The Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority (Apeda) has signed an MoU with Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) for providing support related to promotion of horticulture exports from the state.
This was announced by Apeda chairman A K Tripathi who was in Shimla to attend a seminar organised by Apeda in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce on Potential and Road Map for promoting Horti Exports from Himachal Pradesh.
He said, at present $9-10 billion (Rs 45,395 cr approx) worth agri exports was being contributed by Apeda. He emphasised that despite huge potential, agri exports could never pick up until infrastructure, cold chain and quality labs were provided. For this, private players and entrepreneurs needed to play an important role, he said adding the state government had to allure private players and entrepreneurs for investment by providing investment-friendly policies.
HP Committee, PHD Chamber chairman Dhian Chand enumerated various constraints that hindered the growth of exports from Himachal, including lack of backward integration, pre-harvest and post harvest management techniques, cold chain, market information and quality control.
