To project the strength of India’s organic agriculture and horticulture products in the global market, India Pavilion at EXPO2020 Dubai hosted a seminar “Indian Organic and Horticulture Sector–Moving Up the Value Chain’ as part of the ongoing ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight.
The seminar, to deliberate on the opportunities and huge export potential that the Indian agriculture sector offers, saw participation from the representatives of the Government & Private sector.
It is pertinent to point that despite the pandemic, India’s organic exports grew 51% over 2019-20 levels. India’s organic exports stood at 8,88,180 MT in 2020-21.
In his opening remarks, P.K.Swain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, said, “In ‘Rising India’, Agriculture is a dominant sector which contributes significantly to the Indian economy. With 15 agro-climatic zones, rich soil, mineral-rich water, and is driving the volume, variety, and quality. India is on its way to becoming the food basket of the world and is offering both food and nutritional security with good agricultural practices to the world.”
Applauding the expansion of the sector in the country, Shri Swain said, “India is scripting history with the enchanting growth trajectory of organic horticulture.” He also urged the global investors to invest in the agriculture supply chain and take advantage of FDI policies introduced by the government in the sector.
Dr. B Rajendra, Minister (Agriculture), Embassy of India, Rome & Italy & Representative, FAO said, “We need to put a lot of effort in ensuring the quality of our organic horticulture produce and take advantage of such global platforms to expand our export avenues.”
Talking about the export potential of organic and horticulture Produce in India, Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare said, “To ensure the quality of our organic produce, we need to have a robust system of Certification and Government of India has anchored two systems of certification for Organic products”.
He further emphasized that appropriate phytosanitary protocols need to be ensured for better acceptability of Indian Organic and Horticultural products. “We envisage targeting 10% export share in global fruits and vegetable market by 2030”, he added.
