Under the District as Export Hub (DEH) initiative, products including agricultural products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country, Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said today in reply to a parliamentary question.

In order to boost farm exports, the Government introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy in 2018, with the following objectives:

1. To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high-value and value-added agricultural exports including focus on perishables.
2. To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional agri products exports.
3. To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal with sanitary and phytosanitary issues.
4. To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at the earliest.
5. To enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.

Promotion of exports of agriculture products is a ongoing exercise. The Government has taken several steps at State/ District levels to promote exports. State specific Action Plans have been prepared and State Level Monitoring Committees (SLMCs), Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports and Cluster Level Committees have been formed in a number of States.

Country and product-specific action plans have also been formulated to promote exports. The Government is also in the process to utilize the proposed District as Export Hub Initiative to achieve the objectives of Agriculture Export Policy. Under the DEH initiative, products including agricultural products with export potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country. State Export Strategy has been prepared in 28 States/UTs.

The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of Department of Commerce, has the mandate to promote exports of agricultural and processed food products. APEDA has been providing assistance to the exporters under various components of its Export Promotion Scheme.

The Department of Commerce provides financial assistance to promote exports, including exports of agricultural products through Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme, Export Promotion Schemes of APEDA and Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) etc.

Further, a Farmer Connect Portal has been developed for providing a platform for farmers, Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives to interact with exporters. Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs) have been organized in the clusters to provide export-market linkages. Regular interactions, through video conferences, have been held with the Indian Missions abroad, to assess and tap export opportunities. Country specific BSMs, through Indian Missions, have also been organized.                                                                                                                    

District as Export Hub promotes district-level identification of exportable agricultural products to expand and diversify farm exports. The District as Export Hub initiative identifies district-level products with export potential, integrating these identifications into State Export Strategies and action plans to diversify and promote agricultural exports. Central and autonomous bodies, including APEDA, support implementation through Export Promotion Schemes, Market Access Initiatives and platforms such as the Farmer Connect Portal and Buyer Seller Meets to link producers and exporters and address market access and sanitary and phytosanitary challenges.