. Vidyarthi cited that India's agri-exports farmers will get a 50 percent discount on
In July 2021, the region made increased from R6012.76 crore in transportation costs. Further, currently
headlines for the export of its famed 1990-91 to R305469 crore in 2020- 13 to 14 percent of the GDP is our
‘Bhot Jholokia’(hot chilli) and Naga Chilli 21, registering an increase of nearly logistics cost as compared to the world
(from Nagaland) or ghost pepper from 50 times in the span of 30 years and average of 8-9 percent.”
Guwahati to London via an Air India flight grew at 13.99 percent in 2020-21. The On the scheme, he says, “The
from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) largest markets for India's agricultural scheme is about having in place an
International cargo complex of Guwahati. products are USA, China, Bangladesh, integrated supply chain management.
UAE, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, There should be direct linkages which
Creating a world market Nepal, Iran and Malaysia. is why the Indian government is actively
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade director Further the paper cites that India's developing dedicated freight corridors.
Manoj Pant says,“The vision behind Krishi agri-exports and agri-imports have Under the scheme, 15-20 percent of the
Udan is that you are trying to create a grown at a much higher CAGR of 10.41 wastage that we witness in our fruits and
world market for your agricultural goods. percent and 12.74 percent, respectively vegetables will be arrested. Since there
Currently we are doing only traditional as compared to 6.28 percent and 6.14 will be no mediator in between, farmers
exports, but we have to get into more percent of world agri-exports and agri- can get better prices for their produce.
value-added products like jams, sauces imports. However the share of India's With zero wastage, and consumers
etc. which require technology. For this agri-exports in world agri-exports has getting good products on the same day,
one has to ensure a proper network of increased from 0.94 percent in 1990 to they will be willing to pay higher prices for
warehousing and freight forwarders as 3.04 percent in 2003, and after that this this product and ultimately this will lead to
they are the storage people. Things don’t share is continuously in declining trends an increase in farmers’ incomes.”
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www.itln.in January - February 2022