New Delhi, Jun 10 (KNN) Export of agriculture and allied products during 2020-21 jumped to 41.25 billion dollars, indicating an increase of 17.34 per cent, said Dr Anup Wadhawan, Secretary, Department of Commerce.

During the media interaction, on Thursday, he informed that after remaining stagnant for the past three years (38.43 billion dollars in 2017-18, 38.74 billion dollars in 2018-19 and 35.16 billion dollars 2019-20), the export of agriculture and allied products including marine and plantation products during 2020-21 jumped to 41.25 billion dollars, indicating an increase of 17.34 per cent.

In Indian Rupees (INR) terms, the increase is 22.62 per cent with exports during 2020-21 amounting to Rs 3.05 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.49 lakh crore during 2019-20. India’s agricultural and allied imports during 2019-20 were 20.64 billion dollars, and the corresponding figures for 2020-21 are 20.67 billion dollars.

''Despite COVID-19, balance of trade in agriculture has improved by 42.16 per cent from 14.51 billion dollars to 20.58 billion dollars,'' an official statement quoted him as saying.

For agriculture products excluding marine and plantation products, the growth is 28.36 per cent with exports of 29.81 billion dollars in 2020-21 as compared to 23.23 billion dollars in 2019-20.

''India has been able to take advantage of the increased demand for staples during the COVID-19 period,'' the statement added.

Huge growth has been seen in export of cereals with export of non-basmati rice growing by 136.04 per cent to 4794.54 million per cent; wheat by 774.17 per cent to 549.16 million per cent; and other cereals Millets, Maize and other coarse gains by 238.28 per cent to 694.14 million dollars.

Other agricultural products, which registered significant increase in exports, as compared to 2019-20, were oil meals 1575.34 million dollars-growth of 90.28 per cent, sugar 2789.97 million dollars- growth 41.88 per cent, raw cotton 1897.20 million dollars-growth 79.43 per cent, fresh vegetables 721.47 million dollars-growth 10.71 per cent and vegetable oils 602.77 million dollars-growth 254.39 per cent etc.

Largest markets for India’s agriculture products are USA, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Nepal, Iran and Malaysia. Exports to most of these destinations have registered growth, with highest growth being recorded for Indonesia (102.42 per cent), Bangladesh (95.93 per cent) and Nepal (50.49 per cent).

The statement further said that the export of spices like ginger, pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, saffron etc., which have known therapeutic qualities, has also grown substantially. During 2020-21, export of pepper increased by 28.72 per cent to 1269.38 million dollars; cinnamon by 64.47 per cent to 11.25 million dollars; nutmeg, mace and cardamom by 132.03 per cent (189.34 million dollars vs 81.60 million dollars; and ginger, saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves etc. by 35.44 per cent to570.63 million dollars. Export of spices touched highest ever level of around 4 billion dollars during 2020-21.

The organic exports during 2020-21 were 1040 million dollars as against 689 million dollars in 2019-20, registering a growth of 50.94 per cent. Organic exports include oil cake/ meals, oil seeds, cereals and millets, spices and condiments, tea, medicinal plant products, dry fruits, sugar, pulses, coffee etc.

Exports have also taken place from several clusters for the first time. For instance, export of fresh vegetables and mangoes from Varanasi and black Rice from Chandauli has taken place for the first time, directly benefiting farmers of the area. Exports have also taken place from other clusters viz. oranges from Nagpur, bananas from Theni and Ananthpur, mango from Lucknow etc.

''Despite the pandemic, export of fresh horticulture products took place by multimodal mode and consignments were shipped by air and sea to Dubai, London and other destinations from these areas. Hand Holding by the Department for market linkages, post-harvest value chain development and the institutional structure such as FPOs, enabled North East farmers to send their value-added products beyond the Indian borders,'' it said.

Cereal exports have done well during 2020-21. We have been able to export to several countries for the first time. For example Rice has been exported to countries like Timor-Leste, Puerto Rico, Brazil, etc. for the first time. Similarly wheat has been exported to countries like Yemen, Indonesia, Bhutan, etc and other cereals have been exported to Sudan, Poland Bolivia, etc, Wadhawan said.