The government has introduced a slew of measures to facilitate exports
India’s agriculture exports during 2020-21 have registered an increase of 17.37 per cent as compared to exports during 2019-20.
The government has introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) to harness the 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 several 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 organised 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 organised.
The Department of Commerce assists in 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 assisting with the international component of freight, to mitigate the freight disadvantage for the export of agriculture products.
The information was given by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
