The Indispensable way to boost India’s horticulture exports
Did you know after china our India is the 2nd largest food producing countries in the world? But,
We are exporting only 2% to other countries, why?
Start Fruit & Veg Pack-house Business, a step by step guide for setting up fresh produce pack house.
- India is ranked second in fruits and vegetables production in the world. Despite abounding with great horticultural produce, India lags behind when it comes to the exports of its processed fruits and vegetables. Thus, we contribute only 2% of the total agricultural exports to other countries. This is starkly low in comparison to Brazil (30%), USA (70%) and Malaysia (82%). However, according to experts, one of the ways to boost India’s horticulture exports is by adding value to India’s horticultural products.
- Value addition to horticultural products has numerous advantages for all shareholders. Besides enhancing the life of the product & reducing food wastage, value addition leads to higher monitory return for the food & beverage industry. This will also mean higher incomes for farmers as exports and profits in the sector increase.
- Adding value to India’s horticultural produce is a need of the hour as not only will enhance profit margins and agri exports of the country, but it will also be a right step to farmers to increase their income and productivity.
The RBI has classified loan to food and agro based processing units as Priority Sector, in order to encourage the food processing units the Lending limit sanctioned is INR100 crores per borrower by the banking system,. However, the procedural hurdle involved in obtaining credit from financial institutions acts as a drawback in the development of the industry.
But in order to truly leverage its food processing capabilities, India needs to fix the issues related to value addition such as quality, low R&D and infrastructural gaps.
Our SS engineering and consultants will manufacture all the equipment of Fruit & Vegetables processing lines. This article explores the reasons that have prevented India from leveraging its potential in adding value to its horticultural products, and the strategies to overcome the same.
According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority,
India exported processed fruits worth US$ 381 and processed vegetables worth US$ 252 in April-October 2020-21, According to SBI Eco wrap, India’s share of Agri export is less than 15% of the value added agri products bearing high value.
In contrast, countries like the US & China accounts 25% and 49% of their exports.
All values in US$ million.
One of the reasons for low value addition in India is the failure to live up to the quality parameters set by other nations. This is quite evident in the context of Indian snacks being rejected in US due to high pesticide levels. What happens here are that in most cases, exporters in India source their raw materials from middlemen or mandis without having complete knowledge about which farm the product is sourced from. This variation gives birth to the challenge of meeting rigid food safety requirements of the markets.
Another related issue that the country’s food and beverage industry faces is the multiplicity of testing standards with bodies like FSSAI for imports and domestic market and APEDA and EIC for exports.
Laboratories are the backbone of the inspection and certification activity. In order to test to requirements prescribed by the importing countries, the laboratories should have state-of-the-art equipment and manpower that is qualified and trained to operate such equipment
This difference in standards can create confusion among farmers when it comes to following standards for domestic and external markets and leads to ambiguity in food standards. This is worsened by the fact that there is a lag in implementation of laws and enforcement of safety standards and the ill-equipped state of these testing labs.
In addition to this, there are many technological and logistical barriers that the sector faces. There is a lot of scope for Research & Development in agriculture w.r.t development of better quality high yielding seeds; an efficient plant disease forecast system and effective post-harvest management. This is attributed to the low expenditure on R&D as a share of agricultural GDP in India (0.30%) in comparison to China (0.62%), USA (1.20%), Brazil (1.82%) or even South Africa (3.06%).
Logistical challenges dearth of cold storage, shortage of containers are impacting the performance of the sector, Transportation and logistics constraints are hurting export of perishable food items in India.
Adding value:
India, being a leading producer of fruits and vegetables, must play to its strength and leverage agricultural bounty by adding value to its produce. The government of India has recently taken positive steps in prioritizing lending to food processing units, it has also invited FDI for establishment of mega food parks, but there is still a room for improvement.
The government need to work with different shareholders starting from farmers to ensure quality produce, Better storage and processing know-how, technology need to be shared to the farmers, producers which shall enable them to process and store their produce. There is need for set up of food testing laboratories at every village to facilitate farmers and producers for maintaining quality and traceability of their produce.
Horticultural of fruits & Vegetables:
Horticultural perishable crops include fruits, vegetables, flowers & ornamentals. Fruits and Vegetables can be marketed in the fresh form or as minimally processed products. Vital to maintaining their quality and maximizing their life span is careful and minimal handling and Proper temperature management. In general, there is no post-harvest technology for improving the quality of a commodity once it is harvested. This facility is referred to a sap packing-shed, a pack-house or a packing-house.
Changes in the marketing structure for fresh produce and the growing consumer demand for fresh produce that is safe and of good quality, means there is a need to focus on the implementation of good practice in fresh produce supply chains.
Higher ROI through higher produce prices that can be justified by the improved quality of the commodity.
● Higher ROI by reduced costs of handling and packing.
● Increased demand for the produce.
● Reduced post-harvest losses.
Growers:
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