Innovation will up agro exports: FIEO

Innovations in agriculture and the adoption of high yielding varieties will help India successfully counter the challenges posed by the emerging South East Asian nations like Vietnam and Thailand in agro exports. A representative of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said this here at national workshop.

"The Centre has set a target to increase the agro exports by 20 per cent in 2006-07. It can be achieved by adopting seeds of high yielding varieties of crops and by promoting the food processing industry," said Walter D'Souza, convener, Committee on Agro Foods and agri export zones, FIEO.

D'Souza told reporters on the sidelines of the national workshop on 'Processed Food Industry: Export Potential, Opportunities and Challenges' that Vietnam and Thailand had significantly dented India's agro export effort by producing high quality crops in recent times.

"The quality of our agriculture produce meets international standards. But the standards have to be sustained throughout. The other two countries have scored over us in this area," he added.

Besides, unprocessed agro produce form the bulk of India's exports. "To increase exports, the food processing industry has to be promoted in a big way. Apart from generating employment, it will aid growth of the agriculture sector," D'Souza stated.

He pointed out that the food processing industry ranked fifth in size in the country, employing over 19 per cent of the industrial labour force. "It accounts for 14 per cent of the industry output and 5.5 per cent of the gross domestic product. Most of this is in the unorganised sector. There is tremendous scope for improvement if the value addition of food fortification is enhanced," he said.

According to him, India has to tap new markets like Germany and Pakistan to increase agro exports.

"The markets of United States and European Union have reached a saturation level. It is very difficult to find new markets in these two territories. The situation demands that we explore new markets," he said.