2

Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that
works at grass root level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant
nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to
diseases.

India is bestowed with lot of potential to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various agro
climatic regions. In several parts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added
advantage. This holds promise for the organic producers to tap the market which is growing steadily in the
domestic market related to the export market.

Currently, India ranks 33rd in terms of total land under organic cultivation and 88th position for agriculture
land under organic crops to total farming area. The cultivated land under certification is around 2.8 million
Ha ( 2007-08). This includes 1 million hac under cultivation and the rest is under forest area ( wild
collection).

The Government of India has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). The
national programme involves the accreditation programme for certification bodies, norms for organic
production, promotion of organic farming etc. The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system
have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland as equivalent to their country standards.
Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to
that of US. With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification
bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries.

PRODUCTION

India produced around 3,96,997 MT of certified organic products which includes all varieties of food
products namely Basmati rice, Pulses, Honey, Tea, Spices, Coffee, Oil Seeds, Fruits, Processed food, Cereals,
Herbal medicines and there value added products. The production is not limited to the edible sector but
also produces organic cotton fiber, garments, cosmetics, functional food products, body care products, etc.

EXPORTS

India exported 86 items last year (2007-08) with the total volume of 37533 MT. The export realization was
around 100.4 million US $ registering a 30% growth over the previous year. Organic products are mainly
exported to EU, US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa and Middle East. Cotton leads
among the products exported (16,503 MT)

(3)

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by
the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority
Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985.  The Act (2 of 1986) came into effect from 13th
February, 1986 by a notification issued in the Gazette of India: Extraordinary: Part-II [Sec. 3(ii):
13.2.1986).  The Authority replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC).

1.1 ASSIGNED FUNCTIONS

In accordance with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985,  
(2 of 1986) the following functions have been assigned to the Authority.
 o Development of industries relating to the scheduled products for export by way of
providing financial assistance  or  otherwise for undertaking surveys and feasibility studies,
participation in enquiry capital through joint  ventures  and  other reliefs and subsidy
schemes;
o Registration of persons as exporters of the scheduled products on payment of such fees as
may be prescribed;
o Fixing of standards and specifications for the scheduled products for the purpose of
exports;
o Carrying out inspection of meat and meat products in slaughter houses, processing plants,
storage premises,   conveyances or other places where such products are kept or handled
for the purpose of ensuring the quality of   such products;
o Improving of packaging of the Scheduled products;
o Improving of marketing of the Scheduled products outside India;
o Promotion of export oriented production and development of the Scheduled products;
o Collection of statistics from the owners of factories or establishments engaged in the
production, processing,   packaging, marketing or export of the scheduled products or
from such other persons as may be prescribed on   any matter relating to the scheduled
products and publication of the statistics so collected or of any portions   thereof or
extracts therefrom;
o Training in various aspects of the industries connected with the scheduled products;
o Such other matters as may be prescribed.

1.2 PRODUCTS MONITORED

APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the following scheduled
products:

 Fruits, Vegetables and their Products.

 Meat and Meat Products.
 Poultry and Poultry Products.
 Dairy Products.
 Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products.
 Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products.
 Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds.
 Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages.
 Cereal and Cereal Products.
 Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts.
 Pickles, Papads and Chutneys.
 Guar Gum.
 Floriculture and Floriculture Products
 Herbal and Medicinal Plants

In addition to this, APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility to monitor import of sugar.
 
1.3 COMPOSITION OF THE APEDA AUTHORITY
As prescribed by the statute, the APEDA Authority consists of the following members namely:

 A Chairman, appointed by the Central Government

 The Agricultural Marketing Advisor to the Government of India, ex-officio
  One member appointed by the Central Government representing the Planning Commission
 Three members of Parliament of whom two are elected by the House of People and one by the
Council of States
 Eight members appointed by the Central Government representing respectively; the Ministries of
the Central Govt.  dealing   with

o Agriculture and Rural Development

o Commerce
o Finance
o Industry
o Food
o Civil Supplies
o Civil Aviation
o Shipping and Transport

 Five members appointed by the Central Government by rotation in the alphabetical order to
represent the States and the   Union Territories
 Seven members appointed by the Central Govt. representing

o Indian Council of Agricultural Research

o National Horticultural Board
o National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation
o Central Food Technological Research Institute
o Indian Institute of Packaging
o Spices Export Promotion Council and
o Cashew Export Promotion Council.

 Twelve members appointed by the Central Government representing

o Fruit and Vegetable Products Industries
o Meat, Poultry and Dairy Products Industries
o Other Scheduled Products Industries
o Packaging Industry
 Two members appointed by the Central Government from amongst specialists and scientists in the
fields of  agriculture,  economics and marketing of the scheduled products.

 
1.4 ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP
Chairman – Appointed by the Central Government

Director – Appointed by APEDA

Secretary – Appointed by the Central Government

Other Officers and Staff - Appointed by the Authority

 
Section 7 (3) of the APEDA Act provides for appointment of such officers and employees by the Authority as
may be necessary for  the efficient performance of its functions.
 
The total sanctioned staff strength is 100 in different categories of A, B, C & D.
 
At present, APEDA has a total of 30 female employees in Group A, B and C categories.  The welfare of the
female employees is  also well looked after.  APEDA has provided a separate ladies room within the office
premises.
 
As per Govt. norms, the reservation for physically handicapped persons is 3% of the total strength in all
grades.  APEDA has total  sanctioned staff strength of 100 out of which two are physically handicapped
employees.  The requirement of 3% will be completed  in subsequent recruitments.
 
1.5 APEDA’S PRESENCE
APEDA has marked its presence in almost all agro potential states of India and has been providing services
to agri-export community through its head office, five Regional offices and 13 Virtual offices.

Head office

• New Delhi

Regional offices

• Mumbai,
• Kolkata,
• Bangalore,
• Hyderabad and
• Guwahati

Virtual offices

• Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala),
• Bhubaneshwar (Orissa),
• Srinagar (J&K),
• Chandigarh,
• Imphal (Manipur),
• Agartala (Tripura),
• Kohima (Nagaland),
• Chennai (Tamil Nadu),
• Raipur (Chattisgarh),
• Ahmedabad (Gujarat),
• Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh),
• Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and
• Panaji (Goa)

The Virtual offices have been established in association with respective State Governments / agencies. Basic
information about APEDA, its functions, registration and financial assistance schemes etc. is being made
available to entrepreneurs / prospective exporters by these virtual offices.

4
India can become one of the largest fruit and vegetable exporters in the world
and can equally be a large importer given its demographic diversity. This strong
footing in agriculture provides a large and varied raw material base for food
processing.

There should be technology upgradation, quality management, firm adherence

to export commitments and acquisition of appropriate negotiation skills. Many
non-traditional vegetables mainly processed & gherkins and others like
asparagus, celery, bell pepper, sweet corn, green and lime beans and
organically grown vegetables are also being increasingly exported.
 India’s exports of Processed Food was Rs. 10065.58 Crores in 2008-09, which
including the share of products like Mango Pulp (Rs. 752.99 Crores), Dried and
Preserved Vegetable (Rs. 496.42 Crores), Other Processed Fruit and Vegetable
(Rs. 1371.79 Crores), Pulses (Rs. 542.32 Crores), Groundnuts (Rs. 1239.01
Crores), Guargum (Rs. 1338.99 Crores), Jaggery & Confectionary (Rs. 2004.82
Crores), Cocoa Products (Rs. 84.04 Crores), Cereal Preparations (Rs. 1100.93
Crores), Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (Rs. 542.54 Crores) and
Miscellaneous Preparations (Rs. 591.73 Crores).

The Indian food processing industry is primarily export oriented. India’s

geographical situation gives it the unique advantage of connectivity to Europe,
the Middle East, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. One such
example indicating India’s location advantage is the value of trade in agriculture
and processed food between India and Gulf region.
      
DRIED AND PRESERVED OTHER PROCESSED FRUITS AND
MANGO PULP
VEGETABLES VEGETABLES
Profile
Profile Profile
Export
Export Export

PULSES GROUNDNUTS JAGGERY AND CONFECTIONERY

Profile Profile Profile

Export Export Export

GUAR GUM COCOA PRODUCTS CEREAL PREPARATIONS

Profile Profile Profile

Export Export Export

MISCELLANEOUS
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES MILLED PRODUCTS
PREPARATIONS
Profile Profile
Profile
Export Export
Export

Organic products are grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides with an environmentally and socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that
works at grass root level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant
nutrition, and sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to
diseases.

India is bestowed with lot of potential to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various agro
climatic regions. In several parts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added
advantage. This holds promise for the organic producers to tap the market which is growing steadily in the
domestic market related to the export market.

Currently, India ranks 33rd in terms of total land under organic cultivation and 88th position for agriculture
land under organic crops to total farming area. The cultivated land under certification is around 2.8 million
Ha ( 2007-08). This includes 1 million hac under cultivation and the rest is under forest area ( wild
collection).

The Government of India has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). The
national programme involves the accreditation programme for certification bodies, norms for organic
production, promotion of organic farming etc. The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system
have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland as equivalent to their country standards.
Similarly, USDA has recognized NPOP conformity assessment procedures of accreditation as equivalent to
that of US. With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification
bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries.

PRODUCTION

India produced around 3,96,997 MT of certified organic products which includes all varieties of food
products namely Basmati rice, Pulses, Honey, Tea, Spices, Coffee, Oil Seeds, Fruits, Processed food, Cereals,
Herbal medicines and there value added products. The production is not limited to the edible sector but
also produces organic cotton fiber, garments, cosmetics, functional food products, body care products, etc.

EXPORTS

India exported 86 items last year (2007-08) with the total volume of 37533 MT. The export realization was
around 100.4 million US $ registering a 30% growth over the previous year. Organic products are mainly
exported to EU, US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa and Middle East. Cotton leads
among the products exported (16,503 MT).