Strengthening the rural infrastructure through the creation of an efficient intermediation process and stimulating the food processing industry are the need of the hour.

Being an agrarian economy, the performance of the agricultural sector is very important; its significant not only from the point of view of economic growth but also for the well-being of the Indian population. The rapid development of primary products can lead to economic development. In the process, the sector has made considerable progress in terms of output, yields, and area under many crops. Today, India is the largest producer of milk, fruits, cashew nuts, coconuts, and tea in the world. It is the second largest producer of wheat, vegetables, sugar, fish and the third largest producer of tobacco and rice. The bulk of the countrys exports consist of agricultural commodities and agro-based products; the primary sector plays a vital role in the development of the Indian economy.

However, growth in agricultural exports has been slowly declining in recent years. So what went wrong in a sector that is considered to play a pivotal role? Capital inadequacy, lack of infrastructure support and supply side constraints such as controls on movement, storage and sale of agricultural products, etc. have continued to affect the economic viability of this sector. Besides, global agri-trade in the post-WTO regime is full of challenges for developing nations like India.

The agricultural sector has been facing different challenges compared to the previous decades. It is really a challenging mission for Indian farmers to produce more output from limited land with shrinking natural resources. Low levels of investments in irrigation by both central and state governments have left only 40% of the agriculture being irrigated and 60% being rain fed. Alongside, the small-farm holdings (constituting more than 80% of agricultural land) are hindering government efforts in improving the productivity of the land and making Indian exports become globally competitive. Consequently, the average yields of important crops like rice, wheat, maize and groundnuts, etc. are not only lower than the world average but are considerably below the average level obtained in China, Indonesia and Japan. Kiran Nanda, Director and Economic Advisor of IMC, says: "The contribution of agriculture to the GDP has been declining. Low productivity, low capital investment, inadequate infrastructure (absence of adequate number of warehouses and cold storage facilities, etc.) plague the agri sector."

The Analyst Magazine, Agricultural Exports, Food Processing Industry, Agricultural Sectors, Economic Development, Agricultural Commodities, Agro-Based Products, Indian Economy, Product Diversification, Water Management Policy, International Markets.