Archana Sharma – New Delhi
With a view to strengthen the Indian food processing industry, the Government of India recently announced that it will be launching around 17 mega food parks soon. Presently, only two such parks have opened between 2008 and 2013. Speaking on the sidelines of the recently concluded AAHAR 2015, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister of food processing industries, Government of India, stated, “India’s prosperity is linked to the growth of incomes in the agrarian sector of the economy. India being one of the largest producer of food grains, besides being second in the world for the production of fruits and vegetables and first in milk production and livestock population, this sector has further potential for growth through domestic and overseas investors.” She also added that at least one mega food park will be established in every state in the coming years and urged the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and its associates to host the AAHAR editions in different states for regional empowerment of the industry and overall socio-economic progress of the country.
The 30th edition of AAHAR, witnessed participation from over 800 exhibitors including 70 overseas participants from 22 countries. Japan and Korea were the new overseas exhibitors in this edition, besides, Australia, Denmark, France, Afghanistan, Canada, Tunisia, etc.
Elaborating on the new initiatives taken by the ministry for the empowerment of the food processing community, Ranglal Jamuda, secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, stated, “We are looking at creating a provision of a corpus fund to lend to the food processing units and also to create infrastructure in the food parks. We are also looking at identification of surplus raw materials through preparation of a ‘Food Map of India’, which will aim to identify the surplus and deficient areas in the country of various agricultural and horticultural produce so as to plan processing clusters by means of establishing processing facilities under current schemes.”