International trade in agriculture and processed food products has expanded impressively over the years. At a disaggregated level, the product structure of world food exports highlights the growing importance of horticulture, fisheries, meat and dairy products and processed consumer products. The patterns of consumer demand and commercial development in both industrial and middle- income countries provide excellent opportunities for India, especially considering the high production potentials of these products. Vision 2020 envisages that by 2020, India could be a powerhouse of agriculture by harnessing water resources, developing agriculture in rain fed areas and reforming policy to stimulate growth. With rising per capita incomes in the country and increasing liberalization of world agro commodities, there is even greater scope for the development of these components, which can help pull up the overall growth in agriculture, which would have significant impact on the reduction of rural poverty.

These opportunities are further enhanced as a result of globalization and liberalization which has taken place during last decade. With the formation of WTO, the framework of international trade has underwent significant changes in all sectors including agriculture. Barriers to international trade have come down resulting in new opportunities and thus redefining competitiveness of the countries and business entities.

While on one hand, WTO has rapidly changed the global business environment but on the other hand the increased competition has posed significant challenge not only to firm’s profitability but their survival too. It has brought in challenges for the exports of farm products as the proposed dismantling of barriers is yet to take place . This is clearly indicated by the fact that despite fairly strong growth in agricultural production in the country, it has not translated into growth in agricultural exports and the share in global trade is mere 0.5 percent.

In this context, backward and forward linkages and integration across the supply chain becomes essential. Training at each level becomes important to enhance the efficiency of players throughout the value chain to boost competitiveness of agricultural exports from India. Hence capacity building of state level institutions from amongst various training institutes under DAC, under State Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Cooperatives, State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), ICAR and Export Promotion Agencies on various aspects of International trade and WTO agreements affecting agriculture exports becomes essential.

The proposed training program to be conducted by IIFT and sponsored by Department of Agriculture & Co-operation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of agricultural business environment and evolve efficient strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of this sector.


Objectives of the Program

This Capacity Building Program on International Business aims at developing required skills and professional competence among government officials, entrepreneurs, farmers, exporters and corporate executives at regional and state levels across the country. The program objectives include:

• To enhance awareness about Emerging business opportunities for Indian Agro exports;
• To understand issues in production and marketing of agro products for exports
• To develop an understanding about Export-import procedures and documentation;
• To understand the International trade logistics and SCM for agriculture;
• Institutional framework for promotion of agro exports at Central and State level;
• To analyze the implementation issues with reference to various WTO agreements affecting agricultural exports from India and defining the role of State Governments