Market agri-products under domestic brands: Jairam

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 15 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh today called for marketing agricultural products like cashew, coffee, tea and spices under domestic brands for promoting these products in the international market.

Inaugurating golden jubilee celebrations of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of Inida and "KajuIndia 2006", the international buyer-seller meet, here he said, there was much scope for export of value added products in the country and unless India promoted brand marketing, it would have a negative impact.

Mr Ramesh said brand marketing had already been initiated in handicrafts. The government would extend all support to develop brands and also in its marketing, he added.

He also said the Research and Development unit for cashew, built at a cost of 7.5 crore at Kollam, would be commissioned in June next year.

Noting that cashew export faced many challenges, he said the productivity should be increased. If the productivity level was high, it would make more earnings and create more employment oppurtunities, he explained.

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