Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said that mega food park scheme launched by Centre will give a major boost to the food processing sector and facilitate creation of modern infrastructure for food processing.Speaking on the occasion she said the Ministry of Food Processing was implementing mega food park scheme aims at reducing wastage of agriculture produce at each stage of supply chain with particular focus on fruits and vegetables. She also said that 3 Mega Food Parks have been sanctioned for Bihar in Khagaria, Rohtas and Buxar districts.Union minister further added that this mega food park promoted by M/s JVL Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. costing Rs. 117.2 crore would be setup in 85 acres land and provide direct and indirect employment to about 6000 people besides benefit about 30,000 farmers in its catchment area.
She added that this park would have strong backward linkage and three primary processing centres to be set up at Rohtas, Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. On completion, the park would have facilities of 2000 MT raw material warehouse, 15,000 MT grain silos, 2000 MT finished goods warehouse besides having modern testing lab and reefer vans.Laying the foundation stone of the second mega food park in Bihar, food processing industries minister said that Bihar is rich in fruits and vegetables and there is a huge potential to drive the “Make in India” initiative of Prime Minister and export to the rest of the world.
Mrs Badal said that the Mega Food Park at Dehri in Rohtas district would go a long way in contributing to the development of food processing sector in the region and create immense opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in the State bestowed with huge agriculture production potential. “It will benefit the farmers, growers, food processors and consumers in the State”, she added.On the occasion Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Union Minister of State for HRD and Member of Parliament, Karakat Mr Upendra Kushwaha were also present.