‘We don’t need mandis in states like Haryana and Punjab’

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Kiritika Suneja, Sandip Das: Feb 14 2013, 00:52 IST

For the first time perhaps, India’s agricultural products exports have received global attention with an annual shipment of $32 billion during 2011-12. With exports for the current fiscal inching towards the $40 billion mark, the government has its task cut out for the implementation of a robust system where shipments of products take place without any restrictions. Sandip Das and Kirtika Suneja spoke to Asit Tripathy, joint secretary (agriculture), ministry of commerce, who is also the chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), on issues concerning food exports. Excerpts:

There has been a huge jump in India’s agricultural and processed food exports. What factors have contributed to this surge in exports?

The exports of agricultural products have more than doubled in the last four years. The exports turnover during 2011-12 has been $32.62 billion. The growth trend continues as exports of agricultural and processed foods have grown by more than 23% during April-December 2012 compared to the same period last year. The export value during April-December 2012 is reported at $28.9 billion.

As per the latest statistics released by the WTO for the global trend, India’s share in global agricultural exports has gone up to more than 2% at present. There has been a significant growth in this share in the last couple of years, which is important keeping in view the large domestic demand for agricultural products.

What are the key commodities whose exports have seen a surge in the last five years? What could be the reasons

... contd.

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