As a part of its series of sensitisation programmes that are aimed at promoting the export of millets and its value-added products, the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), on Thursday, organised a virtual buyer-seller meet to harness export opportunities in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The buyer-seller meet was organised in association with Indian Mission in UAE under the leadership of the Indian Ambassador to UAE Sanjay Sudir.
APEDA, which works under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, is working in tandem with different stakeholders to accomplish the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote the consumption of millets worldwide.
On the occasion, APEDA also launched an e-catalogue for the UAE which contains information on various Indian millets and the range of their value-added products available for export, a list of active exporters, startups, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and importers, retail chains and hypermarkets.
The e-catalogue for UAE has been circulated to the Indian embassy and potential importers, exporters, startups and other stakeholders in the millet supply chain.
During the buyer-seller meet, several importers, exporters, startups and other stakeholders in the millet supply chain participated and interacted with each other to explore the export opportunities of millet and its value-added products.
Noting that India has always been a trusted partner of UAE, Indian Ambassador Sanjay Sudir said that there are huge export opportunities for Indian millets and its value-added products to UAE and other markets in the region.
Speaking on the occasion, M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA said, “It’s a mission to promote millets in the international market. The APEDA team is ready to provide all required help to exporters, millet producers, and women FPOs to promote Indian millets across the globe.”
Stressing on coordinating with buyers, sellers, and producers, to take forward the export of millets and value-added products of millets, Angamuthu said, “It’s a good opportunity to boost our exports as India has very distinctive traditional varieties of millets which are loved by health-conscious people. The export of millets will help in increasing the income of farmers.”
APEDA has also planned to organise millet promotional activities in South Africa, Dubai, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Germany, United Kingdom and United States by facilitating the participation of different stakeholders from India in some of the significant food shows, buyer-seller meets and roadshows.
India is one of the leading producers of millets in the world with an estimated share of around 41 per cent in global production. As per FAO, world production of millets in the year 2020 was 30.464 million metric tonnes (MMT) and India’s share was 12.49 MMT. India recorded a 27 per cent growth in millet production in 2021-22 as compared to millet production in the previous year was 15.92 MMT.
India’s top five millet-producing states are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The share of export of millets is nearly 1 per cent of the total millet production. Exports of millets from India include mainly whole grain and the export of value-added products of millets from India is negligible.
However, it is estimated that the millets market is set to grow from its current market value of more than USD 9 billion to over USD 12 billion by 2025.
The government is also mobilising startups for export promotion of value-added products in the ready-to-eat (RTE) and ready-to-serve (RTS) categories such as noodles, pasta, breakfast cereals mix, biscuits, cookies, snacks and sweets.
As per the DGCIS data, India registered a growth of 8.02 per cent in the export of millets in the financial year 2021-22 as the export of millets was 159,332.16 metric tonne against 147,501.08 metric tonnes during the same period last year.
India’s major millet exporting countries are UAE, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, UK and USA. The varieties of millets exported by India include bajra, ragi, canary, jawar, and buckwheat.
There are 16 major varieties of millet, which are produced and exported, including sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi) minor millets (kangani), proso millet (cheena), kodo millet (kodo), barnyard millet (sawa/sanwa/jhangora), little millet (kutki), two pseudo millets (buckwheat/kuttu), amaranthus (chaulai) and brown top millet.
APEDA has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) to boost value-addition and farmers’ income. APEDA launched a variety of millet products for all age groups at affordable prices ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 15 during AAHAR food fair, which is Asia’s biggest B2B international food and hospitality fair.
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