Budget 2018: Govt may announce National Agriculture Export Policy

Alok Priyadarshi

To arrest the decline in farm exports, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may announce a National Agriculture Export Policy in the upcoming Union Budget.

The Finance Minister will be presenting the Union Budget 2018-19 on February 1, 2017.

Through the new policy the government is likely to make strategic changes to the food export basket that may help in increasing the income of farmers. Cotton, Rice and Sugar are the major components of the Indian Agri Export basket.

Sources told Zee Business that under the new policy, farmers will be able to directly sell their produce in the export market through a web portal.

The Narendra Modi-led government aims to double farmers’ income by 2022. Crop diversification, focus on allied sectors and food processing and tapping global markets are among the steps the government is taking to meet the target.

In 2016–17, export of agri products such as cereals, processed fruit and vegetables, processed foods, and animal products was around USD 16.27 billion, according to the data by Apeda.

National Agriculture Exports policy is being planned in the backdrop of a decline in agriculture based export and increase in import. Between 2014-17, the agri-export fell by 22 percent, while, imports have increased by 62 percent. Between April and October 2017, import saw an unprecedented increase of 18 percent.