APEDA facilitates sea shipment of botanical-infused millet functional foods to New Zealand

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) facilitated the flagging off of the first-ever sea shipment of botanical-infused ready-to-cook millet functional foods from Karnataka to New Zealand on June 3.

• The shipment reflects the growing global demand for innovative millet-based products derived from India’s traditional grains and underscores the expanding opportunities for value-added agricultural exports from the country.

• The export of botanical-infused millet functional foods highlights the growing potential of India’s value-added agricultural products and is expected to benefit millet-growing farmers through enhanced demand and improved market access. 

• Such initiatives contribute to strengthening India’s agri-export ecosystem while generating opportunities across the millet value chain.

• Millets have emerged as an important component of India’s agricultural export basket owing to their nutritional benefits, climate resilience and rising consumer demand across global markets.

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.

• It has 18 regional offices across India.

APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility of export promotion and development of following scheduled products:

i) Fruits, Vegetables and their Products

ii) Meat and Meat Products

iii) Poultry and Poultry Products

iv) Dairy Products

v) Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products

vi) Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products

vii) Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds

viii) Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages

ix) Cereal and Cereal Products

x) Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts

xi) Pickles, Papads and Chutneys

xii) Guar Gum

xiii) Floriculture and Floriculture Products

xiv) Herbal and Medicinal Plants

xv) De-oiled rice bran

xvi) Green pepper in brine

xvii) Cashew Nuts and its Products.

• In addition to this, APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility to monitor the import of sugar as well.

• APEDA also functions as the Secretariat to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for the implementation of accreditation of the Certification Bodies under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) for organic exports.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)