ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli (NRCB) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural Food Processing and Export Promotion Corporation (TNAPEx) were jointly organized an interactive meeting on "Strengthening Tamil Nadu Connectivity: Trichy – International Hub for Agricultural Exports" at ICAR-NRC for Banana, Tiruchirappalli on 27.09.2024 to strengthen Tamil Nadu's connectivity, particularly focusing on making Trichy an international hub for agricultural exports. The meeting emphasised to develop a robust infrastructure for logistics, enhance agricultural export, and strengthen handholding between institutions to create sustainable Agri exports with the emphasis to meet markets like US, Europe, Japan, Australia other than tradition East Asian and West Asian markets.

Dr. K. Alagusundaram, MD &CEO of TNAPExChief guest of the event highlighted the importance of identifying exportable, demand-based agri commodities to achieve the Tamil Nadu Government’s ambitious goal of reaching one trillion USD economy by 2030. He asked the exporters to follow the compliance procedures for various agro-commodities for newer markets. He emphasized that farmers should focus on increasing production to meet export demand, rather than dividing the existing produce between domestic and export markets. He highlighted that TNAPEx will act as a one-stop solution for all agriculture and food export needs. He mentioned that policy guidelines are being prepared. Production and processing should align with the standards of the importing countries. For instance, meeting the requirements of Middle Eastern nations is relatively straightforward, but targeting higher-value markets like the US, UK, Japan, and Australia will require exporters to take proactive measures to comply with their stricter standards. He further elaborated the Government initiatives like cluster-based export hubs, irradiation facilities and processing facilities are being created to boost the export trade from the Delta region.

Dr. R. Selvarajan, Director, ICAR-NRCB, in his presidential address. Horticultural crops play pivotal role in export of agricultural commodities. Trichy is the central part of Tamil Nadu grows many horticultural crops, particularly fruits, vegetables and flowers. He stressed the importance of exploring traditional and GI banana varieties to the demographic advantage and emphasised that processed and value-added commodities like banana chips to our own ethnic population can give good impact. He stressed on moving from primary processing to tertiary processing to bring sustainable end- to end solutions and also moving away from rice centric export to niche commodity-based export, demand and data driven export was also stressed.

Shri. G. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Airports Authority of India, Tiruchirappalli gave a brief presentation on Aerodome data of Tiruchirappalli International Airport. He asked the exporters to utilize the air-cargo facilities present at Trichy airport and briefed that the airport is currently handling 600 metric tonnes agri-product exports every month.To further enhance exports, he emphasized that the runway will be extended to 4,000 meters to accommodate wide-body aircraft capable of handling larger cargo volumes. He noted that currently, Trichy Airport manages 600 metric tons of Agri commodities like fruits, vegetables, flowers and green leafy vegetables in cargo per month. However, there are no dedicated cargo flights available yet, resulting in limited cargo capacity.

Dr. C. Vanniarajan, Dean of ADAC & RI, emphasized the comparative strategic advantage of Trichy and noted the promising export potential of new rice varieties like Trichy 3 which is a short bold variety with good export potential. Dr. E. Somasundaram, Director of Agri-Business Development at TNAU, Coimbatore, emphasized the exploitation of retort technology for extending the shelf-life of processed ready to eat products to up to three years. The training and incubation facilities rendered by TNAU is also emphasised. Dr. N. Venkatachalapathy, Dean at NIFTEM-T, Thanjavur, Dr. P. Rajkumar, Dean of AEC & RI at TNAU, Kumulur ,Shri. N M Mohan Karthik, AGM of NABARD, Tiruchirappalli, Shri. S. Sivarama Krishnan, Assistant Director of CIPMC, Tiruchirappalli, Shri. M. Ramalingam, JD/GM of DIC, Tiruchirappalli, discussed innovative initiatives, by their institutions.Shri. G. Ajeethan, General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Banana Growers Federation (TNBGF), highlighted the need for certified pack houses, insurance awareness, rules and regulations for phyto-sanitation and quarantine for various agri products in vernacular languages. Ms. Dharani, Consultant, TNAPEx was the moderator of the event.

A fruitful interaction session was followed under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Alagusundaram and Co-chairmanship of Dr. R. Selvarajan along with four Panelists from various sectors. The exporters/traders actively participated and raised many issues faced by them at various airports and additional cargo facilities required at airports. Dr. K. Alagusundaram, MD & CEO of TNAPEx assured for formulating ease guidelines and procedures for promoting export of agricultural commodities from Tamil Nadu through airport connectivity. An exhibition was also arranged with value added products in the venue itself for the benefit of participants.

Over 100 agro-product exporters/traders, entrepreneurs/incubates, FPOs/FPCs, SHGs and Central and State government officials, Scientists, Scholars, students of the NRCB participated in the event. Dr. K.N. Shiva, Principal Scientist and Organizing Secretary welcomed the participants and Dr. P. Suresh Kumar, Principal Scientist and Organizing Secretary, NRCB proposed the vote of thanks.

An exclusive exporters interactive meeting was held at ABI Hall, NRCB under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Alagusundaram and Co-chairmanship of Dr. R. Selvarajan to discuss the issues faced by the exporters at airport cargos and how to move forward to resolve them with the intervention of TNAPEx in Tamil Nadu.