Opening a window of possibilities of boosting groundnut exports from the eastern region, a consignment of 24 metric tonnes (MT) of groundnuts was exported to Nepal from West Bengal, informed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
According to the commerce ministry, the consignment sourced from farmers of West Midnapore district of West Bengal, was exported by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) registered Laduram Promoters Pvt Ltd, Kolkata.
"India exported 6.38 lakh tonnes worth of Rs 5,381 crore of groundnuts during 2020-21. The groundnuts are exported to mostly countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Nepal," the ministry said.
It further said through initiatives such as peanut.NET, APEDA has streamlined the exports of groundnuts through measures including buyer registration, batch processing by APEDA registered peanut units, application for a certificate of export and stuffing certificate by exporter, Aflatoxin analysis and issue of stuffing certificate by laboratories, issuance of a certificate of exports by APEDA.
According to the third advance estimates of oilseeds production by the ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare, the groundnut production in 2020-21 is estimated at 101.19 lakh tonne against 99.52 lakh tonne estimated in 2019-20.
"Traditionally, Gujarat and Rajasthan have a major share in groundnut exports. The groundnut exports from West Bengal will boost the export potential of the crop from the eastern region," it said.
Gujarat is the largest producer of groundnuts in the country, which is followed by Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
"The crop is grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons. The Kharif season has a share of more than 75 per cent of the total production," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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