Notwithstanding Covid-19 challenges, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has scripted a new success story by achieving 90 per cent of the export target fixed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the financial year 2021-22.

The APEDA has successfully exported agricultural and processed food products worth USD 21.5 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal and is all set to achieve the annual export target of USD 23.71 billion for 2021-22.

This comes at a time when the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi lauded the farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers and exporters after India has achieved the ambitious target of USD 400 Billion of goods exports nine days ahead of the schedule in the current fiscal.

APEDA has a share of more than 5 per cent in achieving this target of USD 400 billion of mercantile exports in the current fiscal.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, “India set an ambitious target of USD 400 Billion of goods exports and achieved this target for the first time ever. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey.”

Being the highest foreign exchange earner, 91 per cent of rice export target of USD 8.67 billion has been achieved by APEDA so far. Rice exports has crossed USD 8.67 billion from April-February in the current fiscal, India has exported rice worth USD 8.62 billion, while the export of other cereals has jumped to 105 per cent of the export target of USD 847 million.

In the fruits and vegetables category, against the export target of USD 3048 million till February, APEDA has exported F&V worth of USD 2506 million, which is 75 per cent of the total target.

The cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items have been exported to the tune of USD 2036 million which is 89 per cent of the export target of USD 2102 million till February in the current fiscal year, while the export of meat, dairy and products has been recorded at USD 3771 million, which is 82 per cent of the USD 4205 million export target fixed till February 2022.

The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at USD 1742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched USD 358 million, while other cereals registered a growth of 66 per cent by fetching USD 869 million during April-January 2021-22 over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched USD 527 million.

Meat, dairy and poultry products exports grew over 13 per cent standing at USD 3408 million in April-January 2021-22 compared to USD 3005 million in the corresponding ten-month period of 2020-21. Fruits and vegetables exports were up by 16 per cent to touch USD 1207 million during April-January 2021-22 against USD 1037 million in April-January 2020-21, while processed fruits and vegetables exports were up by 11 per cent to reach USD 1269 million during first ten months of 2021-22 against USD 1143 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

For promoting exports of unique products during the year, APEDA organized series of flag off events where Geographical Identification (GI) certified Dahanu Gholvad Chikoo, Jalgaon Banana and Marathwada Kesar sourced from farmers in Maharashtra were exported for the first time. APEDA facilitated the first consignment of Leteku (Burmese Grape), a fruit rich in vitamin C and Iron, from Guwahati airport to Dubai, besides the fresh jackfruit from Tripura to UK and Germany through Guwahati.

The first consignment of fresh ‘Raja Mircha’ also referred as king chilli was exported from Nagaland to London and Honey was exported for the first time from Assam to Dubai.  The first consignment of  GI tagged Nendran banana from Kerala to Singapore and the value added products from Jackfruit and Passion fruit were exported to New Zealand. The first consignment of GI tagged Vazhakulam Pineapple to Dubai and Sharjah and GI tagged Marayoor Jaggery from Marayoor, Idukki, Kerala to Dubai was also facilitated by APEDA.

For the first time APEDA facilitated exports of banana from Lakhimpur, UP to Iran and five traditional varieties of rice from Gujarat - Gujarat 17 Rice (Jeerasar/Jeera Samba), Surti Kolam Rice, Ambemohar Rice, Kali Mooch Rice and Indrayani Rice was exported to the United Kingdom.

APEDA also supported exports of Himalayan Millets (Organic Barnyard, Finger Millets and Amaranthus) to Vietnam for the first time from Uttarakhand and shipment of puffed rice sourced from Cuttack, Odisha has been exported to Malaysia via Vizag seaport.

“We continue to provide assistance to exporters based on clusters approach in collaboration with state governments while taking into consideration objective of Agriculture Export Policy, 2018,” Dr. M. Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, said.

Some of the initiatives taken by APEDA to boost agri-exports in the last couple of years are as below:

Agriculture Export Policy implementation in collaboration with states

• 28 States and 4 UTs have appointed the Nodal agency and Nodal officers and State level Monitoring Committees have been formed in 26 States and 4 UTs.
• Twenty two States and 2 UTs (Ladakh/ A&N Islands) have finalized the State specific Agri Export Action Plan viz. Maharashtra, U.P., Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, M.P., Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa.

Cluster development activities

• Thirty two meetings in the second round of cluster development through virtual mode have been organised. The major interventions required have been identified and existing infrastructure has been mapped.
• Thirty eight Cluster level committees have been notified in several cluster districts across the States.
• Exports of horticulture produce has taken place from the clusters of Anantapur (Banana), Theni (Banana), Nagpur (Orange), Nashik (Grapes), Chikaballapura (Rose Onion).
• Synergy with Line Ministries for cluster development - Efforts have been made for having a synergy with the identified Clusters of MoA&FW (CDP-NHB), MoFPI (PMFME) and DGFT.

Creation of Export Promotion Forums (EPFs)

• To give impetus to the export of potential products as well as to remove the bottlenecks in the supply chain, APEDA created Export  Promotion Forums (EPFs) under the chairmanship of Chairman, APEDA and having  representatives of  Department of Commerce, Dept. of Agriculture, State Govts., National Referral Laboratories & top 10 leading exporters of each product for Grapes,  Onions,  Mango,  Banana,  Rice,  Dairy Products,  Pomegranate,  Floriculture and  Nutri Cereals.

Accreditation/Compliance/Enforcement Under National Programme for Organic Production

• Overseas accreditation has been granted to a certificate body for certification in European Union.
• Accreditation of a Certification Body for certification as per NPOP in European Union.
• The mutual recognition with Taiwan has been concluded. This has been the first MRS under NPOP.
• The accredited Certification Bodies have been increased to 32. 
• Export of organic products during April –February 2022 has been 700 million USD. India exports mainly to USA, EU, Canada, Switzerland and Great Britain. 

Promotion of GI products

• In order to promote the exports of GI products, as emphasised by the Prime Minister, two V-BSMs have been organised with the Embassies of UAE and USA.
• APEDA officials have participated in several District level meetings for deliberation and promotion of GI registered products like Banganpalli mango in Andhra Pradesh, Govindbhog rice in West Bengal, Black rice in Manipur, Assam ginger etc.
• An exclusive new section for GI products has been created in the APEDA portal and 112 GI registered agriproducts have been identified.
•  Development of traceability system for GI products has been initiated.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

• An MoU has been signed by APEDA and ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute (ICAR-CCRI), Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• APEDA signed MOU with Jawahar Lal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur on 17th December, 2021 to boost farmers income and exports from Madhya Pradesh.
• MoU signed between Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and APEDA on 5^th October, 2021 in Srinagar on mutual areas of cooperation for enhancing exports from the region.

The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products has been also largely due to the various initiatives taken by APEDA such as organizing B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product specific and general marketing campaigns by active involvement of Indian Embassies.

APEDA also assists in upgradation and strengthening of recognized laboratories for export testing and residue monitoring plans. APEDA also provides assistance under the financial assistance schemes of infrastructure development, quality improvement and market development for boosting export of agricultural products.

APEDA organizes participation of exporters in the International Trade Fairs, which provides a platform to the exporters to market their food products in the global marketplace. APEDA also organizes national events like AAHAR, Organic World Congress, BioFach India etc. to promote agri-exports.

In order to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, APEDA has recognized 220 labs across India to provide services of testing to a wide range of products to exporters.

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AM/PK/MS