Although India is a leading fruit producer in the world, the fresh fruit export from India is very small owing t o a number of constraints. These constraints relates to production practices, post harvest technologies, issues related to supply chain, market access and non- tariff restrictions and governmental policies.
7.1 Constraints for Export
India continues to be absent or at best a marginal player in most of the leading markets for its export of fresh fruits. Indian players have not succeeded in establishing direct linkages with buyers/consumers in importing countries, as a result of which a large proportion of exports are being further processed and re-exported by other countries.
Some of the major concerns for promoting the export relate to-
• Lack of exportable varieties (high fiber content, inappropriate appearance and texture and large size of stone)
• Lack of post-harvest treatment facilities such as of vapour heat treatment
• Lack of pack houses from farm to port
• High cost of obtaining certification for exports like Eurep-Gap
The issues can be categorized into “Supply Chain Issues” which are inherent to the domestic supply chain of food products and “Market Access Issues” which comprise of various parameters and factors driven by the requirements of the target countries.
7.2 Supply Chain Issues
• Uneconomic scale of operation
• Lack of consistency in supply and quality
• Lack of cost competitiveness due to statutory changes, intermediation and wastages losses
• Inadequate and inappropriate storage and distribution infrastructure
• Lack of technical support for the agro-industrial sector 7.3 Market Access Issues
• Non-Tariff Barriers: Non-tariff barriers can take various forms. Broadly these
• Import Policy Barriers
• Standards, Testing, Labelling and Certification requirements
• Anti-dumping and Countervailing Measures
• Export Subsidies and Domestic Support
• Government procurement
• Short product life cycle
• Lack of brand image
Most exports from India lack scale- for example the largest fresh produce exporter records annual sales of about Rs 500 million. The low volume translates into lack of economics in operation and mares exports uncompetitive. Hence, exporters are not able to establish themselves as long term players in the export market, and rely heavily on opportunistic businesses. These factors cumulatively translate into low investments in upgrading skill sets, product innovation, quality improvement and brand building.
7.4 Multiple Safety standards
The emergence of private food safety and quality standards mainly in developed countries is now a well-established fact. These standards operate alongside regulatory systems but in terms of market access and access to the shelves of the leading supermarkets in the rich countries, it become almost mandatory. With these standards becoming a global phenomenon, countries in the developing world face increasing constraints in exporting their food products to markets in the developed countries.
7.5 Technological Constraints
The major technology related constraints contributing to low productivity of horticultural crops and inferior quality of produce are:
• Vast majority of holdings are small and un-irrigated
• Large tracts of low and unproductive plantations needing replacement/
rejuvenation.
• Low productivity of crops due to inferior genetic stocks and poor management.
• Inadequate supply of quality’ planting materials of improved varieties o High incidence of pests and diseases.
• Heavy post harvest losses and low utilization in processing sector.
As per available literature, several studies have been conducted by various export institutions like APEDA ICAR, NHB, NABARD regarding constraints in export of
fruits and vegetables. They have highlighted numerous problems. A few of them are listed below-
• Complex supply chain is one of the main barriers in export of fruits and vegetables. In markets a number of small producers, commission agents are operating. Therefore, for a bulk purchase of lot, these numbers of functionaries are to be dealt, causing inconvenience and more post-harvest losses.
• Lack of continuous and adequate supply. Weather fluctuations, causing interrupted supply of fruits and vegetables in the market. Sometimes, weather also delayed arrivals, keeping prices on the boil for certain period.
• Inconsistent supply of exportable quality.
• Lack of forward/backward linkage between growers/suppliers and buyers/
exporters which affects the market potential.
• Highly perishable (short storage life and susceptible to diseases) resulting in high post-harvest losses.
• High freight cost and inadequate transport facilities.
• The disparity in wholesale and retail prices.
• Complex Procedures for Sampling/Product Testing
• High Cost of Certification
• Frequent and sudden impose of ban by importing country 7.6 Commercial constraints
According to the USDA economic report, the commercial constraints on fruits and vegetables include:
• Trade barriers: Natural trade barriers include high transportation costs to distant markets, and artificial barriers include legal measures such as protectionist policies. Liberalization of trade through international agreements has been instrumental in relaxing many legal trade barriers by reducing tariffs and by harmonizing the technical barriers to trade.
• Scientific phyto-sanitary requirements: Importing countries set the standards that potential trade partners must meet in order to protect human health or prevent the spread of pests and diseases. For instance, Japanese imports of US apples are limited to Red and Golden Delicious apples from Washington and Oregon.
The Japanese, who are mainly concerned with the spread of fire blight, impose
must be subjected to a cold treatment and fumigation with methyl bromide before shipment to Japan, and three inspections of US apple orchards during the production stage. Infestation by fruit flies (Tephritidae: Diptera), common in the tropics, is a major constraint to the production and export of tropical fruits.
• Technological innovations: Countries can increase their competitiveness and world market shares by providing higher quality products and promoting lower prices through technological innovations.
Table 7.1 represents the problems faced by exporters of fruits and vegetables from Gujarat. According to Researcher, different problems were identified in Gujarat through random survey method and for getting mean score Garret Ranking technique was employed.
Table 7.1 Problems faced by exporters of fruits and vegetables from Gujarat Sr.
No. Exporters perceives problems for export of fruits & Vegetables Mean
Score Rank
1 Difficulties in certification 4.0 1
2 Difficulties in custom clearance 3.9 2
3 Problems in quoting price with fluctuating exchange rates 3.9 3
4 Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures 3.8 4
5 Price fluctuation of the commodity supply at home country 3.7 5
6 Problem finding reliable foreign distributor 3.6 6
7 Competition from firms in foreign markets 3.5 7
8 Difficulty in collecting payment from customers abroad 3.5 7 9 Lack of capital to finance expansion into foreign markets 3.4 8 10 Lack of capacity dedicated to continuing supply of exports 3.3 9
11 Confusing foreign import regulations 3.3 9
12 Informational barrier 3.3 9
13 Lack of facilities like pre-cooling, cold-storage, pack house, etc. 3.1 10
14 Labelling and packaging requirement 3.1 10
15 Transportation cost and duration 3.1 10
The results revealed that the exporters of fruits and vegetables from Gujarat were facing several problems among which difficulties in certification ranked first followed by difficulties in custom clearance, problems in quoting price with fluctuating exchange rates, sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, price fluctuation of the commodity supply at home country, problem finding reliable foreign distributor, competition from firm in foreign markets, difficulty in collecting payment from customers abroad etc.