The Hindu Business Line : Vapour heat treatment facility at Navi Mumbai to boost mango exports

With Japan opening up as a destination for Indian mangoes, and Australia and New Zealand as potential customers, a vapour heat treatment (VHT) plant is being set up at Navi Mumbai to process the fruit prior to export.

A twin facility for irradiation, necessary for export to the US, is also being considered at the location.

This facility, and also an onion export facilitation at Kalwan in Nashik district is being funded jointly by the New Delhi-based Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB). APEDA is subsidising 75 per cent of the total projected cost of Rs 21 crore.

An MoU to this effect was signed on Tuesday at Pune in the presence of Mr Harshavardhan Patil, Minister, Marketing, Maharashtra Government.

Though the Navi Mumbai VHT plant is essentially for mango, the facilities, which include cold storage with a capacity of 100 tonnes, ripening chambers for 20 t and a packing line for 2 t/hour can be utilised by a host of fruits and vegetables.

Mr Asit Tripathy, Chairman, APEDA, said that Maharashtra topped the list of exporters of fresh produce and fruits which earned revenue of Rs 2,920 crore during 2007-08, a growth of 21 per cent over the Rs 2,411 crore earned in the previous year.

Total exports of products governed by the APEDA rose 36.6 per cent during 2007-08 to touch Rs 28,906.04 crore against Rs 21,150.43 crore in the comparable periods.

Exports of Indian mangoes touched 60,000 t last season, including 25,000 t from Maharashtra. The newest markets, the US and Japan whose laws require fruits to be subjected to irradiation and vapour treatment respectively, accounted for around 350 t of these.

With the VHT facility, that is due to become operational by early next year, the mango export target to these destinations is around 1,250 t next year. The upcoming onion export centre will have a grading line with a capacity of 10 t/hour and storage for 500 t.

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