OECD 2024 Report

In November 2024, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2024 report, highlighting global agricultural policy trends, with India having the highest negative support among 54 countries analyzed.

Key Points

Highest Implicit Taxation: In 2023, Indian farmers faced implicit taxation of $120 billion, making it the highest among 54 countries.
The taxation resulted from export bans and duties, which reduced the domestic prices of key agricultural commodities like rice, sugar, and onions to benefit consumers.
Impact of Export Restrictions: The Indian government introduced export restrictions on rice, de-oiled rice bran, sugar, and onions to stabilize domestic food prices. While this benefitted consumers, it significantly reduced farmers’ earnings compared to global market potential.
Negative Market Price Support (MPS): Due to these policies, India’s total market price support to farmers was negative by $110 billion in 2023, despite $10 billion in positive support through minimum support price (MSP) and budgetary transfers.
Budgetary Transfers and Net Support: Between 2021 and 2023, budgetary transfers to Indian farmers were 8.8% of gross farm receipts, whereas negative MPS accounted for 26.1%, resulting in a negative net support of 15.4%.
Global Comparison: India accounted for 62.5% of global implicit taxation to farmers in 2023, with its share of global negative support growing from 61% in 2000-02 to 75% in 2021-23.