New Delhi: India has registered a growth of 17.37% in agriculture exports during 2020-21 as compared to the last financial year.
This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today, an official release said.
Union Minister informed that to promote agricultural exports, the Government of India has introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) that harness the export potential of Indian agriculture and raise farmers’ income.
Department of Commerce has taken several steps to implement AEP at State/ District level, he stated.
State Level Monitoring Committees (SLMCs), Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports and Cluster Level Committees have been formed in a number of States and State-specific Action Plans have been prepared.
Country and product-specific action plans have also been formulated to promote exports.
A Farmer Connect Portal has been set up for providing a platform for farmers, Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives to interact with exporters.
Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs) have been organized in the clusters to provide export-market linkages.
The Minister stated that regular interactions, through video conferences, have been held with the Indian Missions abroad, to assess and exploit export opportunities. Country specific BSMs, through Indian Missions, have also been organized.
The Department of Commerce provides assistance through several other schemes to promote exports, including agriculture export viz. Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES), Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme, etc.
In addition, assistance to the exporters of agriculture products is also available under the export promotion schemes of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Tea Board, Coffee Board and Spices Board.
He further stated that the government has also introduced a Central Sector Scheme – ‘Transport and Marketing Assistance for Specified Agriculture Products’ – for providing assistance for the international component of freight, to mitigate the freight disadvantage for the export of agriculture products.
