Out of over 100 niche geographical indications (GI) tagged products under its domain, the government’s agri promotion body APEDA has initiated a special initiative under which as many as 13 products sourced directly have got exported to new destinations such as South Korea, UK, US, UAE, Singapore, Bahrain and Japan.
Besides, as many as 36 other niche local products like murmura (puffed rice), moringa, jamun and sitabhog also got new export markets.
“There are two aspects of this export initiatives. First, we are successful in providing some new markets for these GI products, which were earlier exported to other destinations. Secondly, some select local products, which are of high export potential, were shipped to new export destinations, though these products sourced from other centres were earlier exported,” said M Angamuthu, Chairman of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
APEDA is making an unique attempt to promote regional and State-specific GI products, he said.
There are 417 registered GI products and around 150 of them are agricultural and food products. APEDA-promoted products (under 27 broad categories) have a share of nearly 50 per cent in the country’s total exports of agriculture products including marine, spices, tea and coffee.
Among GI products, Suvarnarekha mangoes from Andhra Pradesh were shipped to South Korea for the first time, while Dahanu Gholvad sapota, Marathwada Kesar mango from Maharashtra reached the UK, Jalgaon’s banana (Maharashtra) to UAE, Nendran banana from Kerala to Singapore, Shahi litchi and Bhagalpuri Zardalu mango from Bihar to the UK.
Malli and other traditional flowers from Madurai (Tamilnadu) were shipped to the US and Dubai (UAE) and Makhana from Patna reached Japa for the first time, according to APEDA.
Among non-GI products, apricots from Ladakh were shipped for the first time to Dubai, while apples from Himachal Pradesh were exported to Qatar and Bahrain.
Similarly, Bahrain was the new destination for Sitabhog, Fazli mango, dragon fruit and Bardhaman mihidana from West Bengal.
Puffed rice (Murmura) from Cuttack (Odisha) went to Malaysia for the first time while Bijnor’s (Uttar Pradesh) jaggery and Iduki’s (Kerala) Marayoor jaggery reached Dubai (UAE).
Jamun from Uttar Pradesh first time reached UK and is likely to increase in volume in the coming years, officials said.
Interestingly, pasteurised Buffalo butter (salted) from Hathras (Uttar Pradesh) reached New Zealand for the first time.