A total of eight states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Nagaland have so far finalised the state action plan for implementation of Agri Export Policy (AEP).

Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab and Karnataka are the other states which have prepared the action plan, while the that of the rest of the states are at different stages, a Commerce Ministry statement said.

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“Throughout the year APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) held a series of meetings with the state government officials and other stakeholders for the preparation of State Action Plan which included all essential components like production clusters, capacity building, infrastructure and logistics and R&D and budget requirements for the implementation of AEP,” it said.

As per the official statement, state level monitoring committees have been formed in many of the states and cluster visits have been made by APEDA nodal officers to several product clusters.

The roadmap for development in the clusters notified under AEP was prepared to address the identified interventions during the cluster visits and as a result of cluster visits by APEDA, cluster level committees have been constituted in Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

It further said that APEDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Cooperative Development Corporation to include co-operatives for their active role in AEP.

A ‘Farmer Connect Portal’ has also been set up by APEDA on its website for providing a platform for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to interact with exporters and over 800 FPOs have been registered on the portal, it added.