The Maharashtra government on February 25 unveiled the state’s Agriculture Export Policy with a focus on promoting shipments of 21 agricultural commodities.

The Centre launched the Agriculture Export Policy in December 2018 and directed states to formulate their own policy, focused on promoting exports of unique region-specific products and those with geographical indication certification. Following the directive of the Centre, the Maharashtra government had set up a committee in May 2019 to draft a policy.

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What does the policy state?

The Maharashtra government identified 21 commodity-specific clusters for export promotion. These included Alphonso mango, Kesar mango, banana, pomegranate, onion, cashew, orange, grapes, sweet lime, floriculture, raisin, non-Basmati rice, pulses and cereals, vegetables, oilseeds, jaggery, spices (red chilli and turmeric), dairy products, fisheries and animal products.

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The state has received the GI tag for 26 agricultural products and the export policy will focus on boosting exports of these products, Sunil Pawar, Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board, told Financial Express. The board will act as the nodal agency for promotion of agri-exports.

Apart from this, the policy will help in exporting organic products, creating infrastructure and developing sea protocol and trial consignments. Under the AEP, the state will hire international consultants for post-harvest management and declare pest-free areas for certain products. It will also engage in the implementation of effective traceability system.

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Commodity boards like the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) will provide a framework for the ownership of the supply chain, Financial Express reported. This will include farmer registrations, farmer training through technical organisations, FPO formation, provision of quality inputs, price discovery and third-party certification.

How will the policy help?

The policy focuses on exports which have the potential of increasing the net income of farmers by about 40-45 percent, The Economic Times quoted Anoop Kumar, Chief Secretary (Cooperation and Marketing), Maharashtra, as telling stakeholders of the agriculture export chain.

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“The domestic market has limited capacity to give remunerative returns to farmers," Kumar said.

The AEP will also help in developing entrepreneurs in agriculture exports and diversify the export basket.

According to the Maharashtra AEP, currently post-harvest losses are at 5-10 percent for non-perishable goods and about 30 percent for perishable items.

Where do other states stand?

Since the Centre launched the AEP in 2018, 21 states and two Union Territories have finalised their state-specific action plans.

Across the country, the AEP identified over 41 clusters for export promotion of 18 products, including Shopian (Jammu and Kashmir) and Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh) for apples, Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh) and Theni (Tamil Nadu) for bananas, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for mangoes, Nashik (Maharashtra) for grapes, Siphahijala (Tripura) for pineapples and West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for turmeric.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Feb 28, 2022 6:55 PM IST