In a move aimed at boosting export of agricultural and food products from Ladakh, the ministry of commerce and industry through its export promotion body APEDA is in process of hand-holding of apricot value chain stakeholders to enhance export from Ladakh under the brand ‘Ladakh Apricot’.

It is expected that the initiatives of APEDA towards export promotion of apricots and other agri-products would give a fillip to overall development of the region.

Work on obtaining GI tag for Ladakh apricot is also in process.

Ladakh apricot

• Ladakh is the biggest apricot producer in the country with a total production of 15,789 tonnes that constitutes nearly 62 per cent share in total. 

• It is one of the important fruit crops of Ladakh and is locally known as ‘Chuli’.

• The region produced approximately 1,999 tonnes of dried apricot, making it the largest producer of dried apricot in the country. The total area under apricot cultivation is 2,303 hectares in Ladakh.

• The native apricot genotypes of Ladakh possess unique and important characteristics, such as high TSS content, late and extended flowering and fruit maturity, and white seed stone phenotype, which offer opportunity for exporting to different nations worldwide.

• APEDA had identified fresh apricot fruit exports from UT of Ladakh during last year and trial shipments were sent to Dubai during the fag end of the apricot season.

What is APEDA?

• 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. The Act came into effect on February 13, 1986.

• 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.

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