AEZ exports cross Rs 10,000 cr, zeroing in on target
Posted by barunroy on June 2, 2008
New Delhi, Jun 1 Agri export zones (AEZs), with comparatively lower level of investment than the special economic zones (SEZs), have the potential to boost exports. A recent study of 60 AEZs spread across 20 states conducted by Agriculture and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) shows AEZs are approaching the cumulative export target.
According to the report by APEDA, AEZs have recorded cumulative exports of Rs 10,685.29 crore up to February 2008 against the target Rs 11,821.47 crore. The investments by the central and state government agencies and by the private sector in the AEZs have not been up to the mark. Against a projection of Rs 1,717.95 crore, the cumulative investment so far has been Rs 1,097.53 crore.
AEZs have been less controversial than SEZs because they have not resulted in a change of land use for industrial and other activities. AEZs are not fixed by physical boundaries like SEZs-they are regions in different states known for growing special crops like gherkins, grapes, special varieties of mango, lichi, potato, pineapples, Darjeeling tea, rose onion, vanilla, flowers, basmati rice, medicinal and aromatic plants, pomegranate, banana, walnut, garlic, spices, duram wheat, lentils & gram, cashew nut, honey, apple, ginger, turmeric, coriander and cumin.
Over the years there have been sporadic efforts at setting up AEZs, with the state governments clamouring for approvals. This had resulted in the setting up of as many as 60 AEZs in 20 states. In most cases the state and central governments have not lived up to their commitments of ensuring adequate infrastructure, and the investment from the private sector has not been to the desired level. The APEDA review, therefore, said, “A package needs to be developed to suggest solutions to these problems and agencies identified to implement these in a given time-frame.”
Andhra Pradesh with five AEZs has a record export turnover of Rs 2,852.59 crore. The AEZ for mango pulp and fresh vegetables in Chittoor district alone recorded an export turnover of Rs 2,736.03 crore, while export of mango and grapes in Ranga Reddy, Medak and Mehaboobnagar districts earned Rs 18.29 crore.
The mango AEZ in Krisha district is expected to record an export of Rs 2.75 crore and the gherkins AEZ in Mehaboobnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal, Ananthapur and Nalgonda districts is likely to bring in Rs 44.5 crore through exports. The chilli AEZ in Guntur district earned Rs 51 crore in exports.
Next to Andhra Pradesh, in performance, is… [The Financial Express]
This entry was posted on June 2, 2008 at 1:55 pm and is filed under In Newspapers Today. Tagged: aez, agri export zones, agriculture and processed foods exprot development auth, ananthapur, andhra pradesh, apeda, apple, aromatic plants, banana, basmati rice, cashew nut, chittoor district, cumin, darjeeling tea, duram wheat, flowers, garlic, gherkins, ginger, gram, grapes, guntur, honey, karimnagar, lentils, lichi, mango pulp, medak mehaboobnagar districts, medicinal, nalgonda, new delhi, pineapples, pomegranate, potato, ranga reddy, rose onion, sez, special economic zone, special varities of mango, spices, turmeric coriander, vanilla, walnut, warangal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
