BOOSTING MANGO EXPORTS WITH GAP ADOPTION: CHALLENGES & PROSPECTS

The purpose of the paper is to examine the current scenario of Indian mango exports and suggest measures to enhance the same by the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards. India is the largest mango but the production to export ratio for Indian mangoes is about 0.22, which is comparatively very low Indian mango export destinations are mainly UAE (60%), UK (16%), Saudi Arabia (4%) and Kuwait (3%). Among major constraints for Indian mangoes in international market is lack of adherence to quality standards. According to the report of APEDA (2013-14), Maharashtra contributes the highest exports of mangoes with around 85.7% share of the total Indian mango export; on the contrary, the major producer of mango is Uttar Pradesh which contributes to only 2% share in export. Uttar Pradesh is the major producer of Dashehari variety which is one of the most preferred Indian mango varieties in international market. Growers association (mahamango), online traceability system (mangonet), farmers - co-operative linkages, support from state government are found to be the most favorable factors for boosting exports from Maharashtra. The private certification agency GLOBALGAP existed in India for providing GAP certification to the produce, quite recently INDGAP got established to facilitate the process. Further study proposes that by the adoption of GAP standards the competitive pricing to the farmer gets assured and huge potential exists to export mangoes from India, the need is to strive hard and adopt the internationally recognized quality standards during the production and processing.