India is a world leader in producing vegetables, milk, fruits, meat, poultry and fish. The agriculture sector is huge, employing more than two-thirds of the country’s workforce. Yet the lack of marketing, storage, packaging and processing limits advances in productivity.

USAID’s Strengthening Agriculture Marketing Systems program helps India develop marketing systems and build marketing relationships between private-public organizations and the central, state and local governments. The program links India’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Through training, consultations and access to U.S. agricultural research and experts, the program:

• Establishes marketing support systems such as information, grades and standards to foster the development of markets for Indian agricultural products domestically and internationally;
• Increases Indian institutions’ ability to introduce and share new procedures for quality and food safety standardization, crop and price forecasting, and market extension;
• Facilitates the development of warehousing; and
• Upgrade India’s existing marketing news information and marketing extension systems
• Fosters the growth of a commodities futures market.