Uttar Pradesh veggies spicing up Arabic cuisine, farm exports jump

State shipped 160k tonnes of veggies to Gulf in FY22

In an archetypal farm-to-fork story, the Uttar Pradesh vegetables are spicing up the Arabic food and cuisine in the faraway Gulf countries.

Boosting the state’s farm value chain, the export of vegetables from landlocked UP to the Arabic world is rising even as the government is now looking to tap the extensive European market as well.

According to the state government, about 160,000 tonnes of vegetables worth Rs 161 crore were exported via air route to the Gulf in 2021-22.

In the current financial year 2022-23, vegetable consignments totalling over 100,000 tonnes and valued at Rs 112 crore have so far been exported to the Arabic countries from UP.

Now, the state is looking to increase the shipments of a much larger basket of horticultural crops comprising fruits and vegetables to the Gulf region; thus provide a robust and remunerative price mechanism to farmers.

Most recently, a consignment of fresh vegetables took off from the Lucknow airport to Dubai.

“We are in the process of tapping newer markets not only in the Gulf region but European countries too,” UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi said adding efforts were being made to ensure that at least four vegetable consignments were sent from Lucknow every week.

UP is among the top agricultural, horticultural and dairy producers in India with leadership position in a variety of crops including sugarcane, potato, milk etc.

Rising farm exports would not only give a much needed modern fillip to the largely agrarian economy of UP, but supplement the overarching goal of doubling the rural incomes in near future as espoused by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Meanwhile, four modern pack houses are being developed in Lucknow, Sitapur, Amroha and Varanasi to boost the export of locally produced horticultural crops to the domestic and international markets.

“To facilitate better prices to farmers, the state has drafted a composite action plan to encourage the production of high quality fruits and vegetables to meet the stiff global export standards. This will catalyse farm exports from UP going forward,” the minister underlined.

Moreover, the state is taking steps to harness Varanasi for exporting vegetables to Europe, and for this purpose a quality assurance lab is set to be operationalised in the temple town.

The government has exhorted farmers to cultivate crops to cater the lucrative export markets, and promised to provide all possible assistance to improve the harvest quality for higher farm income.