‘India brings to the table an incredible wealth of food sector experience and the ability to operate one of the world’s largest food supply chains’ | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose food security is based on imports from global markets, is now focusing on the twin objectives of food access and preparedness to face a supply chain crisis. India, the world’s second largest food producer, is an essential partner in the UAE’s ambition to strengthen food security. The India-UAE food security partnership benefits from several points of convergence.
multiple abilities
India has harnessed its vast arable land, highly favorable climate, and a large and growing food production and processing sector to position itself as a global agri-export powerhouse. In addition to serving global markets with its diverse agricultural products, India has, in recent years, acted as a humanitarian provider of food to developing countries, in recognition of its evolving role in advancing regional and global food security. Demonstrated awareness of India has made a major budgetary outlay towards setting up food parks on a large scale, with due emphasis on modern supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. These investments, complemented by how India has positioned its food sector to benefit from bilateral trade agreements, reflect the country’s strong and continued intent to make the most of its agri-potentials in the global food market .
In parallel, India runs the Public Distribution System, the world’s largest food subsidy program, providing subsidized food grains to some 800 million citizens, assuring its people of daily, affordable food. Equally commendable is the Prime Minister’s comprehensive plan for India’s ‘Samagra Poshan (Nutrition) Campaign’, the world’s largest nutrition program for children and women. As part of its G-20 Presidency, India is promoting the consumption and cultivation of millets – nutritious, drought-resistant, sustainable, crops – demonstrating the resilience India offers to the global food security dialogue does. In the area of food security, India’s G-20 presidency seeks to address the three Cs of “Covid, conflict and climate” (to borrow from India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s address last year), for food security Harmful issues in India and around the world.
What the UAE brings to the table
Viewed together, India brings an incredible wealth of food sector experience and the ability to operate the world’s largest food supply chains – formidable capabilities that are strengthening the India-UAE food security partnership in a variety of ways. During the I2U2 (India, Israel, United Arab Emirates and United States) summit in July last year, the United Arab Emirates invested $2 billion to build food parks in India (in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat), while A food agreement was signed. The security corridor on the sidelines of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) (with logistics partner DP World) has furthered India’s envisioned presence on the global food value chain beyond the UAE.
The corridor could potentially start a route for food made and processed in India, starting its journey on the Indian coast of the Arabian Sea, passing through the UAE, and on its way to key international markets . With its potential to establish high-volume trade in food, the corridor has emerged as a world-class template for successful agri-trade for India, while providing greater productivity, efficiency and employment for its millions of workers and employees. Also unlocking development.
For the UAE, the benefits go beyond maintaining and diversifying its food reserves, and trade ties could enable the emirate to take advantage of its strategically located location between Asia and Europe to compete with India in the West Asia and Africa region. To serve as food export gateway of India. , Given the food corridor’s incredible business potential, several UAE-based companies have expressed interest in building a supporting logistics and infrastructure pipeline to accelerate trade and strengthen the food corridor.
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, UAE’s largest free trade zone, launched Agriota, an agri-trade and commodities platform to connect Indian farmers with food companies in the UAE. Agriota gives millions of Indian farmers the opportunity to directly access the entirety of the UAE’s food ecosystem (processing companies, traders, wholesalers) and stock their products in Emirati stores. With this initiative, a consortium of UAE-based entities is investing up to $7 billion in mega food parks, contract farming and agri-commodities sourcing in India. The initiative will include mega food parks, logistics and warehouse hubs, and fruit and vegetable hubs.
Benefit
There is a lot that India stands to gain from UAE private sector projects spread across its agriculture and food processing sector. Those projects would create millions of non-farm jobs while helping farmers find better prices for their products. Underpinned by the UAE’s infrastructural capabilities, India’s agricultural products will have more flexible and diverse routes to the global market.
India’s G20 Presidency provides an opportune opportunity for both India and the UAE to showcase viable strategies and frameworks that can underpin food security in the global south. As it sets the global developmental agenda, India may consider leveraging and strengthening trade routes with the UAE to create a sustainable, inclusive, efficient and resilient future of food.
Abdulnasir Alshali, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to India