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IT IS GRATIFYING that the concept of Agri Export Zones (AEZs) mooted last year has moved forward with sanction accorded to 20 such zones in 12 different States covering mainly horticulture products. Work on 15 of the AEZs has already commenced. The Commerce Minister wants to transform select rural regions as ``rural motors of export economy'' and AEZs are expected to be the vehicle for the growth strategy. Why not? Varied agro-climatic conditions across the country facilitate production of a wide range of horticulture products such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants and so on, apart from plantation crops. India is the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Interestingly, a significant part of the output is more organically cultivated than in most developed countries; but this has hardly been reckoned as a selling proposition. Problems are many: pre- and post-harvest losses are high (estimates vary from 15 to 40 per cent) either because of lack of knowledge of scientific practices or lack of infrastructure - warehouses, roads, market yards, facility for primary processing/grading, cold storage etc. There are also serious gaps in the availability of credit and market intelligence. Despite constraints, not only production but also export of fresh fruits and vegetables has been expanding.

TheAEZ concept seeks to remove the weaknesses and leverage the strengths. Concentrating on a particular produce grown in a geographically contiguous area, it will look at developing and sourcing raw material, their processing and packaging, leading to final exports. The idea behind AEZs is to dovetail all incentive schemes of the Central and State governments and evolve a comprehensive package of services provided by all the government agencies, agricultural universities and other institutions for an intensive and focussed delivery. Such services have to be managed and coordinated by respective State governments.

Clearly, the success of AEZs is premised on the close cooperation between the Centre and the respective State governments. Availability of and access to low-cost credit needs to be ensured. As export markets are fastidious, standardization of production quality in the AEZ is of utmost importance. The delivery system - input supplies, knowledge of agronomic practices and market/commercial intelligence - needs to be strengthened. Our native expertise in information technology should be utilised for providing a variety of services to farmers and empowering them to take informed decision. Indeed, AEZs provide an excellent opportunity for corporates to establish backward linkages and engage in precision farming so as to produce export-worthy fresh and/or processed products. Under the scheme, State governments are charged with the responsibility of identifying products and regions for developing AEZs. Given their fragile finances, to what extent State governments would invest in creating marketing infrastructure remains to be seen. It may be necessary to invite private participation. The least the State governments can do is to ensure all impediments are removed.

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