“Reforms in
Indian Agro-processing and Agriculture Sectors in the context of Unilateral and
Multilateral Trade Agreements”
Citation: Ganesh-Kumar, A., M. Panda and M. E.
Burfisher. 2006. “Reforms in Indian Agro-processing
and Agriculture Sectors in the context of Unilateral and Multilateral Trade
Agreements”. Report submitted to the Economic Research Service / United States
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., Working Paper 2006-011, Indira
Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai.
Abstract: In this paper, we explore the
potential impacts of trade and investment-related policy reforms on
We find
that trade and investment-related reforms in agro-processing together can help
the sector to grow. Policy reforms that
stimulate investment and help to improve productivity will be crucial in
offsetting the contractionary pressures of trade reform alone on the production
of processed agricultural products. We
also find that indirect effects on agro-processing from
Compared
to trade reform, comprehensive domestic reforms in the agro-processing and
agriculture sectors relating to investment are critical for achieving growth in
agro-processing. However, while the
impacts of trade reform per se seem
to be small, trade reform - by ushering in a higher degree of competition -
could itself be a stimulus for investment and productivity gains in
At
present, unilateral reforms, especially those that improve productivity in
agro-processing and in primary agriculture, are more
important to agro-processing than multilateral trade reforms. Nevertheless, our findings also suggest the
importance of pursuing a domestic reform agenda within a multilateral trading
strategy that can accommodate the expected economic growth of