Odisha is a progressive state in Agriculture production. Being a state rich in diverse agro-ecological conditions, Odisha has optimal conditions to produce all major crops. Odisha is one of the largest producers of rice in India. The other crops cultivated are: Jute, Oil Seeds, Pulses, Coconut, Sugarcane, Tea, Rubber, Cotton, Gram, Mustard, Maize, Sesame, Ragi, Potato and Soybean. Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Baleshwar and Sambalpur are the major agricultural hubs of the state. Given this context, the State is really looking forward towards enhancing export of its Agriculture, Horticulture & Processed Food produce.

World Trade Center Bhubaneswar in association with Department of MSME, Government of Odisha; Directorate of Export Promotion & Marketing, Government of Odisha and APEDA (Agriculture and Processed Food Products Development Authority) organized a session on Agriculture & Processed Food Exports. The session was organized under the Export Facilitation Cell established by MSME Department, Government of Odisha.

Mr. Saswat Mishra, IAS, Principal Secretary, MSME Department, Government of Odisha chaired the session and in his inaugural address, highlighted Odisha’s export scenario, the initiatives undertaken by the government through various schemes to handhold the MSMEs to explore International Markets. He also highlighted the upcoming projects along with the cluster facilities for Cashew at Rambha (operational) and Brahmagiri (in progress). He also deliberated on domestic cargo operation to be accelerated and the state government is already acting on the same, reverse buyer seller meeting to be conducted in Bhubaneswar and Quality/Food testing labs to be set up in the state and also informed that the operational guidelines for the State Export Policy shall soon be released.

Mr. Sitakanta Mandal, Regional Head, APEDA, Kolkata delivered a detailed presentation on APEDA and its modalities. He spoke on the products handled by APEDA, mandate vested etc. He highlighted the initiatives undertaken by APEDA like online certifications (RCMC, RCAC, COE, Financial Assistance, Export Returns), AgriTrade Newsletter, International Food Exhibitions, Buyer Seller as well as reverse Buyer Seller Meets, Rapid Alert Monitoring System and various capacity building programs to handhold the exporters. He further deliberated on export agro products from the state for exports, Agriculture Export Policy, key strengths of Odisha as well as the available resources, constraints, and the way forward, International Market Development etc.

Earlier in the session, Mr. Rajen Padhi, Honorary Convenor, International Trade Promotion Think Tank & Commercial Director, B One Business House delivered the welcome address and spoke on the nuances of exports. He also highlighted the role of World Trade Center Bhubaneswar as an EFC (Export Facilitation Cell) to the state and various activities to be undertaken under the cell.

Mr. Subrato Ghosh, Managing Director, Paff Global Pvt. Ltd., Burdwan, West Bengal highlighted various crucial factors on agriculture exports and raised bottlenecks in logistics, the significance of retail packaging, damage borne by the exporters in intermediate handling of goods etc. He urged the state government to prioritize on training programs to the FPCs for commercial packaging, Nitrogen Flushing Units for Cashew nuts to be established given the high demand of 320 series cashew nuts from several countries, E-Radiation plant in CHES to be established to enhance mango exports from the state etc. He also accentuated on the cargo facilities from the state, Mango Health Certification facility in Odisha and Certification of registration for export of mangoes (one-time registration for the entire orchard and not per unit of mango).

Dr. P Srinivas, Principal Scientist & Head (I/C), Central Horticulture Experiment Station (CHES) Bhubaneswar deliberated on the Phyto-sanitary headquarters in Bengaluru, exotic fruits like avocado, dragon fruit etc to be focused on due to high export potential, focus on dehydrated fruits due to the advantage in transit time and also urged the entrepreneurs to focus on Jackfruit (Odisha being the first state in commercial production) , custard apple and value added products like pickled cucumbers.

Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Assistant Director, WTC Bhubaneswar presented on the Global Trade Helpdesk and proposed the vote of thanks.

Mr. Rohit Lenka, IFS, Director-Horticulture, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Government of Odisha, Mr. Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi, Hon'ble Board Member, APEDA and Mr. Suryendra Kumar Mantry, Director, Metexo Management Private Limited, Cuttack, Odisha also joined the session and added much value to the program.

It was further agreed upon to formulate an exporters/importers directory, sector specific training programs to be organized by APEDA along with export marketing assistance, APEDA branch office to be set up in Odisha and currently to run on satellite mode as the way forward.

The session was followed by a highly interactive Q&A session where the MSMEs raised queries on the scope of Orchid Cultivation in the state, packaging information and labelling details, input credit escalation of taxes / duties etc.

The session was held on Friday, 26^th May 2023 at IDCO Conference Hall, IDCO Towers, Bhubaneswar.