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30-40 lakh tonne onion wasted every year, says jt secy, commerce ministry
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Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d About 30 to 40 lakh tonne of onion produced in the country is wasted almost every year due to non-availability of proper storage facilities as India’s production of the commodity annually is pegged at 190 lakh tonne against its estimated availability of 150-160 lakh tonne to end-consumers, according to Santosh Sarangi, joint secretary, ministry of commerce. He was speaking at a National Seminar on Promotion of Agri and Horti Exports from India organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) recently.
Strongly making a sound case for creation of chains of storage facilities for agri and horti products across the country, the joint secretary sought both private and public investments for such facilities without any delay to cater to domestic as well as export requirements of agri products while ensuring compliance with relevant standards.
Sarangi asked domestic producers of agri and horti products to take extra care to adhere to the SPS agreements to respect the well established international practices of agricultural trade.
Despite India being one of the largest producers of agri and horti products in the world, its export performance on this front has not been on par with its potential and it is because of this reason, the Indian agri and horti products sometimes face ban on export markets in economies of scale, felt Sarangi. He pointed out that farmers should follow global practices for export production.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tarun Bajaj, GM, APEDA, said that Indian farmers and agriculturists should take advantage of multiple government schemes to enhance their agri and horti produce while adopting the emerging agri related technologies.
According to him, the department of commerce is working on a portal on the lines of a well established website known as Alibaba.com that is likely to provide consumer to consumer, business to consumer and business to business sale services to promote exports of agri and hori products. The portal is being evolved by the commerce department in consultation with India Brand Equity Fund.
Horticulture commissioner Dr S K Malhotra in his observations said that ministry of agriculture was doing its best to evolve and put in place cluster-based policies to promote exports of India’s agri and horti products.
Among others who participated in the seminar comprised Akshay Betor, MD, Mrs Bector Food Specialties Ltd; Sanjay Dave, ex- chairperson, Codex Alimentarius Commission, and ex-advisor, FSSAI; and N M Kejriwal, chairman, agribusiness committee, PHDCCI.
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