Business Desk, ETV Bharat: In a major boost to the export of organic farm produce from the country, a consignment of 10.2 tonnes of value-added products of organically certified and gluten-free jackfruit powder and retort packed jackfruit cubes were exported to Germany from India’s IT capital Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The jackfruit has been processed in the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) assisted pack-house owned by Phalada Agro Research Foundations (PARF), Bengaluru and was sent to Germany via sea route.
APEDA registered PARF represents a group of 1,500 farmers with a wide coverage of around 12,000 acres of farmland. These farmers grow medicinal and aromatic herbs, coconut, jackfruit, mango puree products, spices, and coffee among other things.
PARF facilitates the certification process as per National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), European Union, and National Organic Programme (the United States) standards to their small farmers' groups. The processing unit of PARF has been certified by APEDA under its accredited Organic Certification.
Recently, a shipment of 1.2 tonnes of fresh jackfruit was exported from Tripura to London. Jackfruits were sourced from the Tripura based Krishi Sanyoga Agro Producer Company Limited.
Also Read: Shahi Litchi from Bihar exported to UK
The consignment was packed at APEDA assisted pack-house facility of Salt Range Supply Chain Solution Ltd and exported by Kiega EXIM Pvt Ltd. That was the first APEDA assisted pack-house for exports to European Union, which was approved in May 2021.
Under the NPOP, organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach.
"This method of farming works at grassroots level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to diseases," said the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
APEDA is currently implementing the NPOP, which involves the accreditation of certification bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming and marketing, etc.
In 2020-21, the country produced around 3.49 million tonnes of certified organic products which include all varieties of food products namely oil seeds, sugarcane, cereals, millets, cotton, pulses, aromatic & medicinal plants, tea, coffee, fruits, spices, dry fruits, vegetables, processed foods etc.
Madhya Pradesh has covered the largest area under organic certification followed by Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh. In 2020-21, the total volume of organic products export was 8.88 lakh metric tonnes and the export realization was around Rs 7,078 crores ($1040 million).
