Beyond mangoes

India may have succeeded in getting the ban lifted on the export of mangoes to the US and Japan, after years of effort, but this may not be the end of the battle to get its fruits into lucrative markets overseas. Even for mangoes, which stand out for their quality, unfair barriers still exist in many countries, notably Australia and New Zealand. That is also the case with several other fruits and vegetables. The objections to disinfection procedures, raised by these countries to deny the entry of Indian horticultural products into their markets, happen to be the most common form of non-tariff trade barriers that Indian goods face in developed countries. This is an issue that should ideally be resolved by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) instead of through bilateral negotiations.

That said, it needs to be realised that such hurdles alone are not to be blamed for the country's poor showing on horticultural exports. Several issues at the domestic level also need to be addressed to increase India's presence in the global horticultural bazaar, where demand is growing rapidly, thanks to rising incomes and changing food habits. Though India accounts for nearly 15 per cent of the global fruit production and 11 per cent of vegetable output, and even though its production costs are among the lowest in the world, its share in export markets is a mere 0.5 per cent in fruits and less than 2 per cent in vegetables.

A recent World Bank-sponsored study on the causes of India's low horticultural exports shows that the real problems lie outside the horticulture sector. The most significant constraints are marketing inefficiencies, poor post-harvest management and high transportation costs. Consequently, the otherwise cost-competitive Indian horticultural goods fail on the price front when it comes to the destination retail markets. Indian transport and delivery costs turn out to be 20 to 30 per cent higher than in most other countries, and this is a limiting factor when it comes to distant markets like those of the US and the European Union. As a result, Indian exports are confined chiefly to neighbouring countries in South Asia, West Asia and East Asia.

What is needed is much greater attention to issues like transportation and post-harvest management at the domestic level, and getting the non-tariff barriers removed when it comes to international markets. Organisations like the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (Apeda) and the National Horticulture Board are trying to promote cold storage facilities at production sites and export outlets. But they alone cannot do the job. Exporters themselves need to create facilities like bulk handling and pre-cooling at the preliminary stage, before sending the produce for disinfection in the centres especially created for this purpose. Fortunately, the public sector research network has already come out with technologies for globally accepted disinfection procedures like irradiation and vapour heat treatment. But more research is needed on ways and means to improve the shelf life of fruits and vegetables so as to enable them to withstand sea transportation to cut freight costs. Quality enhancement treatments are vital for highly perishable fruits like litchi and grapes, for which good demand exists abroad. Unless such issues are addressed, the country's vast horticultural export potential will remain under-tapped.