APEDA conducts BHARATI programme

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) successfully concluded the first cohort of BHARATI programme on June 24.

• BHARATI is an acronym for Bharat’s Hub for Agritech, Resilience, Advancement and Incubation for Export Innovation.

• It is an export enablement and acceleration programme aimed at fostering innovation-led growth in India's agri-food export sector. 

• The inaugural cohort comprised 100 startups, selected through a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process from over 700 applications received from across the country. 

• The cohort included 68 agri-food product startups, 26 export-enabling technology and service providers, and six innovators working in the areas of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, traceability, quality assurance and compliance solutions.

• The successful completion of the first cohort marks an important milestone in APEDA’s efforts to integrate innovation and entrepreneurship into the country’s export growth strategy.

• Beyond supporting stakeholders, BHARATI seeks to cultivate a dynamic ecosystem aligned with India’s target of achieving exports worth $50 billion in APEDA-scheduled products by 2030.

• The programme was launched to identify, nurture and support high-potential startups developing innovative products, technologies and solutions that can enhance India's agricultural and processed food exports. 

• The initiative aims to strengthen the country’s agri-food export ecosystem by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, value addition, technology adoption and global market readiness.

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.)