The Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) in collaboration with the Meghalaya Government felicitated the maiden export shipment of Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged Khasi Mandarin oranges to Dubai.
The trial export shipment of the fruit has been sourced from Jirang-based Farmer Producer Company (FPC) under Ri Bhoi district.
#APEDA in collaboration with #Meghalaya government felicitated maiden export shipment of #GI tagged #Khasi Mandarin #orange to #Dubai.#aatmanirbharbharat @PIBShillong pic.twitter.com/W1wz3IP0Zz
— APEDA (@APEDADOC) December 1, 2022
मेघालय के खासी मैंडरिन संतरे पहुंचे दुबई,
Geographical Indication टैग मिलने से किसानों के जीवन में ख़ुशियाँ आई। pic.twitter.com/MkEleDgZ9x— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) December 2, 2022
These oranges are grown under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), which is a sub-mission under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
According to reports, the shipment was flagged off by the Agriculture Secretary of Meghalaya Government – S Sadhu. While, the APEDA chairman – M Angamuthu virtually addressed the gathering and stressed on transforming the northeastern region into a hub of export for organic products.
It is worth noting that APEDA, the apex agricultural products export promotion organization under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently hosted the Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) in association with Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce & Industries, and North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC).
It aims to promote the export of the potential agri-horti products from Mizoram and provide market linkage to farmers, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Farmer Producer Companies from the northeastern state.
Besides, the intervention of APEDA led to a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from the eight northeastern states, like – Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
The region witnessed an 85.34 percent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.
To provide potential market linkages, APEDA organized field visits of importers to have first hand information about the qualitative cultivation practices being followed by farmers by inviting the importers from the neighbouring countries, the Middle East, far Eastern countries, European nations and Australia, etc.
During the unprecedented times of COVID-19 period, APEDA continued to push its export plans through Virtual Buyer Seller Meet (BSM), in association with the Embassy of India located in different countries with exporters and FPOs/FPCs from northeastern region regarding the sourcing of pineapple, ginger, lemon, orange, etc.
APEDA also organized the Virtual Trade Fairs during the pandemic and facilitated the export to foreign countries.
It has also planned to undertake several other projects like capacity building of 80 budding entrepreneurs and exporters from the region, FPOs and FPCs and the state government officials to organize skill development and training in food processing, value addition on horticultural produce, etc.
