siliconindia | | December 20199sures the farmers that their yield will earn them some return while the availability of fertilizes, tools and HYV seeds at low prices are enabling them to purchase the necessary equipment for farming. Moreover, the govern-ment's policies to protect the land and water resources in order to promote sustainable growth are encouraging agricultural development.The Customs Tariffs on the Import of Agriculture ProductsThe custom tariffs on the import of agricultural goods are an example of indirect tax that is levied upon the agri-cultural goods when they are bought into India from a foreign country. These taxes are calculated by adding up Basic Customs Duty and Customs Handling Fee. They are determined by the Central Board of Excise and Customs which is a part of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. There are various non-tariffs measures that can be used to regulate the imports of agricultural products. These in-clude reducing taxes on domestic agricultural produce, providing farmers with agricultural tools and equipment at reduced prices so that they incur low costs in grow-ing crops and can hence sell their produce at affordable rates, and introducing measures to ensure that good qual-ity crops can be produced in our country so that our crops can compete with the exported agricultural produce.The Focus of the Export PoliciesIndia's export yield policy is mainly trying to focus upon diversifying our export basket, in doubling India's share in world agricultural exports, in following a holistic ap-proach to boost exports, in marketing and promoting `brand India', towards attracting private investments into producing and processing, and in following a farmer-cen-tric approach to ensure increased income for farmers.Taxes and subsidies on exports of agricultural prod-ucts are permitted by the government in order to encour-age the exports of Indian goods in the international mar-kets. The government ensures this by offering tax relief for exporters.The agricultural subsidies and other farmer facilities that are availed by farmers in India include loans granted to farmers at lower or no interest rates, Minimum Support Prices offered by the government on agricultural produce, subsidy on fertilizers, irrigation, power, seeds, etc. pur-chased by farmers. The Future The government holds the power to decide tariffs on the exports and imports of goods in a country to protect its domestic markets from being flooded by internation-al goods. And India has been fighting hard to keep this mandate with itself. Recently, India decided to opt-out of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) because that agreement would have put the Indian domes-tic industry and agriculture at risk by forming a free trade area with 15 countries. Hence, this decision by the Indian government is in spirit with the opinion that India will continue to hold power on deciding policy space.If a particular country is allowed to shield its agricul-tural produce from full tax on import and export tariff de-pends upon its own tariff policies and the trade pacts that it has signed with other neighbouring countries. If a coun-try in question has entered into a free trade agreement with other countries then the power to decide its export and import rates will depend upon what has been agreed upon in the trade agreement. An Insight on the measures to be taken to resolve the snags hindering agricul-ture and farmer's growthIn order to promote agricultural and farmer's growth in India, the steps that should be taken include-· Domestic production of crops should be encouraged.· Sustainable development of agriculture should be ensured where resources like land and water are used feasibly.· Production of high-quality crops should be encouraged.· Exports should be increased.· Investment in the agricultural sector should be encouraged. The government holds the power to decide tariffs on the exports and imports of goods in a country to protect its domestic markets from being flooded by international goods
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