Indian mangoes to reach China, Africa, East Asia

New Delhi, May 1 (UNI) After resuming its mango exports to the United States after a gap of 18 years, India is now eyeing Chinese, African and East Asian markets, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said.

''A special task force (STF) will soon be formed to overcome the hurdles faced by the country while exporting agri products,'' said Mr Nath during Annual Export Awards Function organised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development (APEDA) yesterday.

The Minister also warned of strict retaliatory actions if sanitary and phytosanitary measures were not met.

The agricultural exports, he said, represent one of the most important sectors in the country, contributing 10 per cent of the world trade.

Commerce Secretary G K Pillai emphasised the need to revamp the Agri export strategy to tap a quantum of global agricultural market.

''A large share of the world's agricultural market can be captured if we remodel our agricultural export strategy'' said Mr Pillai.

He also stressed the agricultural export in the country was growing at a rate of 14.2 per cent against the target 17 per cent.

''We are making constant efforts to promote and develop export high quality agri products through development of infrastructure, promotion of quality standards and dissemination of market intelligence,'' APEDA Chairman K S Money said.

He also said a number of export facilitation and market access initiatives have been taken by APEDA that have resulted in the opening of a new market for mangoes in Japan.

When asked about farmland acquisition for industrial projects, particularly special economic zones (SEZs), Mr Nath said a Group of Ministers (GoM) will look into the proposed rehabilitation policy that is likely to allow farmers a stake in the industrial development coming up on land acquired from them.

UNI