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Lucknow, Oct 15 (IANS) The Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh is emerging as the export hub for vegetables.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, huge consignments of fresh green vegetables were flown from Purvanchal to the Gulf countries, for the second time in less than two years, benefitting farmers substantially in terms of income.
According to a state government spokesperson, an Air India Express' aircraft carrying two metric tonnes of vegetables from Prayagraj, Bhadohi and Varanasi took off from Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport to reach Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Regional in-charge of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), C.B. Singh, said: "The vegetables being exported include okra, sweet gourd, pointed gourd, ivy gourd and elephant foot yam (jimikand).
"Last year, three metric tonnes of langda mangoes were flown to London from Varanasi in April and over one metric tonnes in June. We also exported nearly three metric tonnes of green chili to Dubai in May and black salt rice to the UK, Qatar and the UAE."
Furthermore, exporters also purchased 80 metric tonnes of black salt rice from farmers of Chandauli district, popularly known as the 'rice bowl' of Uttar Pradesh, with the help of APEDA in June 2020.
Around Rs 68 lakhs raised from the export of the rice was directly transferred to the bank accounts of 152 farmers.
Besides, 532 metric tonnes of regional rice, including 12 metric tonnes of the famous black salt rice of Chandauli was exported to Qatar in December 2020.
Oman's Global Logistics Group also visited Varanasi in order to boost exports.
Farmers are now exporting food items directly without the involvement of middlemen which is bringing them more financial benefits while ensuring transparency in the system. They are exporting their farm produce through the Farmer Producer Organization (FPO).
The FPO also facilitates training of the farmers and ensures availability of good seeds and fertilisers to them. In times of calamity and natural disasters, they also are provided with adequate compensation.
To increase the income of farmers significantly, export licences are being given to more and more FPOs since July 2020.
--IANS
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