Uttar Pradesh reported a 36% jump in exports to ₹1.21 lakh crore in 2020-21 compared to ₹88,967 crore in 2017-18 due to government policies such as one district, one product (ODOP) and robustness of small industries, Sidharth Nath Singh, state minister for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) said Thursday on Thursday. ). .

The MSME sector is “the backbone of job creation and industrial growth in UP”, and due to its excellent performance, the state could achieve positive export growth even during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Singh told reporters on Thursday.

Despite a strict 68-day nationwide lockdown since March 25 last year, UP saw 0.65% export growth in fiscal year 21, even as the top three performers – Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu – recorded a contraction of 0.38%, 6.08% and 9.09%. , respectively, according to central government data. UP was the fifth largest contributor to India’s export basket for the previous fiscal year after Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Singh said the export growth is part of a conscious effort by the government of Yogi Adityanath, which designed the ODOP policy to boost its rural economy immediately after coming to power in 2017. “We launched it. in January 2018. Now it has gained attention. nationally. The Union Minister of Finance had mentioned it in the budget … In this context, we focused on the promotion of traditional industries specific to particular districts, ”he said.

He gave the example of “kalanamak chawal” (black rice). “Kalanamak chawal is essentially sticky rice … The cultivation of this crop was on the verge of extinction. We encourage him in Siddharthnagar. And, I am happy to report, despite the Covid pandemic, that buyers from Japan and Singapore are engaging with our farmers to export it, ”he said.

At the inauguration of a motorway project in Varanasi on November 30 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “black rice was introduced two years ago in Chandauli to increase the incomes of local people. farmers. Last year, a farmers committee was formed and about 400 farmers received this rice to be grown during the kharif season. While normal rice sells ₹35-40 per kg, this black rice was sold up to ₹300 per kilo. For the first time, this rice was exported to Australia, also at a rate of approximately ₹800 per kg.