Tripura exports 1,332 MT of organic products in 3 years: Minister

Agartala, Jul 9 (PTI) Tripura Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath on Wednesday said the northeastern state has exported 1,332 metric tonnes of organic products in the last few years.

The exported products include scented rice, bird’s eye chilli, ginger, turmeric, and pineapple.

Speaking at the first-ever organic buyer-seller conference here, Nath said organic agriculture is not a fashion. It is a future-ready solution to the global crisis of health, climate change, and soil degradation.

"Tripura is ready to lead this transformation. We are not just adopting organic practices, we are building an entire ecosystem from farm to fork," he said.

"We have developed more than 25,000 hectares of certified organic land and formed 53 organic Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) by approved certification agencies," the minister said.

Nath said the agriculture department has been supporting the cultivation of high-value crops such as queen pineapple, bird’s eye chilli, black rice, aromatic rice (Harinarayan, Kalikhasa), scented lemon, sesame, turmeric, ginger, millet, and kew pineapple.

The organic market is growing fast in India, where 7.3 million hectares of land have been registered under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), with a production of 6.3 million metric tonnes and an export volume of 2.61 lakh metric tons, valued at Rs 4,007 crore, he added.

"We have connected our organic farmers with market linkages in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati, and have exported to Oman, Dubai, and Dhaka," he said, adding the state has achieved remarkable success in marketing organic pineapple, aromatic rice, bird’s eye chilli, ginger, and turmeric in the last three years.

The northeastern state has exported 666 metric tonnes of pineapple, 33 metric tons of scented rice, 7 metric tons of bird’s eye chilli, 574 metric tons of ginger, and 52 metric tons of turmeric. PTI PS SBN SBN