APEDA Sends Bihar Makhana From Purnea to Greece

The correct answer is Greece. The consignment of popped phool makhana left Purnea in Bihar for Greece, sailing from Mundra Port in India to the Piraeus Port at the Greek end. Options B and D name other Mediterranean countries of Europe and option C a North American destination, all plausible markets for Indian processed food but none of them the buyer in this shipment. Candidates should note why the item is newsworthy beyond the destination: the price realised on the export was higher than the rate the same material was fetching in the domestic market, which is the basic case for linking a traditional crop to overseas buyers. Note also that makhana exports are now widening into European markets, so the arrival of a European destination is itself part of the story and a likely hook for a question.

The correct answer is Bihar, which contributes about eighty to eighty-five per cent of the national output, with India itself the global leader in makhana production. Cultivation in the state is spread across more than thirty-five thousand hectares in ten districts. Options A, B and D name states with wetlands and pond-based farming where the crop is also grown or could be grown, which makes them reasonable distractors, but none carries anything near the Bihar share. Two institutions give the crop its scientific backing and are worth remembering with the state: Bihar Agricultural University at Sabour, and the National Research Centre for Makhana run by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at Darbhanga. A question may ask for either the share, the area, the district count, or the research centre, so all four should be learnt as one cluster.

The correct answer is Mundra Port, from which the shipment moves to the Piraeus Port in Greece. Option A, Kandla, lies on the same Gujarat coast and is the strongest distractor for that reason. Option C names the large container port near Mumbai and option D the eastern river port, either of which could in principle handle such cargo but neither of which carried this consignment. The port pair is the kind of detail examiners like because it tests whether a candidate read past the headline: Mundra at the Indian end and Piraeus at the Greek end. Remember alongside it that the lot was sourced by Indo Global Export of Belouri in Purnea and exported through S. S Foods Exports Private Limited of New Delhi, and that the flag-off was chaired by the Bihar Agriculture Minister in the presence of the APEDA Chairman.

The correct answer is more than 7000 MT worth about USD 22 million, shipped to more than twenty international destinations during that financial year. The other three options carry invented tonnages and values of the kind an examiner inserts to see whether a candidate has learnt the pair of figures together rather than one of them alone. The minister placed these numbers in a wider setting: the state government is preparing an Agri Export Policy meant to lift farmer incomes through export promotion, and packhouses have already been developed to serve the makhana export value chain. He described the shipment to Greece as a milestone for the state makhana sector. For revision, link the quantity, the value and the number of destinations as one line, and attach to it the single tonne of popped phool makhana that made up this particular consignment.