₹1,402,680,000,000

This is India's agrarian import bill for 2015-16. More than three times of India's annual agriculture budget, this money could have been transferred to Indian farmers who reaped a bumper harvest of crops that we import now

- Ajeet Singh And Jitendra

INDIA IS swiftly changing its policy of self-reliance in food production. Despite claiming a bumper production in recent years, the government has encouraged import of agricultural produces. More importantly, it has allowed import of cereals like wheat, maize and non basmati rice. The volume of import of these grains increased by 110 times between 2014 and 2017. Farmers who produce them are at the centre of the current crisis because they are the worst hit by the fall in the prices caused by the import.

The unprecedented situation is result of numerous policy decisions that have made the domestic market less remunerative for farmers. Traders now find it cheaper to import from Australia than to procure local produces. The change in policies has caused a huge spike in India’s agro food import bill. The spending on the import of cereals, which include wheat, maize and non-basmati rice, increased from ₹134 crore in 2014-15 to ₹9,009 crore in 2016-17—a rise of 6,623 per cent. India also imported ₹5,897 crore worth of fruit and vegetables in 2016-17 while the figure in 2014-15 was ₹5,414 crore. On one hand, the government is spending on imports while on the other hand, it has put restrictions on exports. In 2014-15, India’s agrarian exports were to the tune of ₹1.31 lakh crore but fell to ₹1.08 lakh crore in 2015-16.