ADT Project Consulting GmbH (lead) started recently in cooperation with AFC Agriculture and Finance Consultants GmbH the new bilateral cooperation project “Indo-German Cooperation on Agricultural Market Development”. The project is funded by the Federal German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The project implementation agreement was signed on August 5, 2021 and the project has a duration of initially 3 years.
During the last five decades, India has transformed itself from being a net importer of agriculture and food products to become a net agriculture and food exporter. During this period India has also become the world’s largest producer of pulses and spices and has emerged as the second largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables. However, despite significant reforms in the agricultural sector over the last years, agriculture in India still faces a variety of challenges: post-harvest infrastructure and marketing systems have not been able to keep pace with the expanding production and marketable surpluses for many commodities.
The Indo-German Cooperation on Agricultural Market Development project is intended to contribute to the sustainable economic growth of India’s agricultural sector and improve livelihoods in rural regions. The project’s goal is to support India’s strategy for modernizing agricultural markets. Specifically, the project endeavors to achieve three key results:
- Result 1: Establishment of a dialog platform on agricultural market development;
- Result 2: Strengthened capacities of government institutions and other relevant actors, aimed at improving the Indian agricultural marketing system; and
- Result 3: Farmer organizations are integrated into sustainable, market-based value chains.
Important project partners in India are the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) in New-Delhi and its associated institutions including the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in Jaipur; the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) in Faridabad at the national level; the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at the federal-state level; and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) at the local level.
The project also intends to work with representatives of relevant government institutions that do not report directly to DA&FW but are engaged with international export-import of agricultural commodities such as the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA). The project will also engage with other relevant non-government business organizations.
During first week of October 2021, physical meetings with key partners of the project took place in India. The project office is in Jaipur (Rajasthan) at NIAM.
