What drives India to be world's second agricultural product market?

Advanta Seeds is an international seed company and one of the market leaders with presence in over 60 countries. Advanta Seeds is part of UPL Group which is a global agriculture company providing total crop solutions from seed to post-harvest, one of the most successful one-stop agricultural solutions companies in the world. 

Bhupen, Chief Executive Officer of Advanta Seeds recently shared his viewpoints on India Agriculture in the interview with AgroPages.

What changes made India to be the second agricultural products market?

In the world, changes were driven mainly at 3 levels for India to become the second agricultural products market. The prime drivers are:

1. DEMAND for food, fuel and fiber for a growing population and growing prosperity. As we know India’s GDP grew 7 - 8 percent in the last decade and most likely it will continue this growth. This fueled demand for more food and a more diverse diet rich in protein from sources like pulses, poultry, meat, milk and dairy products.

2. SUPPLY kicked in through high-end technologies in areas like agricultural inputs, and machinery, post-harvest technology, warehousing and storage.

3. ENABLERS such as positive government policies on minimum support prices and export encouragement in select agriculture commodities, accelerating credit supplies and expansion in inclusive financial networks. All these acted as catalysts to agriculture growth in India which is likely to continue in the near future under dynamic leadership in new government.

How do you feel about the current agricultural products performance in India?

The current agricultural products performance in India in comparison to others is good, but can be better as the potential of India is much higher.

What are some policies that promote agricultural production?

For policies to promote agricultural production, like land policies, national tax policies and some other policies, the key objective has to be following: help farmers to get more profit per acre, and there are many areas which need attention. Government policies such as land reforms need to support small and marginal farmers who face shortages of credit capital and do not have the capacity to withstand risk related to weather or market price volatility. The policies need to be designed for and encourage cooperative farming, including the development of leasing - rental markets for expensive machinery for agricultural operations is needed immediately. Agriculture consumes 70 percent of fresh water and practices like sprinkler / drip irrigation can save significant amounts of water and fuel. Supporting agriculture startups is the way forward to engage smart dynamic youngsters who at the moment do not consider agriculture a “viable option" to grow.

How do you feel about the changes of the agricultural production industry during past several years as agricultural production rapidly accelerated from USD $101 bn in 2000 to USD $367 bn in 2014?

While progress is impressive compared to past, it is modest if we see the potential which is more than USD $1000 mn for all production factors like land, water, and agro climatic diversity. On top of this is domestic and export demand which are very favorable at this point in time.

What is the response to some inherent challenges, like dependence on climate and the decrease of planting land?

Yes, there are real challenges no doubt about it, but climate change adaptability is inherent in the agriculture industry. If we look at 10,000 years of history since farming began, production kept going up and up all the time and, as we know, mega climate changes occurred during this time too. Inherent resilience is built in the system and will withstand climate change coming up. Decrease in land area is reality. Agriculture deploying modern sophisticated technologies has to accelerate and more towards intensive agriculture.

What is the opportunity and outlook of India's agricultural production?

India is an immense opportunist in areas of production, marking, integrating, warehousing, food processing, and domestic and export markets, and it just needs an integrated Agriculture Vision for New Age agriculture. The key driver has to be "more profit per acre" for farmers – sustainable agricultural growth is an important factor to focus on.