Pune May 15 ( UNI): Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), in association with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), launched India's first Agriculture Export Facilitation Center (AEFC) on Saturday. Dr. G.R. Chintala, Chairman, NABARD, inaugurated the center in a virtual program organized by MCCIA. Mr. Umesh Chandra Sarangi, (IAS Retd.), Chairman, Agriculture and Agricultural Business Committee, MCCIA; Mr. Dheeraj Kumar (IAS), Agriculture Commissioner, Maharashtra; Mr. Sudhir Mehta, President, MCCIA and Mr. Prashant Girbane, Director General MCCIA were also present for the inauguration program. Mr. Ajinkya Rahane, Vice-Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, also marked his presence as a special guest through the virtual platform and encouraged the organizers and the participants and wished it all the success as its aims to boost farmer’s income through increasing exports.

 

Mr. Sarangi shared details about the center. He said, "The center aims to boost Maharashtra's agricultural and food exports by disseminating need-based information, providing timely guidance and organizing training courses for all the stakeholders. It will support capacity building by providing expert guidance on a range of topics like Orchard Management, Minimum Residue Level (MRL), Branding and Marketing, Packhouse & Special Export Treatments, Country-wise Protocols and Quality Parameters, Advance Export Certifications, Government Export Schemes and others.

 

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Chintala said, "This center will provide the capacity building for agri-food exports. I am calling it a one-stop-shop for the export of agri-food productions. India ranks 13th in the world in the agricultural expert. Presently Maharashtra exports agri-food products worth 30 million dollars; with such initiative, we must aim to take the export to 100 million dollars in the next few years.

Mr. Mehta, in his speech, added, "We have gone through a difficult time in the last year. Post covid, it will be a different world. We are grateful for NABARD to be associated with AEFC. For the chamber, agriculture is a very important component, and agriculture exports will be one of the bedrocks for the future.