June 2020, South Asia 
India’s post-COVID-19 agri ambitions hindered by fearmongering and locusts
Pearly Neo

India has repeatedly stressed that the country’s agricultural sector will emerge unscathed from and even achieve growth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, but injurious fearmongering and a severe locust threat seem to suggest otherwise. Just a few months back in March, India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare had viewed the COVID-19 pandemic as a market opportunity of sorts which would enable it to grab market share from China, which was deep in the throes of battling the outbreak. The ministry went as far as to identify 21 agricultural products that Indian exports could ‘benefit’ from as a result of COVID-19-related trade restrictions placed on China, including paddy (rice), onions, chillis, potatoes, vegetables, mangoes, grapes and honey. “[These] 21 agri tariff lines [show] where China’s global exports and India’s global exports are more than US$25m and where India is price and volume-wise competitive and capable to provide an alternative,”​ the ministry said at the time. “There may be opportunities for Indian exporters of agri-items, in case (sic) some countries impose restrictions on Chinese goods in response to outbreak of COVID-19. Opportunities may arise in case of (sic) other countries imposing import restriction on these tariff lines.”