GUWAHATI, July 06: Over 70 buyers from India and 12 other countries participated in a day-long Agri Conclave cum International Buyer-Seller Meet at the Courtyard by Marriott in Shillong on Saturday.
The event was organized by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Meghalaya.
The countries that participated in the event included Uganda, Ghana, Indonesia, Greece, Kuwait, Oman, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Additionally, 106 FPOs/FPCs, cooperative societies, and producer groups also took part in the event.
The primary objective of the event was to promote agri-horti products in the Northeast, especially those from Meghalaya.
Inaugurating the event, Meghalaya Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Dr Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh, Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh expressed her appreciation to APEDA for its initiatives in promoting Meghalaya’s agriculture quoting, “it gives us a great sense of hope.”
She emphasized on the tremendous potential of the state in offering and contributing agricultural produce to domestic and global market.
Speaking on the occasion, Meghalaya agriculture commissioner Dr Vijay Kumar D shared the initial success story of first export shipment of Khasi Mandarin (GI) and pineapple to the Middle East. He outlined the vision of the state government to scale up such more initiatives of exports of local products to international markets to increase farmers income.
In his speech, APEDA chairman Abhishek Dev emphasized on the export potential of agriculture products from Meghalaya.
He also outlined various initiatives to augment organic exports from the state and also initiative in easing the organic certification process and further added that APEDA is expediting the accreditation of more certification bodies, especially from the Northeast, in the interest of the local organic farmers.
The exclusive Buyer Seller Meet in Meghalaya provided an opportunity for producers and processors of Meghalaya to showcase their products to global and domestic buyers. Buyers from 12 countries viz., Uganda, Ghana, Indonesia, Greece, Kuwait, Oman, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates participated and interacted with the exporters in the Bharat Agri Conclave cum International Buyer-Seller Meet in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Over 41 exporters nationwide and 106 FPO/FPCs, corporative societies and other producer groups from the state participated. The event displayed a wide range of agricultural products, including organic fresh fruits and vegetables, processed food products, spices such as Lakadong turmeric, natural honey, aromatic rice, pulses, and others.
This event aims to link the producers and processors of Meghalaya with buyers from India and abroad. This initiative is expected to broaden the base of the export basket of NER, thereby increasing farmers’ income and accelerating the overall growth in the region.
To underline its focus on the Northeast, APEDA in this financial year will be organizing more such events in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
Senior officials from APEDA, and other central and state government officials also graced the event that emanated a beneficial outcome in forging the bonds between buyers and sellers.
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