Question : As per WTO’s Trade Statistics, share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was _ and 1.90%, respectively.
Fill in the blanks with appropriate option.
(a)2.27 %
(b)3.50 %
(c)4.75 %
(d)None of the above
Answer (a)
Related facts
- As per WTO’s Trade Statistics, share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27% and 1.90%, respectively.
- Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care to not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export. The exports of Agri commodities during March 2020 to June 2020 were Rs. 25552.7 Crore against an export of Rs. 20734.8 Crore during the same period in 2019, showing a sharp increase of 23.24%.
- The agricultural exports as a percentage of India’s agricultural GDP has increased from 9.4 % in 2017-18 to 9.9 % in 2018-19.
- While the agricultural imports as a percentage of India’s agricultural GDP has declined from 5.7 % to 4.9 % indicating exportable surplus and decreased dependence on import of agricultural products in India.
- Giant strides have been made in agri export since independence. In 1950-51, India’s agri export was about Rs. 149 crores which has risen to the level of Rs. 2.53 lakh crores in 2019-20.
- There has been substantial increase in export of almost all the agricultural items in the last 15 years, but despite being one of the top producers of agricultural products, India does not figure among top exporters of agricultural produce.
- For example, India holds second rank in the world wheat production but ranks 34th in export.
- Similarly, despite being world No. 3 in production of vegetables, the export ranking of India is only 14th. Same is the case for fruits, where India is the second largest producer in the world but export ranking is 23rd.
- It is also noted that Horticulture is a growing sub-sector.
- India holds 2nd position in production of fruits and vegetables. It exports 8.23 Lakh MT (LMT) of fruits worth Rs 5,638 crore and 31.92 LMT of vegetables worth Rs 5,679 Crores annually.
- However, world trade of fruits and vegetables is US$ 208 billion and India’s share is miniscule. There is huge potential to increase export in fruits and vegetables.
By — Pankaj Pandey.