[ABS News Service/13.02.2023]
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA), which was established in 1986 and works under
the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, has achieved phenomenal success in the
promotion of export of agricultural products in its successful journey of 37
years.
Started
with a merely USD 0.6 billion export in 1987-88, the APEDA’s active
intervention took the export of agricultural products to a new height of USD
19.69 billion till April-December 2022-23 and expanded the export basket to
over 200 countries. In 2021-22, the APEDA exported agricultural products worth
USD 24.77 billion.
The target
given to APEDA in the current financial year (2022-23) is USD 23.56 billion,
out of which 84% i.e. USD 19.69 billion has been
achieved till December 2022, and the remaining target is expected to be
completed within the stipulated time period.
According
to the WTO Trade Data, India was ranked at 25th in 1986, which slipped further
to 28th in 1987 and at 29th position in 1988. However, the ranking of India
improved significantly as the county’s position moved to 10th rank in 2019
which improved further to 9th position in 2020 and at 8th rank in 2021.
Aiming to
take export of agricultural products to a new level, APEDA promoted IT-enabled
activities for ease of doing business in the promotion and development of
exports from India. APEDA has undertaken initiatives like paperless office
(re-engineering, digital signatures, electronic payment facility), APEDA Mobile
App, phase-wise delivery of online services, monitoring and evaluation, uniform
access, and virtual trade fair to make governance more efficient and effective.
APEDA’s
intervention led to setting up and upgrading the infrastructure of the country
for agri exports and augmenting quality of agri exports.
Keeping in
mind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘vocal for local’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, APEDA has been focusing on promotion
of exports of locally sourced GI (Geographical Indications) tagged as well as
indigenous, ethnic agricultural products. New products and new export
destinations have been identified and accordingly the trial shipments have been
facilitated.
As on date,
there are 417 registered GI products and of them around 150 GI tagged products
are agricultural and food GI out of which more than 100 registered GI products
fall under the category of APEDA scheduled products (Cereals, Fresh Fruits and
vegetables, processed products, etc).
Some of
ethnic and GI tagged products exported by India include dragon fruit, patented
village rice, jackfruit, jamun, Burmese grapes, dehydrated mahua flowers, and
puffed rice. GI varieties of mango, GI tagged Shahi litchi, Bhalia
wheat, Madurai malli, king chilli, Mihidana, Sitabhog, Dahanu Gholvad Sapota, Jalgaon banana, Vazhakulam
pineapple, Marayoor jaggery, Khasi Mandarin (GI) from
Meghalaya, etc.
The Agriculture Export Policy stepped in as an
Institutional mechanism in 2018 for promotion of agricultural exports in the
States for the first time with a focus on agriculture export-oriented
production, export promotion, better farmer realization and synchronization
with the policies and programmes of Govt. of India laying emphasis on
farmer-centric approach.
A Market
Intelligence Cell has been constituted in APEDA and the activity of
dissemination of E-market intelligence reports comprising detailed market
analysis has commenced.
A Farmer
Connect Portal has also been set up by APEDA on its website for providing a
platform for FPOs/FPCs, Cooperatives to interact with exporters.
Working in
tandem with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, APEDA has taken a giant
leap in making landlocked Purvanchal a new
destination of agri export activities by developing
Varanasi Agri – Export Hub (VAEH) in a record time. The Varanasi region, where
almost NIL export activities were happening due to lack of basic
infrastructure, is now abuzz with agri export
activities.
After the
intervention of APEDA, Varanasi region has recorded exemplary changes in the
export scenario and registered many first-of-its-kind achievements in a very
short span of time from Purvanchal region. The agri
exports from Himalayan belt, J&K to Ladakh was an achievement in
development of region with regard to agri exports.
The landlocked states such as North Eastern Region, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh spurred in agri exports when their products were sourced from farmers
and displayed in the retail chains of importing countries.
Non-Basmati
Rice has emerged as India’s top export item among the many agricultural and
processed food product exports under APEDA basket. With the export of USD 4663
million in nine months of 2022-23, it is recorded a significant contribution in
the current fiscal. Other top products in the APEDA export basket in 2022-23 is
Basmati Rice, Cereal preparations & Miscellaneous processed items and meat,
dairy & poultry products.
As a part
of the Indian Millets promotion on web, APEDA has designed, developed and
launched the Millets Portal. It has also created a separate portal Indian
Millet Exchange to promote millets.
Agricultural
sector is one of the key sectors of the Indian economy as it provides direct
employment to about 65% of the working population in the country and also forms
the basis of major key industries. Agriculture contributes about 20.2% to GDP
and about 14.1% India’s export of agricultural products during 2020-21.
Realising
the importance of agriculture and processed food products export from the
country, the Government in 1986 had set up Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) through an Act of Parliament
under the Commerce Ministry. Then the newly created body replaced the then
existing Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC). The APEDA had been
undertaking most of the activities as per its mandate and scope of work
allocated spanning its 14 product categories which mainly includes the sector
of fruits and vegetables, processed fruits and vegetables, animal, dairy and
poultry products and cereals.
Over the
years, APEDA has been handling issues concerning product safety, quality and
global promotion for all its product categories, compromising more than 700
products. With the agriculture awareness about environmental and food safety
issues in the importing countries and constantly additional food norms and
consumer preferences, APEDA has been constantly sensitizing its trade exporters
about export requirements and also providing assistance for setting up of
infrastructure facilities for common uses and as well as by the concerned
member exporters for having export oriented production
for exports from the country.
Considering
the importance of food safety and traceability required by the importing
countries of developed economies, APEDA took a number of initiatives in the
area of quality development such as preparation of standards, procedures for
identified potential products, development of residue monitoring protocol,
recognition of laboratories and implementation of traceability systems, etc.
The
Government of India through the Ministry of Commerce initiated development of
National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which was approved by the
Government on May 2, 2001 and APEDA designated as Secretariat for NPOP.
Basmati
Export Development Foundation (BEDF) organizes workshops/capacity building
programmes for stakeholders across the country.
The
visionary approach, aggressive and consistent efforts of APEDA has enabled
India to position itself as a consistent and quality supplier of agri products.