On 17th March 2021, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) under the Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprise(MoMSMEs) to support and empower agri entrepreneurs.
The MoU was signed by Dr Sudhanshu, APEDA secretary and P Udayakumar NSIC Director in charge of planning and marketing.
Purpose:
- Under this MoU both APEDA and NSIC will ensure cooperation in the areas that focus on gaining export potential of agricultural and processed food products manufactured by Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
- To promote green and sustainable manufacturing technology for the MSME clusters and to enable the units to adopt sustainable green production processes and products.
- Under this MoU, APEDA registered MSMEs will get access to the NSIC scheme, facilities, technologies, and training from NSIC.
- Both the organizations will ease the participation of MSMEs in international level fairs including the B2B & B2C fairs which will be organized in India and abroad and will also ease the cooperation in international business development.
Additional info:
i.APEDA has collaborated with various organisations and institutions to inherit professional and specialized expertise in various areas for capacity building of the stakeholders and to support the development in agriculture and its export.
ii.This is in line with the objective of Agri Export Policy(AEP) launched by the government in 2018.
iii.Till now, Maharashtra, U.P., Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and M.P. have finalized the State-specific Action Plan for exports while the action plans of other States are at different stages of finalization.
Stats about India’s Agriculture Sector:
India’s Food Processing Market will have output reach of $535 billion by 2025-26 while the sector is expected to generate 9 million jobs by 2024.
Agriculture Sector is the Primary Source of almost 58% of people in India & the Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture, forestry, and fishing at around $276.37 billion in FY20.
Governments Effort – The government of India is likely to bring ‘Agro MSME Policy’ which will focus on entrepreneurship development in rural, tribal, agricultural, and forest areas for manufacturing products using local raw material.
Recent Related News:
On 3rd December, 2020 Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address the key interests of Agriculture and allied sectors for bringing better value to the stakeholders and Implementing Agriculture Export Policy (AEP).
About Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA):
APEDA established under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December 1985.
Chairman– Dr. M. Angamuthu
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
About National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC):
Chairman-Cum-Managing Director (CMD) -Vijayendra
Headquarter – New Delhi, Delhi
