Uday Salunkhe – WTO: Challenges and Opportunities for Indian Agriculture sector

Agriculture is the world’s most important and oldest occupation having history of about 11000 years. It is believed to have started in India about 4500 years ago and today about 1/3 of mother Earths surface (about 11 bn acres) is used for this, providing employment to about 50% of workforce of mankind and in India about 62% of work force is employed in agricultural sector.

Agricultural sector is a backbone of India’s economy as it covers nearly 50% of available land of agricultural activities, provides employment for about 62% of working population of country and contributes about 341% of National GDP. India ranks second largest rice producer, largest milk producer, major country in wheat production, largest cattle and live-stock holder country of the world thanks to its green revolution programme

Agriculture now in the purview of WTO, accounts for nearly 75% of the Indian rural population. The Uruguay Round Agreement (URA) calls for a fair and market oriented agricultural system. Following URA, protection is given by patents or by an effective Sui Generis System.  The agricultural sector and service sector got opened up in the year-2000.

Agriculture contributes 25 per cent to the GDP of the country and is a key sector of the Indian economy, providing food security to the population, major employment opportunities to the rural population and consequently, a large domestic market for manufactured goods. This sector also accounts for 13 per cent of India's exports.

The break-through in the twin sectors of the economy, that is, agriculture and industry can only provide the engine for a sustainable growth momentum.  This is, unfortunately not happening so far.  To attain an average of 7-8 per cent annual growth, the industry will have to contribute at least 15-16 per cent growth, agriculture 4-5 per cent and services around 8-10 per cent growth.

In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the role of Government in agriculture and critically assess the Agriculture Trade in general.  Export and Import of Agriculture products in particular by focusing on Horticulture boom, the flowers of floriculture and the rise of IT in the Agriculture sector.

 This article is authored by eminent educationist and visionary  Professor Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Director, Welingkar Institute of Management and Research (WE School), one of the leading B-Schools in India, with campuses in Mumbai & Bangalore. Professor Dr.  P.S. Rao collaborates with Dr. Uday Salunkhe on this analysis.