Meek ambition

Rajeev Jayaswal

The very premise of India's first draft Agriculture Export Policy (AEP-2018) appears to be faulty. It seems that the draft policy, which was prepared by the Commerce Ministry, is incongruent with the statistics quoted by CR Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. While the "Objective and Vision" of the draft policy strives "to become one of the top 10 exporting countries of agricultural products", Chaudhary believes that India is already the "10th largest exporter of agricultural products in the world", with a 2.1 per cent share of global trade. 

Chaudhary' informed the Lok Sabha last month by submitting a written reply to specific queries raised by about a dozen parliamentarians. He substantiated his claim by quoting the International Trade Statistics, 2017, of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 

Chaudhary also told fellow MPs that India's share in global agri exports was only marginally below to the countries that held ranks from the sixth position to the ninth.. According to him, their share in the pie ranged between 2.1 per cent and 2.4 per cent. 

He is not far from the fact. The sixth to ninth ranks in the International Trade Statistics are held by Indonesia, with 2.4 per cent market share, Argentina (2.3 per cent), Thailand (2.3 per cent) and Australia (2.1 per cent). Chaudhary ostensibly forgot to read the data carefully. India would have fared well but for about 5 per cent decline in its agri trade that year. Therefore, the making of a great policy, with surprisingly modest ambition, reflects very poorly on the government's policymaking efforts.