Agricultural Export Policy

The Agricultural Export Policy was introduced to increase and provide support to productivity, pre and postharvest management, value-addition, and upgrade technology. The Policy was introduced after the stagnant agricultural trade in the international market from 2013-2017. The decline of agricultural commodities reduced GDP and other economic affairs. To make significant reforms to the export policy for agriculture, India restructured from the Green Revolution Era and promoted Agricultural Export Policy to diversify the food and non-food agriculture base to emerge as a leading player in the world in agricultural trade. The Policy would increase agricultural exports leading to stable growth in GDP, benefits for farmers, employment in rural areas, quality and scope for value addition, and future market potential. The Agricultural Export Policy shall address the following areas to increase the exports in agriculture:

Changes in the food patterns
Increasing unstable incomes
Shrinking farming area
Changing socio-economic, agro-climatic, and dietary patterns
Transportation and Infrastructure
Postharvest losses
Generating employment
Minimizing the failure in the value chain

The vision of the Policy

To utilize the potential of Indian Agriculture and emerge as a global power in agriculture through a suitable framework and policies.

Objectives of the Policy

The Policy has a twin objective to increase the Agriculture export

To create a stable trade policy regime
To double the agricultural exports to 100 Billion USD by 2022
Diversify the export base and increase the high-value and value-added agricultural exports
Promote ethnic, traditional, organic, and non-traditional Agri products
Create a platform to provide a mechanism for better market access to deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues
To increase India's share in the world agri exports by integrating with the international value chain
Create a framework to support farmers to increase benefits and opportunities in the overseas market

Policy Framework

The Agricultural Export Policy recommendations are in two categories, they are:

S. No.	Category	Features
1	Strategic	Policy Measures
		Support for Infrastructure and Logistics
		Holistic Approach to Increase Exports
		Involvement of State Governments in Agriculture Exports
2	Operational	Focus on Clusters
		Promoting Value-Added Exports
		Promoting and Marketing 'Brand India'
		Establishing a Strong Quality System
		Attract Private Investments into Production and Processing
		Research and Development
		Miscellaneous

Strategic Recommendations

Policy Measures

The Department of Commerce (DoC) shall hold regular discussions with the public and private stakeholders to increase agricultural exports through the agricultural value chain. The DoC shall highlight the measures to be initiated to gain better access to the international market and the need to increase the quality of commodities to create a stable and trusted market chain. The DoC will focus on creating policies to attain short-term goals to reduce inflation, domestic price, and production volatility of certain agricultural products. The measures for the reduction can be implemented by maintaining price stability or imposing a Minimum Support Price (MEP) and redirecting resources toward products that provide higher returns. The Policy aims at: