Nagpur to be developed as cluster for orange by APEDA  

The Orange city of Nagpur will be developed as Orange cluster on the lines of industrial clusters developed in different parts of the country to boost domestic manufacturing and promote exports.

As part of this initiative, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been made the nodal agency to develop necessary infrastructure to increase exports of oranges from Nagpur.

The cluster development plan for the city has been conceived as part of agriculture export policy (AEP) that aims to identify focused markets for increased exports. The main focus of this is to increase the exports of Nagpur orange in the Middle East countries and to brand the fruit crop in that region.

First consignment of Nagpur oranges was flagged off to Dubai on February 13, 2020 from Vashi, Navi Mumbai. Total 1500 crates were loaded in the refrigerated container from Vanguard Health Care (VHT) facility.

Nagpur mandarin oranges is one of the best mandarins in the world. Production of this fruit crop in central and western parts of India is increasing every year. Mrig crop (monsoon blossom), which matures in February - March, has great potential for export since arrivals of mandarin fruit in international market are less during this period.

According to Maharashtra State Agriculture Department, 40 lakh hectare land is under orange cultivation in Nagpur District and major orange growing pockets are Warud, Katol, Saoner, Kalameshwar and Narkhed in Nagpur and Amravati districts. In the whole region only one variety Nagpur Mandarin is grown.

Under the initiative to build Nagpur as orange cluster, a Buyer-Seller Meet cum Training programme was also held on December 5, 2019 at Vasantrao Naik Agriculture Extension and management Training Institute (VANAMATI), Nagpur. Around 150 farmers from Nagpur District, Farmer Producers companies and seven exporters participated.

The International Trade in 2018 for orange was $10183 million. India produced 8781 thousand tons of orange in 2018-19 (orange includes Mandarin, clementine).
-IANS