India exported the season’s first consignment of Shahi Litchi from Bihar to the United Kingdom by air route on May 24. 

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) collaborated with the department of agriculture, Bihar along with other stakeholders such as farmers, exporters and importers for facilitating exports of Shahi Litchi. 

Benefits of GI tag

Shahi Litchi is a GI-certified product. The GI tag helps growers get premium price for the product as no other producer can misuse the name to market similar goods.  

A geographical indication (GI) tag is used for an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin. 

Darjeeling tea, Tirupati laddu, Kangra paintings, Nagpur orange and Kashmir pashmina are among the registered GIs in India. 

India is second largest producer of litchi

Shahi Litchi was the fourth agricultural product to get GI certification from Bihar in 2018, after Jardalu mango, Katarni rice and Maghai paan. GI registration for Shahi Litchi is held with the Muzaffarpur-based Litchi Growers Association of Bihar. 

Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Champaran, Begusarai districts and adjoining areas of Bihar have favourable climate for growing Shahi Litchi. 

India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world after China. 

The translucent, flavoured aril or edible flesh of the litchi is popular as a table fruit in India, while in China and Japan it is preferred in dried or canned form. 

Bihar tops in terms of production of litchi in the country. 

The Bihar government is making efforts for creating required infrastructures such as customs clearance facility, laboratory testing facility, packing  houses and pre-cooling facilities, which would harness and boost agricultural exports potential of the state.

Because of the short shelf life of litchi, there is a need to explore export opportunities for processed and value-added products. 

APEDA has been facilitating the Bihar government in formulating State agri-export plan which would provide a road-map for boosting agricultural and processed food products exports from the state. After the finalisation of the state agri-export plan, the export potential of Makhana, mango, litchi and other fruits and vegetables can be harnessed.

What is APEDA’s purpose?

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the government under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by Parliament in December 1985.

APEDA, which replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC), has its headquarters in New Delhi.

In order to reach out to exporters in different parts of the country, APEDA has set up five regional offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Guwahati and 13 virtual offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneshwar, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Imphal, Agartala, Kohima, Chennai, Raipur,  Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Lucknow and Panaji.

APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility of export promotion and development of 14 agricultural and processed food product groups listed in the Schedule to the APEDA Act. In addition to this, APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility to monitor the import of sugar as well.

APEDA has been actively engaged in the development of markets besides upgradation of infrastructure and quality to promote the export of agro products.

In its endeavour to promote agro exports, APEDA, under its Plan Scheme titled ‘Agriculture Export Promotion Scheme of APEDA’ provides financial assistance to the registered exporters under sub-components of the scheme — market development, infrastructure development, quality development and transport assistance.

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