Editorials

APEDA Rendering Lip Service

 For over four years now, we have been making relentless efforts to fill information deficit that painfully exists in the country's Micro, Small and Medium Sector. Encouragingly enough, SME WORLD has now become almost a brand name winning accolades from all quarters with its reach increasing by the day. “Out of the box”, “Thanks a lot for providing me the much-needed information on the IT sector”, “This is the only magazine giving me useful inputs”, “I am now a well-informed person”, “I didn't know anything about IPR, Thanks to SME WORLD”, “I find your magazine an essential information channel” etc. are some of the comments we have been receiving from entrepreneurs, scholars, industry captains and the like.

From time to time, we venture to organize workshops that seek to deliberate on important issues concerning various verticals attracting support and participation from various stakeholders. One recent workshop was on Food Processing – Challenges and Opportunities for MSMEs. Various forward looking organizations from the government and private sector actively participated and enlightened the entrepreneurs on quality, scope and challenges in the sector. We wrote to Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) well in advance for support and participation. After a gap of almost three weeks we received a letter on the day of the Workshop requesting us “to provide a detailed proposal focusing on the objectives of organizing this seminar and give justification on how it will be helpful for developing exports of APEDA's scheduled products. Please furnish the list of farmers /exporters /institutions participating in the event and envisaged benefits and exports from the seminar”.

It seems APEDA has developed a mechanism of sending such standard reply to every letter seeking support without reading them. If no one in APEDA knows the purpose and the use of a workshop (not a seminar as APEDA replied), then it is bad commentary.  “We only participate in overseas events” was the reason given to us for their inability to be a part of the deliberations when we called an APEDA officer to send an appropriate representative for a presentation. We expect an organization of the ilk of APEDA, an apex body shouldering a huge task of promoting exports in the food sector, to have a vision and be open to the new economic ecosystem rather than limiting itself to its status quo and catering to only a few. Time has come for organizations like APEDA to move to the next level of growth and innovation and help entrepreneurs tap newer opportunities.