Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurates Indus Best Mega Food Park at Raipur

Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurates Indus Best Mega Food Park at Raipur
Indus Best Mega Food Park has been set up in 63.8 acres of land at a project cost of Rs. 145.5 crore. The mega food park is expected to benefit 25,000 farmers in Chhattisgarh

Minister for Food Processing Industries and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, Narendra Singh Tomar virtually inaugurated the Indus Best Mega Food Park Thursday along with Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh, and in presence of Rameswar Teli, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries.

Speaking on the occasion, Tomar said that the Food Park would ensure value addition, longer shelf life for farm produce, better price realisation for farmers, excellent storage facility and would provide an alternate market for farmers in the region. The food park would also provide direct and indirect employment to about 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC (central processing centre) and PPC (primary processing centre) catchment areas. Tomar also said that the modern infrastructure for food processing created at the park would benefit the processors and consumers of Chhattisgarh and adjoining areas immensely and prove to be a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in the state.

Tomar said that the present 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 ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.

Narendra Singh Tomar thanked the chief minister of Chhattisgarh and the state government authorities for their efforts in setting up the Indus Best Mega Food Park.

Speaking on the occasion, Rameswar Teli said that the state-of-the-art infrastructure and processing facilities developed at Indus Best Mega Food Park, would not only reduce wastage of agricultural produce but will also ensure value addition. This will also provide an opportunity to farmers, self-help groups (SHGs) and micro-entrepreneurs to undertake processing operations on plug and operate basis and create huge job opportunities in the catchment area of the park. It will also contribute to doubling farmers’ income and will also help in bringing more investments in Chhattisgarh.

Salient features of Indus Best Mega Food Park

In order to give an impetus to the growth of the food processing sector in Chhattisgarh, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has approved mega food park at Raipur district in Chhattisgarh which is being implemented by Indus Best Mega Food Park.

Indus Best Mega Food Park has been set up in 63.8 acres of land at a project cost of Rs. 145.5 crore. The facilities created by the implementing agency at central processing centre (CPC) of this mega food park include cold storage – 3,745 MT, pack house – 10 MT/hr, dry warehouse – 12,000 MT, boiler – 8 MT, aseptic pulping and packaging line – 6 MT/hr for mango and 12MT for tomato, IQF and deep freeze 2MT/hr and 1500 MT, food testing lab besides state of art enabling infrastructure. The park also has a common administrative building for office and other uses by the entrepreneurs and 3 primary processing centres (PPCs) at Raipur, Bilaspur and Durg districts with facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms in the catchment area to benefit farmers. This mega food park is expected to benefit the people of Raipur district as well as other districts of Chhattisgarh.

What is Mega Food Park Scheme?

Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that the agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmers’ income.

To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with a particular focus on perishables, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Mega Food Park Scheme in the country. 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 the central processing centre and facilities for primary processing and storage are created near the farm in the form of primary processing centres and collection centres (CCs). Under the scheme, the Government of India provides financial assistance up to Rs. 50 crore per mega food park project.

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Read more: MoFPI’s Rs 100 Cr R&D fund to boost food processing industries
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