GUWAHATI:
A consignment of Hatkora (a local variety of citrus) sourced from farmers of Mamit district of Mizoram was exported to London and another consignment of Hatkora is being exported to Bangladesh.
Hatkora has been an underexploited Citrus sp. Considering its good potential for cultivation in Mizoram and the prospect for export in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Burma and Thailand, its cultivation has been encouraged by Mizoram government to increase the income of farmers and overall fruit production of the state.
The first consignment was exported to London in a workshop cum buyer-sellers meet organised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in association with the departments of agriculture, commerce and industries and North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC) at Mizoram University in Aizawl on November 25.
The workshop-cum-buyer seller meet was inaugurated by Mizoram agriculture minister Pu C Lalrinsanga.
In his inaugural address, Lalrinsanga invited investors to participate in the agricultural growth story of Mizoram and promote the locally grown organic agricultural products of the state across the globe.
While addressing participants, Mizoram commerce and industry minister R Lalthangliana stated about existing export opportunities of agricultural produce from Mizoram to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Subsequently, senior officials from APEDA and other departments held a meeting with deputy chief minister Pu Tawnluia.
Vanlalramsanga Chawngthu, economic advisor, department of Commerce and Industry, while participating in the event explained the potential of agricultural products exports from Mizoram.
He also stressed the potential for organic product exports from the state.
Stressing on making Mizoram an export hub of organic agricultural products, APEDA chairman Dr M Angamuthu said, “We all know the north-eastern region is a leader in organic products. We want to promote Mizoram’s purest form of organic in the country as well as across the globe in the days to come,”.
Angamuthu said: “Let us work together and promote Mizoram as one of the finest destinations in terms of horticulture, value-added organic products and other range of products where we have a competitive and comparative advantage.”
The buyers-sellers meet was organised by the APEDA as a part of its strategy to give a boost to the export of organic agricultural products of Mizoram and the northeastern region.
The BSM was organized to promote the exports of potential agri-horti products from Mizoram and provide market linkage to farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and Farmer Producer Companies from the northeastern state. The potential crops for export from Mizoram are pineapple, hatkora (citrus), dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruit, squash, anthurium flower, Mizo ginger, Mizo chilli and grape wine.
Seventeen exporters and 58 FPOs participated in the BSM while 14 exhibitors representing the state government, coffee board, spices board, NABARD and NERAMAC attended the meet.
The exclusive BSM provided an opportunity to the producers and processors of Mizoram to showcase their products and promote the exports as well as their wholesale and retail sales.
With the intervention of APEDA, which is an export-promotion body under the department of commerce, there is a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
Due to the initiatives taken by APEDA, the north-eastern region witnessed an 85.34 per cent 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.