Agriculture is the central stage of American-India Commercial Exhibition

Why will India not buy even a storm of American corn?

This is the question that US Secretary of Commerce Howard Luni has recently raised until criticism India’s commercial policies by spending their finger at their market restrictions.

In another interview, lutnick Accused of India in blocking American farmers And he called on him to open his agricultural market – offering quotas or restrictions as a possible approach.

Agriculture is a key battlefield in US President Donald Trump escalating trade warWith Tit-Ca-tat or reciprocal tariffs, which will start on April 2.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. Trump has repeatedly marked India’s “Tariff King” and “Big Bully” of Commercial Relations.

For years, Washington has been pushing for more access to the farm sector in India, considering it as a major unused market. But India protected her furiously, citing food security, livelihood and interests of millions of small farmers.

To be sure, India’s transformation from a nation with food deficit into a food power plant is one of its biggest stories of success.

In the 1950s and 60s, the country relied on food assistance to feed its population, but a series of agricultural breakthroughs changed this. India became self-sufficient in brackets and became the largest milk producer in the world. The rapid growth of gardening, poultry and aquaculture expanded their food basket.

Today, India not only feeds its 1.4 billion people, but as the eighth largest exporter of agro -producers, also the supply of grains, fruits and dairy products around the world.

However, despite such great profits, Indian agriculture is still lagging behind in productivity, infrastructure and market access. Global prices and climate change add to the challenge. Culture yields are far behind the best global. Small lands worsen the problem – Indian farmers work on average than hectare, while their American counterparts had over 46 hectares in 2020.

It is no surprise that productivity remains low – agriculture uses almost half of India’s workforce, but represents only 15% of GDP. In comparison, less than 2% of the US population depends on agriculture. With limited production jobs, more people are stuck in low -paid farm work, an unusual tendency for a developing country.

This structural imbalance is also shaped by India’s commercial policies. Despite the excess of his farm, India maintains high tariffs to protect its farmers from cheap imports. It maintains moderate to high tariffs – from zero to 150% – in the import of farms.

The average weighed tariff – the average percentage of the duty of imported product – in India of US agricultural products is 37.7%, compared to 5.3% for Indian goods in the United States, according to Delhi -based Global Trade Studies (GTRI).

The bilateral trade in farms between India and the US is modest, only $ 8 billion (£ 6.2 billion).

India mainly exports rice, shrimp, honey, vegetable extracts, castor oil and black pepper while the United States sends almonds, nuts, pistachios, apples and lentils.

But as both sides work on a trade dealExperts say Washington now wants to press exports of large tickets – wheat, cotton, corn and corn – to narrow its $ 45 billion trade deficit with India.

“They are not looking to export fruits and other things.

The pressing of India to reduce farming tariffs, reduce price support and open to genetically modified (GM) crops and dairy products ignore the basic asymmetry in global agriculture, experts say.

The United States, for example, strongly subsidizes its agriculture and protect farmers through harvest insurance.

“In some cases,” says Ajay’s collapse from GTRI, “American subsidies exceed 100% of production costs, creating an uneven gaming area that can devastate small farmers in India.”

Agriculture is the backbone of India, supporting over 700 million people, almost half of the country’s population.

“The key thing you need to remember is that agriculture in both countries is completely different,” says Abhigit Das, a former head of the Center for Studies of the WTO at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

“The US has commercial farming, while India relies on an intensive maintenance farm. This is a matter of the livelihood of millions of Indians in the interests of US agribusiness.”

But agricultural challenges in India are not just external. Dhar says much of the struggles in the sector are “own actions”. Agriculture has long been insufficiently funded, receiving less than 6% of total investments in India – funds intended for infrastructure, machines and other long -term assets, crucial for growth.

To protect millions of livelihood, the government protects key crops such as wheat, rice and dairy products with imported duties and price support. “But even that doesn’t inspire confidence,” he says.

Four years ago, Tens of thousands of farmers held protests Requirement of better prices and legal guarantees for minimum state support for brackets, mainly wheat and rice.

“Even relatively wealthy farmers who sell surpluses do not see soon. And if they feel that way, imagine the difficult situation of the farmers for existence,” says Mr Dhar.

Beyond the internal discontent, trade negotiations add another layer of complexity.

Da says that the real challenge for India will be how to “agree with the United States, which reports US export of interest in agriculture, while balancing India’s interests in agriculture.”

So what is the way forward?

“India does not have to give the US pressure to open its agricultural sector,” says G -n -Snivava. He warns that this would break millions of livelihood, threatens food security and floods the local markets with cheap imports.

“India must prioritize its national interest and protect its rural economy. Trade cooperation should not come with the price of our farmers, food sovereignty or autonomy of politics.”

In the long run, experts claim that India should modernize its agriculture, making agriculture more conventional and become more competitive for increasing exports. UNUPOM KAUSIK OF AGRI -BUSINESS OLAM estimates that with the highest global yields, India can generate an excess of 200 million metric tonnes of falling -enough to deliver global trade and combat hunger.

“Somehow Trump holds us a mirror. We did a little to invest in the production capacity of agriculture,” says Dhar. “So far, purchase time is the best strategy -perhaps offering more cheaper imports of industrial goods as a compromise.”

But for the best result, according to him, India will have to “play hardball. In general, tell the United States – we are open to negotiations on other fronts, but do not destabilize our farming.”

Obviously, the challenge of India is to negotiate from a position of force – offering enough to hold Washington on the table while defending its rural spine. After all, in global trade, as in agriculture, time and patience, they often give the best harvest. The jury is outside whether Trump is ready to wait.