Eight states finalise action plan to boost agriculture export

Eight states have finalised their action plan to set up agri-product clusters to boost agriculture export, working in line with the Central government's plan to double export and farmer's income as well.

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, and Karnataka have finalised the state action plan while others are at different stages of finalisation of the action plan, said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in a statement.

To ensure effective implementation of the Agri Export Policy (AEP), APEDA nodal officers visited the product clusters at Jalandhar (Potato), Jodhpur (Isabgol), Banaskantha (Dairy products), Sangli (Grapes), Solapur (Pomegranate), Nagpur (Orange), Chittoor (Mango), Theni (Banana), Salem (Poultry products), Indore (Onion) and Chikkaballapur (Rose onion) last year.

"A market intelligence cell was set up in APEDA and the activity of dissemination of e-market intelligence reports comprising detailed market analysis, international trade issues, current scenario of the interest to Indian exporters in important markets and statistical information has been started from November 25, 2019," added the statement.

In 2019, APEDA held a series of meetings with the state government officials and other stakeholders for the preparation of State Action Plan which included all essential components like production clusters, capacity building, infrastructure and logistics and R & D and budget requirements for the implementation of AEP.

An MoU was signed with the National Cooperative Development Corporation to include co-operatives for their active role in AEP. A farmer connect portal has also been set up by APEDA on its website for providing a platform for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to interact with exporters. Over 800 FPOs have been registered on the portal, the press release said.