自2007年以来，印度和欧盟一直在谈判一个自由贸易协定（自由贸易协定）-涵盖商品和服务，投资，知识产权和政府采购的贸易-这是充满了问题。到现在为止，已经举行了十轮谈判轮。该协议预计将于2011年年中敲定。
印度-欧盟自由贸易区议程包括对所有可贸易商品包括农产品的大规模关税削减。媒体报道显示，印度已经同意取消所有可贸易商品的百分之90的关税，而正在进行的谈判的目的是进一步消除关税水平。
目前，印度的农产品应用关税水平远高于欧盟的关税水平，因此，大规模的关税削减和由此产生的进口激增的影响将是深远的印度农业。除了大幅降低关税外，拟议中的协议还规定了其他一些条款，这也对印度农业经济产生不利影响。
Since 2007, India and EU have been negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) - covering trade in goods and services, investments, intellectual property rights and government procurement - that is fraught with problems. Till now, ten negotiating rounds have been held. The agreement is expected to be finalized by mid-2011.
The India-EU FTA agenda includes massive tariff reductions in all tradable goods including agricultural products. The media reports suggest that India has already agreed to eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of all tradable goods and the ongoing negotiations are aimed at eliminating tariff levels even further.
Currently, India's applied tariff levels on agricultural goods are much higher than those of the EU and therefore the implications of massive tariff reductions and the resultant import surge would be far reaching on Indian agriculture. In addition to drastic tariff reduction, there are several other provisions under the proposed agreement which could also adversely impact India's agricultural economy.
The State of India's Agriculture 印度农业状况
Although the share of agriculture in India's GDP is declining over the years (from 30% in the early nineties to 17% in 2008), a large proportion of population is still dependent on this sector for employment and livelihood. The agricultural sector employs nearly 60% of labour force.
Unlike Europe, Indian agriculture is dominated by a large number of small scale holdings. The average farm size in India is just 1.3 hectares, as compared to 67 hectares in the UK and 50 hectares in France. The small farms are essentially subsistence holdings and dependent on rain-fed agriculture. In rural India, women account for more than half of the agricultural workforce. Close to 150 million work as agricultural labourers, many with daily wages below Rs.20 per day.
For the past two decades, Indian agriculture is witnessing a deceleration in growth. One of the most alarming trends is the decline in both public and private investments in agriculture. The agrarian distress is due to several factors including high input costs, lack of cheap credit from institutional sources, dependence on monsoons, lack of infrastructure, volatility in crop prices and low returns. The agrarian distress is further compounded by the lack of non-farm employment opportunities in the rural India. The booming service sector cannot absorb India's surplus labour force. The increasing incidence of farmers' suicides is a symptomatic of a much larger crisis afflicting the agriculture sector.
India's Agricultural Trade 印度农产品贸易
Post-Independence, the thrust of agricultural policy in India was to achieve self-sufficiency and therefore the trade in agricultural goods was rather limited. For several decades, India used specific tariffs and tariff rate quota (TRQ) to protect sensitive agricultural commodities from competitive imports. However, agriculture trade received a major boost in the 1990s with the launch of neoliberal economic reforms and the implementation of Uruguay Round Agreement.
Unlike Brazil and China, India is still a marginal player in world agricultural trade. At present, India accounts for less than 2 per cent of the world trade in agriculture. Agricultural exports comprise 12 percent of India's total exports while the share of agriculture in total imports is 7 percent.
India's agricultural exports consist of three categories: commodities and raw products (low in value but high in volume), semi-raw products (intermediate value and limited volume) and processed products (high value but low in volume). India's agricultural imports mainly consists of intermediate products (accounting for 56% of imports) followed by processed produ
