Now, Online Registration Must For Agri Exporters.

The Uniongovernment has made it mandatory for exporters of agricultural produce to secure an online registration code. The move will help generate daily reports of every exportable commodity, its destination as well as value, enabling the Union government to take appropriate decisions in times of shortage or glut.

The new system termed the Plant Quarantine Information System (PQIS) was launched in the first week of May and has started to receive online registrations from exporters, said Pandurang Watharkar, director, processing and planning, department of agriculture. "Every exporter gets an import-export number from the Union commerce ministry, which is mandatory for getting the online registration at PQIS. The exporter needs to provide details like quantity of a commodity to be exported, its value and from which location it would be sent out of the country. Traceability of commodity is also a key issue in the import-export business." He said that at present, documentation of exported commodities and their destination is done manually, which is time consuming.

For example, often a decision needs to be taken to stop export of an agricultural produce because its domestic price has risen, as was the case with onions earlier this year. The online registration system will help keep tabs on agricultural produce to be exported and clamp down on their movement in such cases.

Every year, India exports 1,11,77,811 tonne foodgrains, vegetables and fruits mainly to the Gulf countries as well as the European Union countries, earning Rs 34,825.20 crore annually. Among the commodities, Basmati rice has the largest share with an annual export of around 20,16,775 tonne, valued at Rs 10,889.13 crore.

Foodgrains, fruits and vegetables are generally grown by local farmers, but people, other than the growers, export them from various locations, mainly ports. The Union government needed some mechanism to monitor it, Watharkar said. "There have been instances where exporters have taken advantage of the export subsidy offered by the government, but never actually exported the produce. Such irregularities can be prevented through this system."

Earlier, gathering and compiling the data of exported commodities and its stock availability for domestic market used to take time, Watharkar said. "Similar systems - Grapenet and Anarnet - are already in use for the export of grapes and pomegranate. The systems are running effectively in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Encouraged by the feedback, the PQIF was introduced with more features. Though the existing online facilities will continue, the core use of PQIS is to keep a record of exported commodities and the exporters," he added.

Watharkar said, "Not a single grain will now be exported if it is not registered. The online system will keep a record of every commodity being exported and can generate daily reports of it."

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com