Why PM Modi spoke of farmers, livestock rearers & fisherfolk amid US trade talks

Modi did not refer to the deadlocked negotiations or to Trump, including the US President’s unilateral action to impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods imported into the US.

But the Prime Minister’s clear identification of kisaan, pashupaalak and machhuaare, and placing their interests as his government’s sarvochch praathamikta (topmost priority) suggests clearly that the signal was to the US side that there are red lines as far as agriculture is concerned.

What are the concerns specific to the three primary agricultural producer-stakeholders that have hindered the finalisation of the India-US bilateral trade agreement?

#WATCH | Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, “For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know personally, I will have to pay a heavy price for it, but I am ready for it.… pic.twitter.com/W7ZO2Zy6EE

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025

Farmers

As far as the kisaan go, the main issue has to do with the US pressure on India to open up its domestic market to genetically modified (GM) soyabean and maize (corn). Both crops are widely grown in India – on some 13 million and 12 million hectares respectively.

However, average per-hectare corn yields in India, at around 3.5 tonnes, are a fraction of the 11 tonnes in the US. In soyabean, too, Indian average yields are just over 0.9 tonnes, as against the 3.5 tonnes in the US.

This difference is to a significant extent on account of American farmers cultivating GM varieties that can tolerate the application of herbicides such as glyphosate and glufosinate, or resist attacks by specific insect pests.

Indian farmer organisations, not surprisingly, fear that allowing imports of GM maize and soyabean from the US would lead to a crash in domestic prices. They consider such opening to be unfair, when the planting of GM crops (other than cotton) is not permitted in India.

The US also wants India to allow imports of ethanol for use as bio-fuel. Currently, only ethanol produced from domestically grown sugarcane, maize, and rice is used for blending up to 20% with petrol.

Sugar mills have opposed any move to import maize for bio-fuel purposes. They say that this will ultimately hurt India’s ganna kisaan – sugarcane farmers.

Livestock rearers

Coming to pashupaalak – there is all-round opposition from the Indian dairy industry to the imports of milk powder, butter oil, and cheese under any free trade agreement, whether with the US, the European Union, New Zealand, or Australia.

India levies 30% import duty on cheese, 40% on butter, and 60% on milk powder.

There is also the requirement – which the US claims is premised purely on religious and cultural grounds – that all imported dairy products should be derived from animals not fed on any formulation produced from the internal organs, bone meal or tissues of animals.

Any reduction of import duties, leave alone the relaxation of these non-tariff barriers, is unlikely in the present context.

Fisherfolk

In the case of machhuaare, the threat has less to do with imports and more with exports. India’s seafood exports to the US were valued at $2.48 billion in 2024, and a 32.5% growth has been posted in the first six months of this calendar year.

Given that the US is a major market, particularly for frozen shrimp, the latest Trump tariff of 50% can hugely impact aqua farmers in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu.

This is more so when much lower tariffs of 10-20% have been put on competing countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Vietnam.