Banana and Mango Value Chains

Fruit crops are high-value agricultural crops and are mostly managed by individual farmers in India unlike in the West where large private corporations are involved in production and exports of fruit crops. India’s fruits production increased significantly from 28.6 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 1991–92 to 96.8 MMT in 2018–19. Among fruits, mango and bananas are the most important crops with 50% share in fruits acreage as well as value dominated by mango.

Evaluating Agricultural Value Chains on CISS-F Framework

Technology, institutions and markets together drive agricultural value chains in becoming more competitive, inclusive, sustainable and scalable, and in improving access to finance. Institutions that focused on aggregating marginal and smallholders, empowering farmers with better bargaining power, inducing economies of scale and creating market linkages have been pivotal in the successful transformation of these sectors.

Dairy Value Chain

Livestock sector is the backbone of Indian agriculture and plays a crucial role in the development of the rural economy. More than one-fifth (23%) of agricultural households with area less than 0.01 hectare reported livestock as their principal source of income (GoI Government of India (2014) Key indicators of situation of agricultural). Livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Indian agriculture. While the share of overall agriculture and allied sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) declined from 18.2% in 2014–15 to 17.8% in 2019–20, the share of livestock sector in GVA increased from 4.4% to 5.1% in the same period (GoI Government of India (2021) The economic survey (2020–21). Ministry of Finance. Government of India). Livestock sector accounts for 31% of the gross value of output in agriculture and allied sector (GVOA). Within livestock, milk is the biggest component with 20% share in GVOA. In fact, milk is the largest agriculture commodity in terms of value of output worth INR 772,705 crores in 2018–19 which was more than the value of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane combined worth INR 623,462 crores (MoSPI. (2021). National Accounts Statistics 2020. Central Statistical Organization. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.). Around 70 million of rural households are engaged in milk production, most of them are landless, marginal, and small farmers (NCAER. (2020). Analyzing Socio-Economic Impact of National Dairy Plan—I. National Council for Applied Economic Research. February 2020.). As a source of livelihood for million of poor households, dairying also supplements their dietary sources of protein and nutrition thus playing a critical role in the country’s food security needs.

Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) Value Chains

Tomatoes, onions and potatoes, popularly known as the TOP vegetables, are the three largest cultivated, produced and consumed vegetables in India. Their production has increased dramatically over the years, making India the second-largest producer of all the three vegetables in the world just after China. Recent figures put tomato production at 19 million metric tonnes (MMT), onion production at 22.8 MMT and potato production at 50.2 MMT in 2018–19.

Pulses Value Chain- Pigeon Pea and Gram

Pulses form an important part of agriculture in India given that the country is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. Owing to their natural resilience to extreme weather conditions, low water requirements and being environmentally benign, pulses have been traditionally a smallholder’s crop. However, with poor price realization, farmers are switching towards other remunerative crops such as sugarcane, soybean, among others. Unlike rice and wheat, pulses are not covered by the regular public procurement system which makes marketing of pulses at fair and remunerative prices a challenge for the farmers. Pulses are no longer a poor man’s diet given the escalating consumer prices. Nonetheless, it is considered as an important source of protein (given the large vegetarian diet base in India), consumption of which is being promoted to address the observed protein gap in the diets. Over time, per capita availability of pulses has declined like other traditional cereals. With changing consumption patterns and emerging dietary deficiencies, there is scope for enhancing consumption of pulses through traditional and value-added products.

Further Strengthening Agri-Value Chains in India—Way Forward

The value chain analysis undertaken in this study reveals their varying performance against the conceptual framework of CISS-F. This research has helped understand the functioning of the value chains and implications of key policy reforms on the ground. There are examples of successful agricultural value chains, which clearly indicate how policies have worked in the interests of the farmers and contributed towards making the chain more efficient. However, there are several challenges confronting these value chains that need serious policy attention. Each value chain study concludes with a proposed list of desirable interventions, and way forward, very specific to the commodity. These proposed interventions are by no means exhaustive. Rather, they represent a set of critical and urgent actions which are necessary for the growth and development of that particular value chain.

Introduction

India has come a long way from being a food scarce nation in the 1960s to a food surplus nation thereafter. The remarkable transformation of the agricultural sector was the result of massive improvements in productivity level owing to the Green Revolution in the case of cereals and the breakthrough that followed in few other agricultural commodities, most notably, dairying. Today, India is the largest producer of milk, pulses, banana, mango, pomegranate, papaya, lemon, okra, ginger and non-food crops like cotton and jute; the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables, tea and one of the leading producers of eggs and meat in the world. India produced 281.8 million tonnes of food grains, 307.7 million tonnes of horticulture crops, 176.5 million tonnes of milk, 96 billion eggs and 7.7 million tonnes of meat during TE 2018–19.

Grapes and Pomegranate Value Chains

Horticulture has grown in size and importance within the agriculture landscape of the country. Horticulture production doubled from 191 million tonnes in 2006–07 to nearly 300 million tonnes in 2016–17. In fact, by 2015–16, production of horticulture crops was higher than that of food grains. Further, production of fruit crops as a proportion of horticulture crops increased from 29.5% in 2001–02 to 31.5% in 2015–16.

Poultry Value Chain

In the livestock sector in India, poultry farming holds a prominent position owing to its impressive growth led by the private sector. Poultry sector has shown rapid growth, with chicken meat growing at an average annual growth rate of 9% and eggs growing at 6% from 2000–01 to 2018–19 (DAHD DAHD (2020) Basic animal husbandry statistics 2020. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Government of India). The recent steady growth in domestic demand for chicken meat has made it possible to increase production with a ready market putting India among the top poultry producers in the world. India was the third-largest egg producer after China and the USA with a production of 88 billion eggs and fifth-largest chicken meat producer with a production of 3.5 million tonnes during 2017–18 (FAOSTAT (2018) Food and Agriculture data. Retrieved from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data). This transformation in the poultry sector was led by the commercial poultry industry which contributes about 80% of the total poultry production. The other 20% is produced by the traditional backyard poultry. The broiler industry is concentrated in the southern and western states and accounts for a major share of total output. Similarly, the layer industry is dominated by well-developed states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, accounting for nearly 60% of the production (DAHDF (2017) National Action Plan for Egg & Poultry-2022 for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Government of India.). Commercial poultry farming is yet to make a dent in more populous states like Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.