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In a move aimed at boosting export of agricultural and food products from Ladakh, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through its export promotion body APEDA is in process of hand-holding of Apricot value chain stakeholders to enhance export from Ladakh under the brand ‘Ladakh Apricot’.
APEDA, in coordination with Ladakh’s Horticulture Department, has also planned to organize awareness drives through canopy management in Kargil and Leh wherein scientist from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKAUST-Kashmir) and Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) will help farmers to manage their apricot orchards/trees in better way to have uniform harvest.
Work on obtaining GI tag for Ladakh apricot is also in process. Notably, bulk of the apricot produced in Ladakh is consumed locally and only a small quantity of it is sold in dried form.
APEDA organized an international buyer-seller meet in Leh on June 14, 2022 which was just before the commencement of the Apricot harvest of the season. More than 30 buyers from India, USA, Bangladesh, Oman, Dubai, Mauritius, etc were mobilized to interact with the producers and suppliers of apricots and other agricultural products from the UT of Ladakh.
As a result, during the 2022 season 35 MT fresh Apricots were exported to various countries from Ladakh for the first time. Trial shipments of Ladakh Apricots also took place to countries like Singapore, Mauritius, Vietnam during the season 2022. Ladakh is the biggest apricot producer in the country with a total production of 15,789 tonnes that constitutes nearly 62 percent share in total.