The Union Cabinet is expected to consider this week the proposed agriculture export policy, which aims at doubling outbound shipments of farm products and increasing their share in the world market, an official said.
The draft policy, prepared by the ministry, has suggested bringing in a stable trade policy regime, reforming the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) Act, streamlining of Mandi fee, and liberalising land leasing to double the agricultural shipments to over USD 60 billion by 2022.
It has also pitched for greater involvement of states, improvement in infrastructure and logistics and promotion of research and development (R&D) activities for new product development for the upcoming markets.
The proposed National Agriculture Export Policy would also provide an assurance that the processed agricultural products and all kinds of organic goods will not be brought under the ambit of any kind of export restriction such as imposing minimum export price, export duty and ban.
Given the domestic price and production volatility of certain agricultural commodities, there has been a tendency to utilise current norms as an instrument to attain short-term goals of taming inflation, providing price support to farmers and protecting the domestic industry.