MoFPI invites proposals for establishment of mega food parks in uncovered states

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal has inaugurated the second mega food park in Uttarakhand, an official statement said.

The Himalayan Mega Food Park Private Ltd with over 50-acre area has been set up at a cost of Rs 99.96 crore and will benefit around 25,000 farmers in this and neighbouring districts, Ministry of Food Processing Industries said in a statement.

Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Uttarakhand State Finance Minister Prakash Pant and Transport and Social Welfare Minister Yashpal Arya were also present at the event.

The first Mega Food Park in the state at Haridwar has become functional.

Badal said the mega food park, which has been set up in an area of 50.14 acres, will have a central processing centre as well as well as three Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) at Ram Nagar, Ramgarh, and Kaladungi.

The park will also have facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms and would not only benefit farmers of Udham Singh Nagar but also those of nearby districts - Nainital, Garhwal, Almora, and Champawat.

She said the mega food park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs 250 crore in 25-30 food processing units in the park and would eventually lead to a turnover of about Rs 450-500 crore annually. "The park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas," the minister added.

The food ministry is creating mega food parks with modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain, from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster-based approach.

The sector will contribute towards doubling farmers' income in the coming years by working to achieve this goal through implementation of projects under the flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, Badal added.

In a bid to ramp up its retail presence across Northeast India, Kishore Biyani-led Future Group has planned to set up a food park and flour mill in Assam.

“I had talked to the chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and we are planning to come up with Food Park and flour mill. We will produce our brand “Desi Atta” from this flour mill. Presently we are scanning various places where the food park can come up. We are studying the rice varieties here," Biyani said while launching the Guwahati central store.

Future Group launched a central store in Guwahati. The group now plans to roll out at least 20 Easyday stores in Guwahati.

The group also plans to roll out hypermarket chain Big Bazaar in Dibrugarh, Bongaigaon, Tezpur and Tinsukia in Assam.

The group has announced that Big Bazaar will come up in Shillong in Meghalaya, Aizawl in Mizoram and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. According to the group, its hypermarket chain has a conversion rate of visitors of around 75 percent.

“We are adding two more Big Bazaar in Guwahati. Guwahati presently has one Big Bazaar, which is the third largest fashion and retail outlet among the other Big Bazaar in the country," Biyani said adding that in the Guwahati central store we have invested close to Rs 350 Crore.

“The Agartala Big Bazaar is 7th largest Big Bazaar outlet in the country. The demand from consumers is very good and there is aspiration among the consumers,” he added.

Biyani said that demonetization and GST implementation did not have much impact on the business of the company. The e-trailer platform has not impacted the business of the company. “We will make a foray into Ayurveda products and we are planning to launch hair oil.”

Yoga guru Ramdev-led Patanjali group signed MoU with the Telangana government for setting up a "large" food park in the state.

TRS Lok Sabha member from Nizamabad K Kavitha along with government officials met Patanjali s top management at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, and explained them the state newly launched food processing policy.

The discussions concluded by signing an MoU between Managing Director of Patanjali Acharya Balkrishna and Managing Director of TSIIC (Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corp) E V Narsimha Reddy.

The agreement was signed in the presence in Ramdev, who founded the domestic FMCG major over a decade ago.

The group had earlier committed an overall investment of more than Rs 10,000 crore countrywide at the global food processing fair, 'World Food India', organised in New Delhi.

State Official said in statement “The Telangana team highlighted the bountiful availability of raw material such as turmeric, chillies, maize and soybean (in Telangana). Further, procurement opportunities for citrus fruits and other commodities were also discussed for various Patanjali products. Under the MoU, the Haridwar-headquartered FMCG group committed to set up a "large food park" in the state. The proposed park could consist of units for edible oil, fruit pulp and spices processing. The group also expressed interest in developing indigenous seed varieties and animal feed value chain in Telangana.”

Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said the food sector is set for a quantum jump in the country with the Union Cabinet allocating Rs 6,000 crore for restructuring Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing clusters (SAMPADA).

In a statement, the food processing minister said that the huge and much-needed investment in the food sector would leverage an investment of Rs 31,400 crore.

She said, "It will also result in handling of 3.34 crore metric tonnes of agro-produce valued at more than one lakh crore and benefit 20 lakh farmers. It will also generate 5.30 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the country by 2019-20."

Disclosing that the Rs 6,000 crore investment for the period 2016-20 was coterminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle, the minister said SAMPADA would supplement agriculture, modernise processing and decrease agri-waste.

She said, "It will go a long way in doubling income of farmers and creating much-needed jobs in rural areas."

She said that the implementation of SAMPADA would result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

"It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector but will also help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce and enhance the export of processed foods," she said.

Various measures taken by the NDA government had led to seven per cent growth in the food processing sector, she said.

She said this growth had been made possible by according approval to 42 mega food parks and 236 integrated cold chains for creation of modern infrastructure for food processing along the value chain from the farm to the market.

She said besides this, 100 per cent FDI in trading, including e-commerce, had been allowed with respect to food products manufactured in India.