With a big move to boost country’s agriculture sector, the government of India has appointed agriculture counselors in 10 countries, including the US and China, given the plan to double these to $60 billion by 2022. As per the report, these countries have been selected based on their current level of imports from India where all of them are among the top five destinations in one or more Agri products under 37 categories identified for the export push.

A senior government official has said, “Now the ministry of external affairs has designated one officer each in 10 selected missions as agriculture counselor. The next action would be to send experts to those places”. Based on performance evaluation, more countries, particularly in Europe, will be included under this program, the official added.

Country’s like Vietnam, the US, UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Malaysia, and Japan are the destinations where one officer in Indian embassy will exclusively appoint to deal promote the country’s agricultural exports.

In FY2018-19, UAE was among the top five buyers of India’s Agri products in 19 categories as per data maintained by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda).

On the other hand, Vietnam was India’s top export destination in buffalo meat having over 47% share in the country’s total export of this product valued at $3.6 billion in 2018-19. It was also one of the top buyers in groundnut, maize and poultry products. Similarly, the US was among top five countries in India’s exports of floriculture, cucumber and gherkins, guar gum, honey, cocoa products, fruits and vegetable seeds, walnut, processed fruits, juices and nuts, pulses, jaggery and confectionery, and mango.

China is the second biggest country to buy Indian guar gum, after the US. In other products, China’s current share is not that much, but an agriculture counsellor in Beijing will help India to expand the market there, officials said.

If we look at the Agri report, India’s agriculture products exports (37 categories under Apeda) were $18.7 billion in 2018-19, the same as in the previous year. The export growth has fallen in recent years after high-growth in the previous years.

 “Indian embassy/high commission system should include the post of Advisor (Agri-trade) to be filled by domain experts/experienced development administrators/policymakers in agriculture and allied areas, of suitable seniority. These trade experts would be tasked to monitor the market conditions in their host countries, interact with traders and exporters in India and assist in resolving their market access issues”, said The Dalwai committee.