The pain points that India's burgeoning farm exports don't reveal

Seen at $17.68 bn in April-Sept, the export performance is set to surpass all expectations. Yet, the poor show by buffalo meat and plantation crops tell a different story

Agriculture exports have been an outlier in the first six months of the financial year — a period that saw the economy slowing down due to the Covid-19 lockdown and drop in global demand. While exports of all other commodities suffered, agriculture held the fort.

The agriculture ministry claimed that between April and September 2020-21, or FY21 (the latest available data is till September), India’s agriculture exports rose almost 34 per cent in dollar terms, from $5.34 billion to $7.14 billion.

However, a closer look at the data reveals that a lot of the items are not part of this calculation.

The notable