AP eyes export market for fruits as India's topmost producer

Visakhapatnam: After turning Krishna-Godavari delta area into a rice bowl of India and becoming a role model in seafood and aquaculture exports, Andhra Pradesh now wants to make a dent in the overseas market by consolidating its position as the leading State with the largest volume of fruits.

Policy shift and creation of awareness among the farmers to grow climate resilient horticulture products have yielded a bumper harvest of fruits. According to a latest report released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, AP has produced 18 million tonnes of fruits during 2021-22 occupying first place. The State has taken up horticulture cultivation in an area of 7.5 lakh hectares.

Barring mangoes, the king of fruits and bananas, all other products are not being exported. "There is bright scope to explore potential to export fruits grown in AP," Anil Narayanan, Deputy COO, Visakha Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (VCTPL) told Bizz Buzz on Monday.

AP had produced 17 million tonne - the largest volume of fruits among all the States in 2020 followed by Maharashtra 11 million tonnes. The change in cropping pattern and awareness on climatic conditions gave a boost to fruits' production in interior areas like Chintapalli and Lambasingi areas of undivided Visakhapatnam district. The locally grown oranges, apples and strawberries have been hitting markets in North Andhra for the past few years.

According to first advance estimates made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare for 2021-22, horticulture crops are grown in AP in an area of 18 lakh hectare. In addition to bananas and mangoes mostly Banganapalle variety, papaya, orange and batavia are the major crops grown by the farmers across the State. Along with fruits, the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments are making concerned efforts to promote vegetables, spices, coffee and some cash crops. Such cropping will not need much water and assures better returns with low investment. The State has recorded a year-on-year growth of 12 per cent.

At present, green apples from the United States and New Zealand and berries and oranges from Australia, Fiji, Chile and other countries are being imported for sale in big department stores.

"Once we improve the quality of domestic production, the prospects of exports will go up after catering to the needs of domestic consumers," an official of the Horticulture Department, said.

Farmers' organisations feel that there is a need to provide incentives for investments for value addition by encouraging cold storages, transport facilities and food processing industries.