In an effort to boost the export of organic agricultural products of North Eastern Region (NER) through the assistance of Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) hosted the Workshop-cum-Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) at Mizoram University in Aizawl.
During the programme, a consignment of Hatkora (local variety of citrus) sourced from farmers of Mamit district in Mizoram was exported to London and another consignment of Hatkora is being exported to Bangladesh.
It is worth noting that APEDA, the apex agricultural products export promotion organization under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry hosted the buyer seller meet in association with Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce & Industries, and North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC).
The BSM was organized 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.
According to PIB report, the potential crops for the export from Mizoram are pineapple, hatkora (citrus), dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruit, squash, anthurium flower, Mizo Ginger, Mizo chilli and grape wine.
Meanwhile, seventeen exporters and 58 FPOs participated in the BSM while 14 exhibitors representing the state government, coffee board, spices board, NABARD and NERAMAC attended the meet.
It provided an opportunity to the producers of Mizoram for showcasing their products and promote the exports as well as their wholesale and retail sales. The meet was inaugurated by the Agriculture Minister – C Lalrinsanga of Mizoram.
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. The field visits were carried out across all eight northeastern states.
APEDA, in association with the Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of Assam, organized an export promotion conference-cum-buyer seller meet at Aizawl in Mizoram on March 2021.
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.
APEDA also extended gratitude toward NER to undertake branding and promotion of North East products such as KIWI Wine, processed foods, carrying out a wet sampling of Joha Rice Pulao, Black Rice kheer, etc.
It encourages states to harness the potential of Agri produce exports, aiming to create a platform for the buyers to get the products directly from the producer group and the processors.
