Export Import Management Chapter - Agri Export Zone (AEZ)

Agri Export Zone (AEZ)

Agriculture has always been the primary concern for India’s economic growth, as India is abundantly rich in agro and farming community but the only hindrance it faces is the weak governance and lack of proper direction for its elevation. Thus, with the primary objective of boosting agricultural exports from India, in March 2001, Government of India announced a policy of setting up of AEZs across the country. The Central Government has sanctioned 60 AEZs comprising about 40 agricultural commodities. AEZs are spread across 20 states in the country.

The State Government would evolve a comprehensive package of services provided by all state government agencies, state agricultural universities and all institutions and agencies of the Union Government for intensive delivery in AEZs. New AEZs will be encouraged to be sponsored by the corporate sector with proven credentials and take over the already notified AEZ or part of such zones for boosting agricultural exports from the zones. Services which would be managed and co-ordinated by State Government/corporate sector would include provision of pre/post harvest treatment and operations, plant protection, processing, packaging, storage and related research and development etc. APEDA will supplement, within its schemes and provisions, efforts of State Government for facilitating such exports.

Units in AEZs would be entitled to all the facilities available for exports of goods in terms of provisions of the respective schemes.

Objectives

The main objective of setting up AEZs is to combine the efforts made by various Central and State

Government departments for increasing exports of agricultural commodities from India. The AEZ

takes a comprehensive view of a particular produce/product located in a geographically

contiguous area for the purpose of developing and sourcing raw materials, their

processing/packaging, and leading to final exports.

The major components of this comprehensive concept are :

• Cluster approach of identifying the potential products and geographical region in which

these products are grown.

• Integration of the activities of various agencies connected with the department of the

product.

• Adopting an end-to-end approach of integrating the entire process, right from the stage of

production till it reaches the consumption

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