India’s free trade agreement with New Zealand has opened a new phase in agricultural trade, combining preferential access for selected New Zealand products with a cooperation programme intended to improve Indian farmers’ productivity, crop quality and post-harvest management.
The central test is whether the agreement can help India reduce avoidable losses between harvest and sale while strengthening farmers’ ability to compete in domestic and export markets. The agreement provides for agricultural action plans covering apples, kiwifruit and honey, with cooperation on planting material, orchard management, grower training, storage, supply chains and food safety.
At the same time, India has introduced tariff-rate quotas for selected New Zealand products, including apples, kiwifruit and Mānuka honey. These concessions are subject to product-specific conditions, including quantity limits and minimum import prices, rather than providing unrestricted access to the Indian market.
The agreement, which entered into force on October 20, 2026, therefore presents two connected questions: whether Indian farmers can gain access to better production and post-harvest technology, and whether the domestic supply chain can become more efficient as imported products enter under preferential conditions.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the agreement combines agricultural opportunities with safeguards for domestic producers.
“The Agricultural Productivity Partnership, with action plans for apples, kiwifruit and honey, establishment of Centres of Excellence, promote better orchard management, reduce post-harvest losses, and improve agricultural productivity, supporting stronger farm incomes across the country,” Goyal said in a Commerce Ministry statement on October 19. <Cite refs={[“turn919301search0”]}/>
Agricultural cooperation must deliver measurable results
The India-New Zealand Agricultural Productivity Partnership is intended to move cooperation beyond tariff reductions by bringing technical knowledge and agricultural practices to Indian growers.
The action plans cover three sectors: apples, kiwifruit and honey. The proposed interventions include improved planting material, capacity building, collaborative research, technical assistance for orchard management, post-harvest practices, supply-chain performance and food safety.
The government has identified Phase I sites for kiwifruit Centres of Excellence at Pfutsero in Nagaland and Magra in Uttarakhand. Apple and honey initiatives are also envisaged under the wider programme, although their proposed or planned status should not be confused with fully operational facilities.
The challenge is to establish how these interventions will reach farmers and what results they are expected to produce.
For apple growers, better orchard management, grading, storage and handling could improve the proportion of harvested fruit that reaches markets in saleable condition. For kiwifruit producers, access to suitable planting material and technical support could help improve cultivation and quality. In honey production, better practices and quality controls could help producers meet market requirements.
But establishing a training centre or distributing improved planting material is an intermediate step, not proof of higher farm incomes. The impact must be assessed through changes in yields, quality grades, rejection rates, post-harvest losses and prices received by farmers.
India’s horticultural supply chain includes growers, aggregators, commission agents, transporters, cold-storage operators, wholesalers and retailers. Losses or inefficiencies can occur at several points, from harvesting and packaging to transportation, storage and marketing. Better farm practices alone cannot address problems caused by inadequate storage, poor handling or weak access to buyers.
The programme’s effectiveness will therefore depend on coordination between agricultural research institutions, state horticulture departments, private businesses and farmer organisations.
A key question is whether smaller growers will be able to access the technology and infrastructure being promoted. Farmers with limited capital may struggle to invest in improved packaging, storage or modern cultivation methods without affordable finance, technical support and reliable market links.
The government should establish clear baselines and publish periodic results on the number of farmers reached, the area covered, improvements in productivity and the reduction in losses. Without comparable data before and after implementation, the impact of the partnership will be difficult to measure.
Import concessions raise the stakes for India’s food supply chain
The productivity initiative is taking place alongside changes in India’s agricultural import regime.
Under the FTA’s tariff schedule, eligible New Zealand apples can enter India at a concessional customs duty of 25% within a specified annual quota, compared with the prevailing 50% duty. The arrangement includes a minimum cost, insurance and freight value of US$1.25 per kg and a seasonal import window from April 1 to August 31. Imports outside the quota remain subject to the applicable most-favoured-nation duty.
The agreement’s tariff schedule provides for the apple quota to rise from 32,500 tonnes in the first year to 35,000 tonnes in the second year, followed by 37,500 tonnes in the third year and 40,000 tonnes in the fourth year. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s October 17 implementation notice, however, specifies no quota for the remainder of 2026 and 35,000 tonnes for the following year. The operational schedule should therefore be read alongside the agreement’s commencement date and the applicable notification.
India imported approximately 519,652 tonnes of apples from all countries, valued at US$424.6 million, in the reference period cited by the Commerce Ministry. New Zealand accounted for approximately 31,393 tonnes, valued at US$32.4 million.
These figures establish that New Zealand is an existing supplier, but they do not show how much additional fruit will enter India under the new concession or what effect it will have on domestic prices.
Lower import duties can reduce the landed cost of eligible shipments, but the final retail price also depends on freight, currency movements, storage, distribution costs and margins. Nor does the tariff concession guarantee that the entire quota will be used.
For Indian apple growers, the implications will depend on the volume and timing of imports, domestic harvest conditions, product quality and the prices paid by wholesalers. The effect could vary between regions and seasons.
The government has retained protections for sensitive agricultural sectors, while the selected fruit and honey concessions are managed through quotas, minimum-price requirements and seasonal conditions. It has also linked the selected products’ market access to agricultural productivity action plans and oversight through a Joint Agriculture Productivity Council.
This creates an implementation challenge for both governments: market access and agricultural cooperation must be tracked separately, even as their effects interact. The quota system can regulate the quantity entering under preferential terms, but it cannot by itself improve Indian storage capacity, reduce transport losses or raise farm-gate prices.
The FTA’s food-supply-chain test will ultimately be whether the agricultural partnership delivers practical improvements that farmers can use and whether those gains are reflected in measurable outcomes.
The relevant indicators are straightforward: operational Centres of Excellence, growers trained, adoption of improved practices, post-harvest loss rates, crop quality, farm-gate prices and access to markets. Import data and domestic price movements will also be needed to assess the effect of the concessions.
The agreement creates a framework for agricultural cooperation, but its success will depend on implementation rather than announcements. If the technology and supply-chain measures produce measurable results, Indian farmers could gain from improved productivity and quality. If implementation remains limited to plans and training programmes without measurable changes on farms, the promised gains will remain unproven.
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