Meghalaya today send off one tonne trial export consignment of the King of Oranges—the Khasi Mandarin to Dubai.
Oranges are among the most loved, and widely accepted, fruits in the world and the Khasi mandarin is the king of them. Called Soh Niamtra or Soh Myntra in Khasi (Komola or Humoptira in Assamese; Komla in Bengali) the Khasi mandarin is widely cultivated in Meghalaya, Assam and the other North Eastern States.
The golden orbs obtained the Geographical Identification (GI) tag in 2014.
The trial export shipment of the fruit has been sourced from Jirang-based farmer producer company (FPC) under Ri Bhoi district. These oranges are grown under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), which is a sub-mission under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
The apex agricultural export promotion body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry felicitated the trial export shipment of the fruit to Dubai in association with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare of the State government.
The trial shipment was flagged off by State Agriculture Secretary S Sadhu.
APEDA chairman M Angamuthu addressed the gathering virtually and stressed on making the North Eastern region a hub of organic products’ export. “It is a fact that the North Eastern Region is a leader in organic products. The time is apt to promote Meghalaya’s purest form of organic in the country as well as across the globe. So, let us work together and promote horticulture, value-added organic products and other products of Meghalaya.”
A government statement here said there is a tremendous increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Meghalaya, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh with the intervention of APEDA.
North East has witnessed an 85.34 per cent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe, the statement said.
APEDA also extended its support to the region to undertake branding and promotion of products such as Kiwi wine, processed foods, carrying out a wet sampling of Joha Rice Pulao, Black Rice kheer, etc.
