An online Webinar was conducted today by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on “The Impact of Corona Virus Outbreak on Agriculture and allied sector of North East and its revival strategy’’.
In his welcome address, Mahesh Saharia, chairman of ICC-NER, said it was the ICC, which had given the suggestion to Ministry of Food Processing to set up the Mega Food Tech Parks in the country.
Apart from Arunachal Pradesh, there is a mega food park in every state of North East.
Paban K. Borthakur, chairman of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said despite the global economic slowdown, agriculture and food commodities still have a lucrative market.
He said that so far around 17 lakh metric tons of vegetable are being exported every year from India, and despite the nationwide lockdown, 60 percent of agri exports are still going on.
Borthakur said it is a very big opportunity for Indian agri and pharma industries as the world will be looking at other sources than China.
Gaurav Sishodia, head, Investment Facilitation Cell, MOFPI said in the initial days of lockdown, there was tremendous problem in the food processing sector regarding logistics, raw materials and workers related issues.
Looking at the situation, the ministry set up a grievances cell on April 25, and now around 70 percent of the grievances have been resolved.
Sishodia said the ministry is fully committed to restart the industry in North East.
Prabhat Bezbarua, chairman, Tea Board of India said the tea industry is facing tremendous problem of logistics as they have limited scope for transporting the products to consumers.
Saswati Bose, deputy general manager of APEDA said there will be a paradigm shift in the way goods are exported in the new world order.
Most of biggest horticulture producing countries like Spain, Mexico, Netherland has been affected greatly due to corona and it could be very good opportunity for exporters from Northeast India to gain their market share in the world market.
APEDA will organize meetings with embassies and state governments to work out the modalities, Bose said, adding that there has been huge requirement from Russia and Singapore, and especially for lemon.
She advised for more B2B meetings with industry chambers and state government, and urged the exporters to use digital platforms like Amazon to market their products.
U K Vats, general manager of APEDA said exports from North Eastern states are more difficult due to the lack of international flights, and there should be more focus on South East Asian markets.
Sunita Rai, assistant general manager of APEDA said they have set up a helpline number to help the exporters.
The APEDA officials detailed as to how how pineapples from Mizoram are still being exported to Bangladesh through Sutarkhandi border of Karimganj district.
Officials of APEDA have been facilitating the exports by taking up the matter with deputy commissioner of Karimganj.
S Bhattacharjee, Consultant, CSIR?Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) said with modern packaging technology, the shelf life of perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables can be increased.
He urged the use of modern technologies to face a challenge like Corona.
Khagen Sharma, deputy director, Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing, Government of Assam, who was also present in the webinar, said the government is working on a war-footing, and because of its experience in handling other disasters like flood, controlled the situation to a large extent.
During this period, Assam has exported fruits and vegetables to various states, including Bihar, Manipur and West Bengal.
Gunajit Bramha, CEO, Jeev Anksh Eco Products Pvt. Ltd stated that entrepreneurs should look at challenges as opportunities. He advocated for use of digital applications like mobile apps for both backward and forward linkage activities like ordering seeds, fertilizers etc to selling the products through mobile app only.
He gave the example Meghalaya who have call center1917 who helps the farmers’ selling their products.
Mahesh Saharia, in his summing up session said that all the advisories by eminent panelists and delegates will be taken into consideration and put up with respective authorities.
He also appreciated the various state governments of North East for taking very proactive steps to stop the spread of disease and time intervention in opening up the economy.