2 more agri export zones sanctioned

PUNE: Two new agriculture export zones (AEZs) have been sanctioned in Maharashtra, taking the total to five AEZs. The two new ones, for bananas and oranges, have been approved by the Ministry of Commerce and Industries recently.
The state already has AEZs for onion, pomegranate and mango (kesar and alphonso).
Officials of the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) said the total investment envisaged for the two new AEZs is Rs.61 crore. The Rs. 32.25 crore AEZ for bananas, which will be located in the districts of Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Buldana, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded and Wardha, will require an investment of Rs. 32.25 crore. These eight districts have 72,000 hectare land under banana cultivation.
The Rs. 28.75 crore AEZ for oranges will cover the districts of Nagpur and Amravati where 97,942 ha of land is under orange cultivation.
"An MoU between the state and central governments is expected to be signed shortly over the sharing of the investment, supply of agri produce, infrastructure creation, finance and the preparation of detailed project reports," MSAMB officials said.
While the state and central governments will invest in these AEZs, a major chunk of the investment is expected to be made by private and other investors. In the case of the Rs. 32.25 crore banana AEZ, the two governments will contribute Rs. 15.08 crore while Rs. 17.16 crore will be made by private investors. In the case of the Rs. 28.75 crore AEZ for oranges, the two governments will contribute Rs. 13.99 crore and Rs. 14.76 crore by private investors.
The state has 10.79 lakh ha under horticulture cultivation, producing 85 metric ton of fruit annually, the highest in the country.
An AEZ provides an integrated approach to quality improvement, an increase in production, local sale, access to international markets and remunerative prices to farmers.
The onion AEZ, covering the districts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Jalgaon, has already trained over 1,000 farmers. An onion grading centre has also been set up at Indapur, near Pune. At the Alphonso mango AEZ, in the Konkan, two centres for washing, grading, packaging, pre-cooling and cold stores have been set up.