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India key producer, exporter due to robust agri sector: Sitharaman.
Jan 29, 2024

India’s resilient agriculture sector has been a major shield against geopolitical upheavals such as the Red Sea disruptions, which prompted many countries to have a'long-term understanding' with India for food exports, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday adding that the government continues to boost the sector with enhanced focus on R&D aiming to bolster exports of value-added products.

Replying to a specific question on the features and future of Indian agriculture, she said:'We should be extremely glad for one thing. There are countries, including some very big countries, who are not self-sufficient in food grains, who are not self-sufficient in horticulture, who are not self-sufficient in milk. Who [are] certainly not self-sufficient in fish and poultry… And India Is self-sufficient… in all these.'

In some of them India is the world’s number one or number two producer in terms of the quantity and is also in a position to export.'Whether your milk and milk products. Whether it is your horticulture, your fruits. India is one of the top exporters,' she said. The finance minister was addressing students of Hindu College in the Capital on the occasion of its 125th anniversary.

India’s exports of foodgrains registered a steady growth in the last few years as the country’s share in world foodgrain exports rose from 3.38% in 2010 to 7.79% in 2022, according to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) data. Top agricultural items exported from India included marine products, rice, sugar, spices, buffalo meat, wheat, castor oil and processed food items. Key export destinations for Indian products are the US, China, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.

Sitharaman said India may not be self-sufficient in pulses and oil seeds, but it is a leading producer of some commercial crops such as cotton, coffee, tea and rubber.'India is one of the top countries which produces high quality rubber, natural rubber… [which] is grown in Kerala and… the northeast.'

'So, we are one of those very fortunate countries in the world -- which is affected by war [Russia-Ukraine war and Israel-Hamas war], your Red Sea conflict – [making] movement of food grains becoming very, very logistically challenging and costly,' she said.

FM asked students not to waste food.'I, therefore, appeal to you, please don’t waste food. We may be self-sufficient, but there are a lot of people even today, who find it difficult to buy all that they want to buy. So be caring. Take as much as you want... Don’t fill your plate up and waste it. This is a wonderful country which can feed every one of us. But, we should not be greedy.'

'So, that’s the feature. But what’s the future?,' the FM said while elaborating the second part of her reply.'The future is – there are a lot of countries which want to have a long term understanding with India for food exports. Processing of food. Export of processed food. Export of value-added food. Immense possibility exists in agriculture,' she added.

Addressing the youth of the country, Sitharaman asked them to actively participate in farming.'We are investing in R&D in agriculture, and I’m sure many of you who have interest in that area should go back to your respective villages. Even if there is a small holding, at least as a matter of hobby like pursuit. Start attempting to do something in agriculture. It’s so rewarding, not just financially, even otherwise,' she said.

Answering another question on direct benefit transfer (DBT), the Aadhaar-enabled digital mechanism to transfer money directly in the bank accounts of the poor, she said DBT brought transparency and efficiency besides stopping pilferage of subsidies for the vulnerable. It resulted in huge savings, she said as about 44 schemes under the DBT mode since 2020 saved syphoning of about Rs.2.5 lakh crore by unscrupulous elements by eliminating unintended beneficiaries.

Sitharaman said the government is committed to provide benefits of welfare schemes to all eligible citizens and it is close to reaching the saturation level in several key schemes. The Modi government has laid'the material foundation' for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by empowering people by meeting their basic necessities.

She said the Modi government doesn’t differentiate between people. The government has categorized India into four groups--Youth, Women, Farmers and Poor-- and efforts are made for betterment of these groups irrespective of caste, creed and religion, she added.

hindustantimes.com

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