Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) signed MoUs with specialized institutions namely the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD),  Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture (ICFA), SGT University, Pearl Academy, and Quality Council of India (QCI) Delhi, on 4 March 2020. The MoU aims to utilize its expertise to work together to boost the activities in the interest of agriculture and allied sectors to bring better value to the stakeholders. Highlights: As per the agreement, IITD will cooperate in the areas of technology development for export promotion by APEDA. It will also develop early detection techniques for detecting spoilage of agri-produce to boost Agri exports. It will also identify the cause and suggest low-cost mitigation technology and develop Internet of things (IoT) based technologies in areas like early warning systems, efficient and precision farming related to international food exports. With the Quality Council of India (QCI), APEDA aims to develop training material on various QCI Certification Schemes such as Product Certification, Inspection, INDGAP certification, IND-HACCP Certification, etc. ICFA will work with the clusters identified by APEDA to enhance the capabilities of all the stakeholders in the supply chain for higher value realization for exports. It will support agri-startups to scale up their businesses and commercializing their products and conduct capacity development programs for large scale GAP certification in agriculture. APEDA will develop suitable export worthy varieties of potatoes, groundnut, high TSS onion varieties, Moringa plantation for successful cultivation in Haryana, through a pilot project at SGT University agricultural fields. Pearl Academy, along with APEDA, will develop appropriate media and marketing strategies to promote Agriculture, and Processed food export through Digital Marketing, content creation, and social media support, photoshoots promotion campaigns, etc. Background: APEDA has been focusing on a collaborative approach to bring synergy with number of organizations and institutions having inherent professional and specialized expertise for the development of Agriculture and its export enhancement set under the Agri Export Policy (AEP) announced by GoI. The Agriculture Export Policy focuses on agriculture export-oriented production, export promotion, better price realization to the farmer, and synchronization within policies and programmes of Government of India. It focuses on “Farmers’ Centric Approach” for improved income through value addition at the source itself to help minimize losses across the value chain. The Policy suggests adopting the approach of developing product-specific clusters in different agro-climatic zones of the country to help in dealing with various supply-side issues like soil nutrients management, higher productivity, adoption of a market-oriented variety of crop, use of Good Agriculture Practices, etc. APEDA has been engaged with state governments for the implementation of AEP. The states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, Karnataka. Also, the action plans of other states are at different stages of finalization. It has also formed State-level Monitoring Committees under the Chairmanship of State Chief Secretary has been formed in 18 States.
