Australian agriculture urged to look
to India
A new report released last
week by the Australia India Institute argues Australia could be doing more to
capitalise on massive growth in India. The report, called Unfinished Business:
Re-imagining the Australia-India Economic Relationship, finds that in the next
decade India may have to rely on imports of essential food because of climate
change, population growth, and inefficiencies in food production.
If we are smart, Australia
could help fill the void. Michael Moignard, a former trade commissioner to
India and author of the report, says that food and water remain critical
commodities in India. Without improvements in agriculture, India will soon
become reliant on imports of food that it is currently self sufficient in.
India is also expected to
experience a 30 per cent growth each year until 2016 in the organised food
sector which includes supermarkets. This will influence the type of processed
food purchased by Indian consumers who currently buy most of their food from
local markets and small shops.
The report states that
Australia is a significant supplier of pulses and lentils to India, and in
recent years has provided dairy products, wine and lamb. However apart from a few
retail products such as biscuits, fruit juice and cereals, Australian processed
food producers have not been hugely successful in penetrating the Indian
market.
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