[Lifestyle] Trump wants India to buy US corn - but here's why it probably won't

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Why won't India buy even a single bushel of American corn?

That's the question US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised recently while criticising India's trade policies, taking a swipe at its market restrictions.

In another interview, Lutnick accused India of blocking US farmers and urged it to open its agricultural market - suggesting quotas or limits as a possible approach.

Agriculture is a key battleground in US President Donald Trump's escalating trade war, with tit-for-tat or reciprocal tariffs set to kick in on 2 April.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.Trump has repeatedly branded India a "tariff king" and a "big abuser" of trade ties.

For years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India's farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and interests of millions of small farmers.

To be sure, India's transformation from a food-deficient nation to a food-surplus powerhouse is one of its biggest success stories.

In the 1950s and '60s, the country relied on food aid to feed its po[CENSORED]tion, but a series of agricultural breakthroughs changed that. India became self-sufficient in staples, and became the world's largest milk producer. Rapid growth in horticulture, poultry and aquaculture expanded its food basket.

Today, India is not just feeding its 1.4 billion people but, as the world's eighth-largest agri-produce exporter, also shipping grains, fruits and dairy worldwide.

Yet, despite such major gains, Indian agriculture still lags in productivity, infrastructure and market access. Global price volatility and climate change add to the challenge. Crop yields lag far behind the global best. Small landholdings worsen the problem - Indian farmers work with less than a hectare on average, while their American counterparts had over 46 hectares in 2020.

No surprise then that productivity remains low - agriculture employs nearly half of India's workforce but accounts for just 15% of GDP. In comparison, less than 2% of the US po[CENSORED]tion depends on farming. With limited manufacturing jobs, more people are stuck in low-paying farm work, an unusual trend for a developing country.

This structural imbalance also shapes India's trade policies. Despite its farm surplus, India keeps tariffs high to shield its farmers from cheap imports. It maintains moderate to high tariffs - ranging from zero to 150% - on farm imports.

The weighted average tariff - the average duty rate per imported product - in India on US farm products is 37.7%, compared to 5.3% on Indian goods in the US, according to the Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c204q6n0lzvo