With Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) evolving as farm produce aggregators, the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) has begun to focus on capacity building for these units to assist them in carrying out direct exports.
“Because of the contribution and support from FPOs and FPCs (farmer producer companies), there is good momentum and development in agri & food export. They also serve as aggregators and direct sourcing points. The ability to source directly from FPOS and FPCs is also convenient for exporters. APEDA is building capacity and providing support for them to engage in direct exports," according to M. Angamuthu, Chairman of APEDA.
"By March 31 of this year, we plan to train over 1,000 FPOs to become direct exporters. The RCMC (Registration cum Membership Certificate) and IEC (Importer-Exporter Code) documents will be provided so they can directly export and take advantage of all APEDA support for doing so,” he added.
APEDA has so far trained about 701 FPOs/FPCs in states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The increase in demand for Indian agricultural and food exports is indicative of the contribution of FPOs and FPCs. According to Angamuthu, the skilled FPOs will export a variety of goods, including millets, horticultural goods, and goods with a Geographical Indication (GI).
APEDA has developed a strong strategy to promote the export of millets and value-added products in order to reach a $100 million target by 2025. As part of its Millets Export Promotion Strategy, APEDA has also launched a comprehensive global campaign assessing India's potential and, as a result, has E-catalogued 30 importing countries and 21 millet-producing States. APEDA collaborates with Indian Missions to import courtiers in order to promote millets and value-added products.
India exports agricultural products to over 200 countries and is currently the eighth-largest agri-product exporter. APEDA-monitored agri-product exports increased by 16% to $17.435 billion from April to November in FY23, compared to $15.072 billion the previous year. During 2021-22, APEDA exports totaled $24.74 billion.
