The Maharashtra government has taken a slew of measures to promote the export of fruits and vegetables. In the last three months, the state has shipped around 2761.41 tonnes of fruits and vegetables through various export facilitation centres set up by the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB).

Maharashtra has exported mangoes, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, bananas, onion as well as vegetables such as lady finger, bitter gourd, drum sticks, green chillies among others to the European Union, Thailand, Netherlands, Doha, Bahrain and the US.

Financialexpress.com quoted the managing director of MSAMB as saying that the marketing board has established 44 facilities across the state, which include cold storage units, pre-cooling units and ripening chambers to encourage exports. At least 20 facilitation centres have been opened for fruits and vegetables, as well as 3 centres for flower exports.

With the mango season just beginning, MSAMB has set an export target of more than 52,000 tonnes. The first consignment of 12,000 kg of Alphonso has already left for Italy and more exports are expected as the season progresses. Export to the US is expected to begin from April 1, while the shipment to Australia is expected to start from March 15. Japan and Korea are other major markets of Indian Alphonso.