Guwahati: Mizoram agriculture minister Pu C Lalrinsanga has invited investors to participate in the agricultural growth story and promote the locally-grown organic agricultural products of the state across the globe.
He was speaking at a Workshop-cum-Buyer Seller Meet( BSM) at Aizawl on Tuesday orgaisned by APEDA to boost agricultural and processed food products.
The Buyer Seller Meet was organised to promote exports of the potential agri-horti products from Mizoram and provide market linkage to farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and farmer producer companies from the northeastern states.
The meet provided an opportunity to the producers and processors of Mizoram to showcase their products and promote the exports as well as their wholesale and retail sales.
While seventeen exporters and 58 Farmer Producer Organisations participated in the BSM, 14 exhibitors representing the state government, coffee board, spices board, NABARD and NERAMAC attended the meet.
Mizoram commerce and Industry Minister R Lalthangliana, while addressing participants, stated about existing export opportunities of agricultural produce from Mizoram to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Senior officials from APEDA and other departments also held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Pu Tawnluia.
Vanlalramsanga Chawngthu, economic advisor of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while participating in the event, spoke about the potential of the exportation of agricultural products from Mizoram. He also stressed the potential for organic products exports from the state.
On making Mizoram an export hub of organic agricultural products, APEDA chairman Dr. M. Angamuthu said, “We all know that the northeastern region is a leader in organic products. We want to promote Mizoram’s purest form of organic in the country as well as across the globe in the days to come.”
Angamuthu said, “We should all work together and promote Mizoram as one of the finest destinations in terms of horticulture, value-added organic products and other range of products where we have a competitive and comparative advantage.”
After the meet, a consignment of Hatkora (a local variety of citrus) sourced from farmers of the Mamit district of Mizoram was exported to London and another consignment of Hatkora is being exported to Bangladesh.
The potential crops for export from Mizoram are pineapple, hatkora (citrus), dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruit, squash, anthurium flower, Mizo Ginger, Mizo chilli and grape wine.
With the intervention of APEDA, which is an export-promotion body under the Ministry of Commerce, there is a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
Due to the initiatives taken by APEDA, the NE 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 destinations of export have been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.
To provide potential market linkages, APEDA organised field visits of importers to have first-hand information about the qualitative cultivation practices being followed by farmers by inviting the importers from neighbouring countries, the Middle East, far Eastern countries, European nations and Australia, etc. The field visits were carried out in all eight states of region.
APEDA, in association with Assam’s Department of Commerce and Industry, organised an export promotion conference-cum-buyer seller meet at Aizawl in March 2021.
Besides, APEDA organised an international buyer-seller meet (BSM) in Guwahati on March 10, wherein exhibitors from across the state displayed a wide range of agri-horti products, including GI products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, processed food products, black rice, red rice, joha rice, spices, tea, coffee, honey, processed meat, spices and organic products. Importers from Sri Lanka, Dubai, Bangladesh, Oman, Netherlands, Singapore and Greece participated along with exporters from the northeastern and other states.
A national buyer-seller meet was organised by APEDA in Guwahati on June 24 to promote the export of organic products grown in Assam. APEDA also signed an MoU with Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat to conduct various training programmes on pre-harvest and post-harvest management and other research activities for the promotion of export from the region.
The APEDA promoted GI products from NER like bhut jolokia and Assam lemon, drawing the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had mentioned it during his Maan Ki Baat programme. Assam lemon is now exported regularly to London and the Middle East and as of now, more than 50 MT of Assam lemon has been exported.
Even during the Covid-19 period, APEDA showed no signs of abating and continued to push its export plans through virtual Buyer Seller Meet in association with the Embassy of India located in different countries with exporters and FPOs/FPCs from NER regarding the sourcing of pineapple, ginger, lemon, orange, among others. APEDA also organised virtual Trade Fairs during the pandemic and facilitated the export to foreign countries.
APEDA has also planned to undertake several other projects like capacity building of 80 budding entrepreneurs and exporters from the region, the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and the state govt. officials, organise skill development and training in food processing, value addition on horticultural produce.
APEDA also extended its support to NER to undertake branding and promotion of northeast products, such as Kiwi wine, processed foods, carrying out a wet sampling of joha rice pulao, black rice kheer, etc.
As a part of capacity building, APEDA organised skill development programmes for manufacturers, exporters and entrepreneurs to utilise the local produce for value addition and export. Training programmes are being held in different states of the Northeast in association with the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore (CFTRI) and Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), for five days.
With the APEDA’s intervention, Tripura’s Jack fruit was exported to London, and Nagaland’s King Chilli to London through a local exporter for the first time. Also, Assam’s local fruit called Leteku (Burmese Grape) was exported to Dubai and Assam’s Betel leaves have been regularly exported to London.
Tapping the export potential of pork and pork products, APEDA assisted the Assam government in setting up a modern pork processing facility at Nazira, which has a slaughtering capacity of 400 animals per day. The unit is ready and set to be commissioned soon.
APEDA organised a training programme on the promotion of organic pork export from Sikkim, which is an organic state of India, in association with the State Animal Husbandry Department. It has also developed guidelines for the export of fresh and processed pork with the help of NRC on pigs located at Rani, which is near Guwahati. In the NE region, Sikkim is the first state to have an organic certification agency, which was established in 2016 with the support of APEDA.
APEDA under its Agricultural Export Policy is encouraging states to harness the potential of agri-produce exports. It aims to create a platform for the buyers to get the products directly from the producer group and the processors.
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This should will hopefully set an example for other states as well. Very informative article