Right marketing strategies and an efficient supply chain are imperative to make India a global food supply leader. Elucidate.
Despite being among countries with largest area under cultivation, India’s contribution to global agriculture exports is a meagre 2 to 3%.
Opportunities for India:
- Second largest rice and wheat production.
- Largest Dairy producer in world.
- Second largest fisheries sector in world.
- Second largest Horticulture production in world.
- Largest production of millets.
Despite above opportunities, the contribution of India in agricultural exports is low because of:
- High food wastage.
- Low Exports.
- Low food processing.
- Low farmers’ income.
Realizing opportunities:
- Right marketing strategies:
- Currently the nature of production is informal. There is a need to standardize quality. Checks and standards under QCI, APEDA, increase the brand value.
- The issue of low shelf life and high wastages can be solved by investing in food processing infrastructure and cold storages, e.g. skimmed milk.
- There is a huge demand for Indian local food in the world because of presence of Indian Diaspora in USA and other countries, but there is a problem of low reachability. There is a need for investment in packaging and advertising.
- Efficient supply chain:
- Contract farming to increase procurement in remote areas.
- Connect to supermarkets.
- Cold storage infrastructure to prevent wastage.
- Transportation via rail and planes, e.g. Kisan Rail, Krishi Udan.
Thus, these steps are imperative to doubling farmers’ income & exports and also make India a global leader in food market.