Export boom aids businesses, not farmers

Rising agricultural exports from India, which shipped out a record 20 million tonne of foodgrains in 2020-21, have breathed new life into agribusinesses, but farmers say they have hardly gained because they had to sell cheap. The beneficiaries were large agricultural trading firms.

In the financial year ended March 2021, the country exported farm produce worth nearly $42 billion, a growth of about 18%, on the back of a rise in global commodity prices, official statistics show.

The current boom is nearly of the same level seen in 2013-14, when exports peaked. India’s farm exports grew five times from just $8.7 billion in 2004-05 to $42.6 billion during 2013-14. They then fell sharply to $33 billion in 2016-17 and have been muted since.

The country exported 17.72 million tonnes of rice till March 30. It also sold nearly 3 million tonnes of wheat and a similar amount of maize abroad.

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