An exporter must be aware of all the helps the government is offering to promote export of products. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority(APEDA) is one among such services provided by the government of India.
- APEDA, founded on February 13, 1986, was set up under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry once it realized the importance of agriculture and processed food exports.
- Primary objective of APEDA, according to the operational guidelines for the 15th finance commission cycle(2021-22 to 2025-26), is to undertake the development and promotion of export of following products.
- Fruits, vegetables and their products,
- Meat and meat products,
- Poultry and poultry products,
- Dairy products,
- Confectionary, biscuits and bakery products,
- Honey, jaggery and sugar products,
- Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds,
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages,
- Cereals and Cereal products,
- Groundnuts, peanuts and walnuts,
- Pickles, chutneys and papads,
- Guar Gum
- Floriculture and floriculture products,
- Herbal and medicinal plants.
- Cashew kernels, cashew nut shell liquid, kardanol
- Some of their functions include,
- Provide Financial assistance (with certain rules and conditions).
- Registration of persons as exporters of the scheduled products.
- Fixing of standards and specifications for the products that are to be exported.
- Carrying out inspection of meat and meat products in places where they are kept or handled, to ensure the quality of such products.
- Improving of packaging, and overseas marketing of products.
- Training in various aspects of industries connected with the products of export.
- Financial assistance is provided to exporters in three broad areas: Development of Export Infrastructure, Quality Development and Market Development.
- Development of Export Infrastructure - The objective of the scheme is to reduce losses caused due to spoilage and to ensure quality production of agro products. Under this component, assistance is provided for the following:
- Infrastructure such as pack house facilities with packing/grading lines
- Pre- cooling units with cold storages and refrigerated transportation etc.
- Cable system for handling of crops like banana
- Common infrastructure facilities
- Pre-shipment treatment facilities such as irradiation, Vapour Heat Treatment (VHT), Hot Water Dip Treatment (HWDT) for compliance to Phyto-Sanitary requirements of importing countries
- Infrastructure for processing facilities (process food sector) for addressing missing gaps which may include equipment like X-ray, Screening, Sortex, filth / metal detector, sensors, vibrators or any new equipment or technology for food safety and quality requirements
- Quality Development - Under this component, assistance is provided to comply with the prescribed standards of importing countries. Assistance under this component covers the following:
- Installation of quality management systems,
- Laboratory testing equipment,
- Hand held devicesfor capturing farmlevel peripheral coordinatesfortraceability systems and testing of samples etc.
- Testing of water, soil, residues or pesticides, veterinary drugs, hormones, toxins, heavy metal, contaminants etc.
- Market Development - This component helps exporters to achieve market access in new markets and help sustain their presence in the existing markets. The assistance under this component covers the following:
- Participation in International trade fairs
- Exchange of trade delegations
- Organizing buyer seller meets
- Developing packaging standards for new products and upgrading the existing standards
- APEDA has been providing service to agri-export community through its head office at New Delhi and 12 regional offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, UT of Jammu & Kashmir, Varanasi and Bhopal.
- APEDA organised a host of activities such as organising a virtual buyer-seller meet, showcasing Indian agri-exports strength at the Virtual trade fair platform, synergy with ministries and convergence of various schemes run by line ministries and concerned organisations.
Official website of APEDA: https://apeda.gov.in/
These news are collected from various sources on internet and put together for our readers.
