THE MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (f) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 382 FOR ANSWER ON 30th MARCH, 2022 REGARDING “EXPORT OF AGRICULTURAL AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS”.
(a) to (c): The targets have been fixed only for those agricultural commodities, which are monitored under the weekly Trade Alert system of the Department of Commerce. Some of the major agriculture products like Wheat, Sugar and Cotton are included in the ‘Others’ category and no individual targets were fixed for such products. The targets fixed by the Government for export of agricultural and processed food products, during the current financial year are in the table below. Targets for 2022-23 have not yet been fixed.
Values in USD millions
S. No. Commodity Target 2021-22
1 Tea 1043
2 Coffee 1072
3 Rice 9468
4 Other Cereals 924
5 Tobacco 1146
6 Spices 4814
7 Cashew 775
8 Oil Meals 2340
9 Oil Seeds 1773
10 Fruits and Vegetables 3325
11 Cereal Preparations and Miscellaneous Processed Items 2294
12 Meat, Dairy and Poultry Products 4587
13 Marine Products 7809
During the period April 2021 to January 2022 of the current financial year, exports of agricultural products have amounted to USD 40.87 billion compared to USD 32.66 billion over the corresponding period of previous year, registering an increase of 25.14%. Of the products for which targets were fixed, export of some of the major products like Rice; Other Cereals; Coffee; Cereal Preparations and Miscellaneous Processed Items; Meat, Dairy & Poultry Products; and Marine Products would achieve or come very close to achieving the targets for 2021-22. Exports of some other major agriculture products like Wheat, Sugar and Cotton have registered a substantial increase during the current year.
(d): Rise in agricultural exports improves realisations for farmers and has a positive impact on their income. In order to ensure that the farmers benefit from exports, the Government has launched a Farmer Connect Portal for providing a platform for Farmer Producer Organisations/Companies (FPOs/FPCs) and cooperatives to directly interact with exporters.
(e): The Government is in constant touch with State Governments regarding the implementation of Agriculture Export Policy (AEP). 21 States and 2 UTs (Ladakh, A&N Islands) have finalized their respective State specific Action Plans to promote agriculture exports. 28 States & 4 UTs have nominated Nodal agencies to promote agriculture exports. It has been decided that the District as Export Hub (DEH) initiative would be utilized to achieve the objectives of Agriculture Export Policy. The State/UT level export monitoring committee has been set up in 26 States and 4UTs, chaired by the Chief Secretary and supported by the Regional Authorities of DGFT, autonomous bodies/EPCs under Department of Commerce, Customs, Plant/ animal Quarantine at the State level. At the Cluster level, the Cluster Facilitation cell/Committee is headed by District Collector/District Magistrate or Director-Agriculture/Horticulture and other stakeholders. 38 Cluster Level Committees have been formed in the cluster district(s) across several States so far.
(f): The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is constantly engaged in export promotion activities for agricultural & processed food products and has played an important role in implementation of AEP over the past three years. APEDA implements the ‘Agriculture & Processed Food Products Export Promotion Scheme’. Various developmental activities are undertaken and assistance to exporters is provided under different components of the scheme viz. Infrastructure Development, Market Development and Quality Development etc. APEDA has also been collaborating with the Indian Missions abroad for organising Virtual Trade Fairs, Virtual Buyer-Seller Meets and export promotion of GI products. APEDA has also facilitated trial shipments for new products with export potential and new destinations. To address the issue of stakeholders’ participation in the decision-making process for export promotion activities, the Department of Commerce has established Export Promotion Forums (EPFs) for individual products under the aegis of the APEDA. The EPFs have representation from trade/industry, line ministries/departments, regulatory agencies, research institutes, state governments etc. In all 9 EPFs have been formed for rice, banana, grapes, mango, onion, dairy products, nutri-cereals, pomegranate and floriculture respectively. APEDA has also played an important role in opening up of new markets for agricultural products in the recent past such as Canada, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Portugal, Indonesia, Iran etc. APEDA has been organising Capacity Building/training programs in the Agri-export Clusters'' and States in association with the State departments, SAUs, KVKs for the FPOs/FPCs/SHGs/exporters in order to provide export-market linkage to the farmer groups and to facilitate entrepreneurs in becoming prospective exporters. APEDA has also signed MoUs with a number of organisations such as NCUI, NCDC, NABARD, ASCI, QCI, IIT Delhi, ICFA, SFAC, TRIFED and AFC India Ltd. for cooperation in the field of agriculture export. APEDA has also made efforts to establish synergy with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying and DGFT to ensure optimum utilization of resources for development of agriculture exports.
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