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India's Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board and national agricultural export development authority Apeda have inked a deal to set up three export facilities in Maharashtra districts Talegaon, Nashik and Satara for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers, reports www.fnbnews.com.

Apeda has earmarked some Rs5.37crore (US$1.07m) for a flower packhouse in Talegaon, Rs5.48crore (US$1.09m) for an onion, grape and pomegranate export facility in Nashik, and Rs2.24crore (US$446,430) for a general fruit and vegetable export centre in Satara, the article said.

The planned facilities are designed to enable Maharashtra state's small-scale farmers sell their products to lucrative export markets.

Maharashtra currently annually exports some Rs2,000crore-worth (US$398,599) of vegetables to Europe, according to the article.

No time-frame was given for completion of the venture.