The Agriculture and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) has launched a virtual marketing platform, Farmer Connect Portal, which is being pushed hard during the Covid-19 crisis to sustain agri exports from the country.
The portal, according to APEDA, is to connect farmers to the market and help them get international customers. This particularly holds importance as recently the government identified 12 sectors in which India can be a global supplier. These 12 sectors include food processing and organic farming amongst others.
“We have identified 12 sectors wherein India can become self-sustainable and also global supplier. We have made development in food processing due to huge contribution of our farmers wherein we are making good quality branded food products. Further organic farm produce has a huge demand across the globe. This would eventually help in sustainable development of Indian farmers,” said Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, during a recent webinar.
According to APEDA, it has undertaken a Programme for Agro Food Cluster for Export Promotion and had identified potential clusters and products based on export potential. APEDA is planning to carry out a number of Farmer Connect initiatives in these clusters by partnering state governments, exporters, experts and so on as well through a number of direct interventions.
Farmer Connect is an initiative undertaken by APEDA to provide a 24X7 online visibility digital platform in the form of a portal and mobile application. It will help to bridge the gap between FPO/FPC/Cooperatives and exporters. FPO/FPC/Cooperatives can make their profiles and post sell offers. Exporters can post enquiries and view Matching Sell offers.
Meanwhile, APEDA in a statement revealed that by May 16, India exported around 238MT vegetables to EU during the Covid-19 crisis. Similarly, India exported 1,200MT vegetables to the Middle-East countries during the crisis. Besides, India exported 100MT of pomegranate and 2,400MT banana to the Middle-East countries during the crisis arising out of the pandemic.