India’s agriculture exports during 2020-21 have registered an increase of 17.37% as compared to exports during 2019-20, said Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

To promote agricultural exports, the Government has introduced a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) to harness export potential of Indian agriculture and raise farmers’ income, he said.

Department of Commerce has taken several steps to implement AEP at State/ District level. State Level Monitoring Committees (SLMCs), Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports and Cluster Level Committees have been formed in a number of States and State-specific Action Plans have been prepared. Country and product-specific action plans have also been formulated to promote exports, he added.

A Farmer Connect Portal has been set up for providing a platform for farmers, Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives to interact with exporters. Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs) have been organized in the clusters to provide export-market linkages.

Regular interactions, through video-conferences, have been held with the Indian Missions abroad, to assess and exploit export opportunities. Country specific BSMs, through Indian Missions, have also been organized, he said.