The Economic Survey notes that in 2019-20, India’s agricultural and allied exports amounted to approximately Rs. 252 thousand crores.
India’s agricultural sector has shown its resilience amid the adversities of COVID-19 induced lockdowns. The Agriculture and Allied activities clocked a growth of 3.4 per cent at constant prices during 2020-21(first advance estimate) says the Economic Survey. The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2020-21 in Parliament.
The Economic Survey observes that as per the Provisional Estimates of National Income released by CSO on May 29, 2020, the share of Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country at current prices is 17.8 per cent for the year 2019-20.
Record Foodgrain Production
According to the Economic Survey in the Agriculture year 2019-20 (as per Fourth Advance Estimates), total food grain production in the country is estimated at record 296.65 million tonnes which is higher by 11.44 million tonnes than the production of food grain of 285.21 million tonnes achieved during 2018-19.
Agricultural Exports
The Ecnomic Survey notes that in 2019-20, India’s agricultural and allied exports amounted to approximately Rs. 252 thousand crores. The major export destinations were USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and Bangladesh. The top agriculture and related products exported from India were marine products, basmati rice, buffalo meat, spices, non-basmati rice, cotton raw, oil meals, sugar, castor oil and tea. While India occupies a leading position in the global trade of the aforementioned agri-products, its total agri-export basket accounts for a little over 2.5 per cent of world agri-trade.
Minimum Support Price
The Economic Survey says that “The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced that MSPs would be kept at the level of 1.5 times of the cost of production. On the basis of the above-mentioned principle, Government recently increased the MSPs for all mandated kharif and rabi crops for 2020-21season.”
Agricultural Reforms
On recent agricultural reforms, the Economic Survey says “The three agricultural reform legislations are designed and intended primarily for the benefit of small and marginal farmers which constitute around 85 per cent of the total number of farmers and are the biggest sufferer of the regressive APMC regulated market regime. The newly introduced farm laws herald a new era of market freedom which can go a long way in the improvement of farmer welfare in India.”
