Why are thousands of small and marginal farmers in Maharashtra rejoicing about India-U.K. FTA?

In the village of Nilwande, 50 kilometers from Nashik City, Chhaya Thete, 35, wakes up early in the morning to send his two children to a private English middle school about an hour away from his village. Tiffins is packaged, the meals are cooked, then the stalks in the vineyard go to the farm to see if they change color. This time, due to seasonal rain, it is concerned that there will be diseases in the leaves and the yield may be reduced. However, there is something he looks at this year – export quality comes in increasing grapes. The Indian grapes were now kicking about the Indian-England free trade agreement, where England will enter without a customs-free. This woman has a two -acre marginal land for the farmer, it comes better, better living standard and some disposable revenues.

The Nashik region is called the Capital of Grapes of India. In 2023-24, India exported 3 lakh metric tons of grapes over $ 400 million. Maharashtra is the biggest producer. England has always been one of our best importers. And most of the grapes grown in Nashik’s fertile country go to the European market.

With the Indian-England Free Trade Agreement, Indian grapes will now be more competitive in the European market and will have a better chance in front of competitors who have to export to England without any tarriff such as South Africa and Chile. Our grapes have previously been taken by an eight percent tarriff. However, for small and marginal farmers, the majority in India, the chance of exploiting this opportunity comes with the power of better collective farming.

In the last decade, Chhalaya paid back a bank loan with her husband Dnyyaneshwar Thete, bought more land for grape transplantation, and built a small bungalow on land where a modest house with reeds stopped. It develops some new and special grape varieties such as intermediate. And chhaya thete is not alone.

In the neighboring village, Vijay Wadje and his young son are equally excited. They have been developing some specific grapes for export for a while. And the sending experience for export was different from the experience of selling products in the domestic market.

“I have been doing grape farming for 25 years. Previously, I have been developing the diversity of Sonaka. I have done it for almost 10 years and I have sold products in the domestic market. But I just got a bad rate, it was not fixed. We had to pack grapes. Since I have, Thompson, intermediate varieties. Each ranging of 2.5 acres.

23 -year -old Rahul Wadje, who completed B.Sc physics, joined his father in agriculture three years ago while making a part -time agricultural diploma. One of a few young people who want to continue farming. Others are moving away from family farms, looking for private or government affairs. Orum I want to continue farming. But this is not enough. At the same time, I want to start an allied business with agriculture, such as providing hardware or property for agriculture, ”he said. He consciously performs experiments on the farm to improve quality and is aware of the strict quality control measures that farmers need to buy to make strict export norms.

“We test our land five times a year. We testing our bond regularly. Leaf stem test is very important. The European market is very solid. Taste, color, variation. They want each fruit to be the same taste and color. They want them to have tastes and colors. They do not want chemicals in ice norms.

Collective farming behind the changing lengths. Sahyadri Farms, all of which are a farmer production company, are part of 14,000 farmers associated with Farms. In a country where more than 90 percent of farmers are small and marginal farmers, collective gave them the power and power to produce volumes to stand in the competitive international market.

‘Make or die’ status

“When it comes to being competitive in the international market, the only solution for a country where most farmers have less than one hectares of land. More than 30 new varieties are related to Sahyadri for Sahyadri.

The company said FTA will provide at least 15 percent better return for farmers. “For grapes, India will have great advantages. Volume will increase due to fair competition. In addition to grapes, there will be greater opportunities for other gardening commodity pomegranate, mango, citrus.

Published – 15 August 2025 02:40