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R. Balaji

The zone is to be established in the southern part of Tamil Nadu will cover Tirunelveli, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Madurai and Virudhunagar.

CHENNAI, Dec. 24

A SECOND agri export zone (AEZ) is set to come up in Tamil Nadu with the Government of India approving the State Government's proposal to set one up in the southern districts, according to industry sources.

The Government will shortly enter into MoU with the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for setting up an AEZ for horticulture crops, particularly mangoes. The zone is to be established in the southern part of Tamil Nadu will cover Tirunelveli, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Madurai and Virudhunagar.

This will cover one of the two major mango belts in the State, the other being the Dharmapuri and Salem tract in the west. The earlier MoU with the APEDA was for a floriculture export zone in Dharmapuri and Hosur.

The AEZ for horticulture crops is estimated to cost about Rs 25 crore including a Central subsidy of Rs 4.17 crore, which has been sanctioned, sources said.

The project envisages an integrated approach to commercial exploitation of horticulture crops with facilities and technology provided from soil-to-market. Modern farming methods and processing facilities will be provided to tap the export potential for value added products. A major processing facility will be established at Theni with private sector participation. The processing unit will also provide facilities to farmers in the region to add value to their produce. It will source raw materials from the region through outlying collection centres in the various districts.

These will be backed up with infrastructure for transportation to the processing facility. The unit will be equipped with facilities for producing processed fruit products, cleaning, packaging and grading of fresh fruits in conformity with international standards and for freeze drying vegetables, sources said. A major advantage of this region is that it produces off-season mangoes apart from the conventional season in summer. This could be exploited to tap the market when the fruits are not commonly available. In addition, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables are grown in this belt, and the export zone envisages commercial exploitation of this resource.

For instance, Oddanchatram market in Dindigul district is among the largest centres of vegetable marketing in the South. Theni and surrounding areas are major grape production and export centres, sources said.

It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu Government proposes to set up eight agri export zones to fully exploit the potential for agro-based businesses. The Government proposes to involve the private sector in establishment of the export zones. It has announced that the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation would be state-level nodal agency for establishment of the export zones while the Department of Agri-business and Marketing, the nodal department.

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