The Union Commerce Ministry is planning to come out with an agricultural export policy, according to Suresh Prabhu, Union Commerce Minister.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new amenity building of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd at its chocolate factory in Puttur (around 60 km from Mangaluru) on Sunday, he said that the Government is planning to come out with an agricultural export policy for the first time.

The draft is ready in this regard. It will be put out in the website in a few days. After that, the Government will come out with a policy in this matter. He said that farmers, who are usually affected by imports, should get a chance to export also.

These days farmers are not only affected by middlemen but also from the import of different commodities. Black pepper growers, who were affected by the import of that commodity, had approached him recently. Following this, the Ministry had taken a decision to solve their problems in four hours.

Apart from this, the Government had recently invited buyers from 45 countries to Delhi to provide a platform for farmers to meet buyers from various countries.

On the requests of rubber growers to come out with a separate policy for the commodity, Prabhu agreed to the need for a policy on rubber to improve the condition of growers in the country. The Minister said work has begun on this and he has asked his office to look into this matter.

Stating that spices and many other commodities are facing different problems, he said the Ministry has started working out a package for them. “We are in the process of identifying each agricultural commodity as a separate problem. We are working out a package for each of their separate problems,” he said.

Lauding Campco, he said multi-national chocolate makers are coming in for partnerships with the farmers’ cooperative, Campco, seeking processing facility at its factory.

He said that there is a need for many more cooperative institutions in different parts of country on the model of Campco. Today there is a need to set up cooperatives, strengthen them, and take them to the global scale, he said.