After an 18% drop in the exports of fruit and vegetables alone in the past two years a wide range of long-term remedial measures including improvement in pre-harvest conditions and cluster farming to improve quality have been implemented.
In 2015-16 fruit and vegetable exports were only 2,404,945 MT, a decrease of four per cent compared to the previous year and 18 per cent compared to 2013-14.
“We are working on issues such as grading, cleaning, testing, irradiation to ensure standard quality of fruits to be exported. However, we need to focus on the pre-harvest conditions such as use of fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and supervision to root out the problem of residue. It is likely to take two years to execute the plan,” Agricultural and Processed Food and Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Chairman D.K. Singh told IANS.
Delhi based exporter Rafi Ahmed said that complex government rules and policies were to blame for the slowdown in the business.
source: financialexpress.com
