Union ministry of commerce and industry on December 1 felicitated the trial export shipment of GI-tagged Khasi Mandarin orange of Meghalaya to Dubai in association with Meghalaya’s ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare.
The project is a part of its initiatives to promote exports of locally-sourced Geographical Indications (GI) tagged agricultural products,
The Union ministry of commerce and industry has taken the initiative through its apex agricultural export promotion body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
The trial shipment started with one tonne of the organic juicy citrus fruit sourced from Jirang-based FPC (farmer producer company) under the Ri Bhoi district, Meghalaya. The Khasi Mandarin oranges are grown under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), which is a sub-mission under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
The shipment was flagged off by S Sadhu, agriculture secretary, Government of Meghalaya, while APEDA chairman M Angamuthu addressed the gathering virtually and stressed on making the Northeast region a hub of organic products’ export.
The GI of Meghalaya- Khasi Mandarin is set to go global!
Trial shipments of Khasi Mandarin sent to Dubai by the Department of Horticulture, GoM under #MOVCDNER scheme in collaboration with @APEDADOC from Jirang FPC.
More power to our farmers!@narendramodi @nstomar @AgriGoI pic.twitter.com/WxrDlUb8Lm
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) December 1, 2022
“It’s a fact that the North Eastern Region is a leader in organic products. The time is apt to promote Meghalaya’s purest form of organic oraanges in the country as well as across the globe. So, let us work together and promote horticulture, value-added organic products and other products of Meghalaya,” he said.
“With the intervention of APEDA, there is a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from Northeast states like Meghalaya, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Due to the initiatives taken by APEDA, the NE region witnessed an 85.34 percent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe,” an official statement said.
