Agri Exports Saw Growth of 17.37% in 2020-21: Govt

India’s agriculture exports during 2020-21 have registered an increase of 17.37% as compared to exports during 2019-20.

Commodity-wise details of India’s agriculture exports, during 2019-20 and 2020-21, are at Annexure-I.

3273420876402. of exports of agricultural products is an ongoing process. To promote agricultural exports, the Government has introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) to harness export potential of Indian agriculture and raise farmers’ income. Department of Commerce has taken several steps to implement AEP at State/ District level. 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. 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.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

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.

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.