State governments should formulate their respective food processing policies and have separate ministry, considering the huge growth potential of the sector in the country, according to Union food processing industry minister Subodh Kant Sahay.
?Only a few state governments have so far come forward to draw up their own food processing policy or have created a separate ministry manned by a separate minister,? Sahay told FE. Also, to give the sector the needed boost, states should repeal their respective Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act to give way to ?contract farming?.
The minister, who represents the Ranchi Lok Sabha seat, said despite the manufacturing sector not being at its peak, the food processing sector is growing at a healthy 14.6% level.
?It is a very vibrant sector where people want to invest, with a lot of potential for export as the market is very big; the sector would soon be occupying the driver?s seat in the Indian economy?, said Sahay. The country, he said, is currently processing only 10% of its produce (farm, marine, livestock output, etc) which the ministry envisions to take to 20% by 2015. The ministry also aims to take processed food exports to at least 3% by 2015 from 1.5% at present. ?To achieve all this, the sector needs an investment of at least Rs one lakh crore?, Sahay said.
European countries and countries in the Middle East and South East Asia where people are used to ready-to-eat food are big markets for exports, he said. Sahay, who recently went to China along with President Pratibha Patil, said India has more agricultural land than China but its per acre productivity is only half of that country?s.
?This is because we have not been able to give agriculture the necessary technological inputs which could be in the shape of seeds, fertilizers, etc; our approach towards agriculture is not up to the mark,? he said, adding that China?s food processing was at a much higher level than India?s.