Five farm products that can change
India’s agriculture landscape
SANJEEB MUKHERJEE
New Delhi, 13 April
Mango, banana, potato, soybean and
poultry are the five main farm prod-
ucts which could form the bedrock of
rejuvenation in India’s agriculture and
allied activities landscape in the next
two decades.
This can be created by building a
strong brand for these products in the
international markets, reducing
wastage by almost half and doubling
the per hectare yields, according to the
third Food and Agriculture Integrated
Development Action Report titled:
‘India as an agriculture and high value
food powerhouse: A new vision for
2030, prepared jointly by CII and
McKinsey and Company.
The five products have been select-
ed based on their crop size and rele-
vance for consumers, growers and crop
diversity.
Mango
The report said mango production has
grown consistently at four per cent per
annum since the past two decades only
because of increase in area as yields
have remained stagnant. To achieve a
target of 37 per cent increase in per
hectare yield, reducing wastage by 50
per cent in the next 20 years and
increasing exports 10 times, the report
said farmers should be trained to incul-
cate best practices to improve yield,
enhance farm-gate infrastructure and
also build clusters in major growing
states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Gujarat.
The clusters can be built with the
help of cooperatives. To enhance the
image of Indian mangoes worldwide a
special brand should be built and
export of packaged mango juice should
be encouraged. A special impetus
should be provided to fresh mango
exports, the report said. potato used in processing from the cur- But, India’s soy industry is crippled by
rent seven per cent to 14 per cent or low yield, limited domestic demand
Banana more. In addition, India could also for soymeal and inadequate irrigation
Though India is the world’s largest pro- aspire to export 1.5 million tonnes to facilities for crops.
ducer of bananas, its exports are min- two million tonnes of potato from the The country can overcome these
imal. It exported only 0.37 per cent of current 1.2 million tonnes, to become bottlenecks by doubling yields through
its produce in 2010, but produces one of the top five potato exporters in mechanised sowing and harvesting,
almost 30 per cent of the world out- the world, especially catering to the improving market access for high
put, the report said. In 2010, India did Asian countries. yielding seed varieties, and using drip
not export any banana to Japan and To achieve this, the report said the irrigation in farms. The government
Russia and exported just one tonne to scientific use of fertilisers, use of sprin- on its part can boost consumption by
China in 2010. However, it has kler or drip irrigation and adequate promoting soya as an integral part of a
immense potential. mechanisation to cut costs be adopted. high protein diet, branding soy oil for
The real potential for bananas in “For example, costs can be reduced exports.
India is through branding both in the by using prophylactic pesticides which “Guaranteeing traceability and non-
domestic and export market. India prevent late blight disease in areas with GM usage will ensure that India sus-
could increase total produc- low infestation rates, and tains 20 per cent premium over the GM
tion by 75 per cent to about The five products cost just ~200 a kg, while soyaoils supplied by other countries,”
50 million tonnes in 2030 to have been treatment pesticides are the report said.
meet rising domestic selected based on more than 20 times more
demand and tap the export their crop size and expensive. Sprinkler irriga- Poultry
opportunity. The report also relevance for tion increases yield by 15 to India is currently the third largest pro-
highlighted that India consumers, 25 per cent, and drip irriga- ducer of eggs (by weight) and the sixth
should aspire to have an effi- growers and crop tion increases yield by 30 largest producer of chicken meat in the
cient, globally competitive diversity to 40 per cent, while saving world. India’s broiler meat production
supply chain and aspire to up to 40 per cent of water,” has grown by a brisk 10 per cent and egg
export 1.5 million tonnes by 2030, which the report said. It also suggested that production by five per cent over the past
is 25 times the current export figure. industry could identify, test and pro- 10 years. By 2030, over 40 per cent of
For farmers, the report said exten- mote new high yielding processing India’s population will be urbanised and
sive tissue culture should be promoted varieties from the available interna- the number of working women is likely
through private participation, drip irri- tional basket. to double. This could significantly boost
gation should be augmented and impe- A successful example of branding the market for frozen foods, including
tus provided for export of fresh potatoes is that of Greenvale’s Farm poultry products.
bananas. Fresh potatoes in the UK. Launched But, the potential is constrained by
with the USP of better and consistent recurring incidents of disease in poul-
Potato taste and freshness, the effort was a suc- try products, no awareness on frozen
India’s domestic consumption of pota- cess, and Greenvale’s potatoes are now foods and rising feed costs. Giving an
to increased five per cent per annum available across the UK, the report said. example, the report said that in India,
for the past five years, though the per the frozen meat market is just five per
capita consumption is still about half of Soybean cent of the total poultry market, while
that of China and lags far behind most This is one of the fastest growing crops the world over this is much more. To
western countries. in India with exceptional price reali- achieve its full potential, the report
India produced more than 40 mil- sations. India currently exports 55 per suggested that government should
lion tonnes of potato in 2011, with more cent of its soya meal and Indian prices invest in mega processing hubs,
than 1.8 million hectares of area under are linked to global prices. increase profitability of poor poultry
cultivation and yields reaching 20 “India’s soya farmers and industry farmers through back-end feed manu-
tonnes per hectare. There is also abun- are ready to unlock an ~45,000 crore facturing technologies and boost mar-
dant opportunity to double the share of opportunity by 2030,” the report said. ket for frozen foods.