Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, said that India is the third largest food producer in the world and about 2.2% of our fruits and vegetables are processed. Harsimrat Kaur Badal informed that sanction has been accorded to 30 new cold chain proposals for implementation. Smt. Badal also informed that to enhance the creation of Infrastructure for Food Processing, the Ministry has in the last one year, inaugurated two Mega Food Parks one in Karnataka and another in Fazilka in Punjab. She said that three more Mega Food Parks are to be inaugurated shortly in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
Addressing a press conference to highlight the one year achievements of Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that to address the challenges of insufficient infrastructure leading to huge wastage, the Government’s focus is on compressing supply chains and to make them consistent, quicker and efficient for supply of farm produce for food processing. Smt. Badal said that the Ministry is working with the industry for imparting industry relevant skill training including development of course content in identified sectors of food processing. She said that the investor-friendly Investor’s Portal has all the required information available online.
Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal expressed confidence that these steps of the Government will create modern infrastructure for arresting post-harvest losses of horti and non-horti produces and provide impetus to the growth of this sector. She said that the timely completion of these Integrated Cold Chain and Mega Food Park projects will not only provide a big enhancement to the growth of food processing infrastructure in the concerned states but also help in providing better price to famers, reduce wastage of perishables, add value to the agricultural produce and create employment opportunities. She said that these will lead to the stabilizing of food products prices and contain inflation in the country.