Just do it: Export guru mantra

RAJASTHAN : Businessmen rarely reveal the tricks of their trade. But J P Kanodia, one of the country’s most successful agro-exporters, comes from a different school of thought. Not only is he teaching youngsters the nuances of the agro export business, which has the potential to improve the condition of the farmers, he is also associated with Mission Niryatak Bano, a campaign by the Rajasthan government to encourage and facilitate aspiring exporters.

Kanodia has developed a two-week practical-oriented-training which is imparted to budding exporters free of cost. Through this programme, he shares his knowledge and experience that has come from years of slogging in the field. 

In 10 years, Kanodia has trained over 300 youngsters in the state and helped them make their careers in exports in different sectors. Even after the training, he does a lot of hand holding up to the time his students are ready to chart their own course. 

Kanodia belongs to a Marwari family from Jaipur. His company is into manufacturing and trading of food and feed ingredients. In 1993, when the agro-export sector was still in a nascent stage, he started tapping into the largely unexplored markets of east European countries like Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic. In a commodity market which sees high fluctuations, Kanodia focused on quality, commitment-fulfillment and buyer satisfaction. His efforts made him the second largest rice bran exporter of the world. He has won the Rajasthan Exporters Award thrice. In 2015-16, his annual turnover had risen to over Rs 250 crore.   

Having made it big, Kanodia thought of giving back to the country by creating more exporters and started his training programme in 2013.

“India lacks proper training facilities for agriculture export business. It is mainly in the hands of a few business houses and old orthodox people who don’t want to share the secrets of their trade. I wanted to train people so that export gets a fillip and helps generate employment. You need practical training by a person who is in the business. Lack of quality training in India pushed me to take this up,” said Kanodia.

Kanodia says India has huge potential for agro exports for multiple reasons. Despite abundant production, the storage capacity is poor. It’s prudent to export the surplus rather than allow them to go to waste, he says.  

He believes extensive training programs needs to be conducted in colleges, universities and government institutions at the district level on food processing and agro exports. This can help transform the agri sector.

India's total share in world trade is barely 2 per cent.

India’s exports of agricultural products, including marine and plant foundation products for 2021-22 hit a record at $50 billion -- an increase of 20% in the past year. As per provisional figures released this week by DGCIS , the export growth has been achieved mostly because of a surge in shipments of rice, wheat, sugar, buffalo meat, marine products and raw cotton  India has captured nearly 50% of the world market for rice.