In a significant boost to farm exports from Odisha, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the state have marked their foray into the global markets with the first commercial shipment of fresh mangoes and vegetables.
On May 15, as much as 0.75 tonne of fresh vegetables were exported to Dubai from the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneshwar. This included 0.5 MT supplied by the Madanamohana Farmers Producer Cooperative Society Ltd, an FPO from Dhenkanal district, a statement said.
Farmers associated with these FPOs realised 20-30 per cent higher prices for their produce in the export markets as compared to domestic sales, it added.
Lauding the efforts, Sitakanata Mandal, APEDA’s Regional Head, said, “We wanted to facilitate exports of fresh produce this season. Our partnership with Palladium made this possible as they identified and connected the FPOs with exporters.” “The work done by Palladium in linking Odisha’s FPOs with global markets is praiseworthy,” Mandal added.
Biswajit Behera, Associate Director of Palladium, said with over 800 FPOs, Odisha has immense potential to export fresh farm produce worldwide.
The market linkages created with export supply chains will boost farmer incomes and create sustainable business opportunities for the state’s FPOs, he stated.
“We aim to provide more such global markets connected to FPOs in remote areas and help them adopt efficient quality control systems to scale up their operations,” Behera said.