Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the first Mega Food Park in Telangana promoted by Smart Agro Food Park at village Lakkampally, Nandipet Mandal in Nizamabad district, Telangana.
Speaking on the occasion, Badal said that the Mega Food Park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in 22 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs. 14,000 crore. The Park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 50,000 youth and benefit about one lakh farmers.
The minister said that Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi is an initiative by the government of India in which all small and marginal farmers will get up to Rs 6,000. Telangana government also providing financial support to farmers, ultimately the farmer will be benefitted. Mega Food Parks shall further complement the government’s scheme by reducing post harvest losses and hedging the farmers’ risk. Mega Food Park shall provide gainful employment to women and hence help support their livelihood, she added.
The Mega Food Park scheme is being implemented in order to give a major impetus to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables. Mega Food Parks create 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. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at central processing centre (CPC) and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of primary processing centers (PPCs) and collection centers (CCs). Under the scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50 crore per Mega Food Park project.
The Smart Agro Mega Food Park is expected to benefit the farmers Nizamabad, Nirmal, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla and Kamareddy districts of Telangana along with Nanded district of Maharashtra. The Mega Food Park has been set up in 78 acre of land at a cost of Rs. 108.95 crore. The facilities being created by the developer at central processing centre of the Mega Food Park include Raw Material Warehouse of 5,000 MT, Finished Good Warehouse- 5,000 MT, Multi Commodity Cold Storage-5,000 MT, Deep Freeze Store-500 MT, Turmeric-Curcumin, Oleoresin Extraction unit-5 MT/Day, QC Laboratory and other related food processing facilities. The Park also has a common administrative building for office and other uses by the entrepreneurs and 3 PPCs at Medak, Gouraram and Nandipet having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms.
Minister for Food Processing Industries said that the modern infrastructure for food processing created at Park will benefit the farmers, growers, processors and consumers of Telangana and adjoining areas immensely and prove to be a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in Telangana.
Badal also said that the government is fully committed to providing an environment that is smooth, transparent and easy for investors wanting to start an enterprise in India and in a bid to make India a resilient food economy and the Food Factory of the World. The government has made Food Processing a major thrust area of ‘Make in India’.
Badal also said that Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and becomes a major contributor to doubling the farmers’ income and ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government.
Neem-coated urea can bring better paddy output, I will discuss with the Agriculture Minister about the Neem–coated urea supply issue in Nizamabad district and I try my best to make the neem–coated urea accessible to the farmers of Nizamabad, the minister added.
