In a significant boost to farm exports from Odisha, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the state have marked their foray into the global markets with the first commercial shipment of fresh mangoes and vegetables.

This feat was made possible through a strategic collaboration between the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the state Directorate of Horticulture and Palladium which is the technical support unit for the ‘Promotion and Stabilisation of Farmer Producer Organisations (PSFPO)’ project.

On May 15, as much as 0.75 tonne of fresh vegetables were exported to Dubai from the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneshwar. This included 0.5 MT supplied by the Madanamohana Farmers Producer Cooperative Society Ltd, an FPO from Dhenkanal district, a statement said.

Besides, 1.22 tonne of premium Amrapali and Dussehri variety mangoes from the same FPO were shipped to Italy over the last couple of days, it said.

Farmers associated with these FPOs realised 20-30 per cent higher prices for their produce in the export markets as compared to domestic sales, it added.

Lauding the efforts, Sitakanata Mandal, APEDA’s Regional Head, said, “We wanted to facilitate exports of fresh produce this season. Our partnership with Palladium made this possible as they identified and connected the FPOs with exporters.”

“The work done by Palladium in linking Odisha’s FPOs with global markets is praiseworthy,” Mandal added.

Biswajit Behera, Associate Director of Palladium, said with over 800 FPOs, Odisha has immense potential to export fresh farm produce worldwide.

The market linkages created with export supply chains will boost farmer incomes and create sustainable business opportunities for the state’s FPOs, he stated.

“We aim to provide more such global markets connected to FPOs in remote areas and help them adopt efficient quality control systems to scale up their operations,” Behera said.