People staying in the US and Canada can now pamper their taste buds with ghee (clarified butter), gulab jamun (a sweet), and makhana (fox nut) produced in Bihar.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the first shipments of the milk products and makhana made and marketed by Sudha, which is the brand of Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation Limited, better known as COMFED, on Friday. Union minister of fisheries, animal husbandry, dairying, and panchayati raj, Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh, was also present on the occasion.
Nitish expressed happiness that such milk products were being exported to faraway countries for the first time from Bihar.
While makhana and ghee would go to the US via the Mundra port in Gujarat, the gulab jamuns would end up in Canada after being shipped from the Haldia port in Bengal. Sanitised, air-conditioned trucks would carry them to the ports for their onward journey.
"Initially, we are sending 5,700kg of ghee, 500kg of makhana and 5,000kg of gulab jamun. We would increase it further with demand. We are also going to explore markets for Sudha products in Europe, West Asia and other places. These initiatives will augment the income of people associated with agriculture and allied sectors," Bihar animal and fisheries resources department additional chief secretary (ACS) N. Vijaya Lakshmi said.
The ghee that is being exported was manufactured at the Biharsharif (Nalanda district) dairy plant of COMFED, while the gulab jamuns were made at its Barauni (Begusarai) unit. The monetary value of the consignment was around ₹50 lakh.
"We put in place all the necessary regulatory compliances, took all the mandatory certification, and ensured stringent quality control. The packaging adheres to the highest global standards. The exported ghee has a shelf life of one-and-a-half year, while the gulab jamuns will be good for one year," Vijaya Lakshmi told The Telegraph.