Mega food park project progressing well, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal

CHANDIGARH: Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal said her ministry has invited proposals from potential investors by September 15 to set up six mega food parks. Priority under this project will be accorded to states that don’t have such facilities, she said.

The central government is aiming to establish 42 mega food parks with a cluster-based approach in a phased manner to prevent wastage and damage of perishable items. Some of these have already come up.

The main objective of this scheme is to provide modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from the farm to the market, the minister said. This would include the creation of processing infrastructure near the farm, transportation, logistics and centralised processing centers.

Smaller food parks, which will have cold-storage facilities, will also be set up, she said.

In the past two years, she said, her ministry has created infrastructure worth Rs 9,000 crore to process 32 lakh tonnes of perishable fruits and vegetables, and reduce wastage by 10 per cent a year.

There is huge scope for processing of fruits and vegetables as only 2 per cent of perishable horticultural produce is being processed currently, despite the fact that the food processing industry accounts for about 32 per cent of the India’s total food market, she said.

On an average, Badal said, each mega food project would have around 30-35 medium food processing units with a collective investment of around Rs 250 crore that would eventually lead to an annual turnover of about Rs 450-500 crore.

Each project is expected to create direct employment to 2,500 people and indirect employment to about 30,000.

She said the food parks would enhance the earnings for farmers, reduce wastage, build capacity for processors and create significant direct and indirect employment opportunities.