From the hills to malls: Organic fruits of Northeast find markets in London, Dubai

APEDA has started exporting organically grown fruits and vegetables to markets not only in neighbouring countries but also to markets in London and Dubai

From the juicy jackfruits of Tripura to Meghalaya's Khasi Mandarins, king chilli of Nagaland and Assam's leteku (Burmese grapes), the fruits organically grown on the hills of Northeast are gradually making their way to markets in London, Dubai and many others supermarkets abroad.

In their efforts to project the Northeast region as the country's organic food bowl, Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA), an agency under the Union Ministry of Commerce, has started exporting organically grown fruits and vegetables to markets not only in neighbouring countries but also to markets in London and Dubai.

"In the past few years, products from the Northeast have been exported to Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe. But the products got very good price and response in London and Dubai, where the buyers are very sensitive about quality parameters and conscious about what they eat," an official in APEDA told DH.

The APEDA recently organised a workshop-cum-buyer-seller meet at Mizoram University at Aizawl, following which a consignment of hatkora (a local variety of citrus) sourced from farmers of Mamit district of Mizoram was exported to London and another consignment to Bangladesh. Seventeen exporters and 58 Farmers Producers Organization (FPO) took part in the meet.

Khasi Mandarin grown on the hills of Meghalaya having GI (Geograophic Indication) tag was on Friday exported to Dubai by APEDA with the help of the Department of horticulture, Meghalaya. Six metric tons of Dambuk oranges from Arunachal Pradesh were also exported to Lulu Group of Dubai recently. Litchi, beetle leaves, pumpkin and jackfruits from Assam have also been exported to buyers in London.

The APEDA official said the potential crops for the export from Mizoram are pineapple, hatkora (citrus), dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruit, squash, anthurium flower, Mizo Ginger, Mizo chilli and grape wine.

To provide potential market linkages, APEDA organised field visits of importers for first-hand information about the qualitative cultivation practices being followed by farmers by inviting the importers from the neighbouring countries, the Middle East, far Eastern countries, European nations and Australia and a few others to all eight states of the Northeast.

"Besides, APEDA organized an international buyer-seller meet in Guwahati, Assam on March 10, wherein exhibitors from across the state displayed a wide range of agri-horti products, including GI products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, processed food products, black rice, red rice, joha rice, spices, tea, coffee, honey, processed meat, spices and organic products.

Importers from Sri Lanka, Dubai, Bangladesh, Oman, Netherlands, Singapore and Greece participated along with exporters from the country," APEDA said in a statement recently.

According to government data, the Northeastern region witnessed an 85.34 per cent growth in export of agricultural products since 2016--from $2.52 million in 2016-17 to $17.2 million in 2021-22. The products are being exported as part of the Centre's initiative to project the Northeastern region as the country's organic bowl and thereby create employment in the region, which has remained affected due to long problems of insurgency and connectivity bottlenecks.

APEDA also extended its support to NER to undertake branding and promotion of products such as Kiwi wine, processed foods, carrying out a wet sampling of Joha rice pulao, and black rice kheer.

As a part of capacity building, APEDA organised skill development programmes for manufacturers, exporters and entrepreneurs to utilise the local produce for value addition and export.

Training programmes are being held in different states of the Northeast in association with the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore and the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology.