Minister for Commerce and Industries and Public Enterprises, Commercial Taxes, Urban Administration & Development, Amar Agrawal on Tuesday said that Chhattisgarh is going to be a huge contributor, given its natural competencies, friendly policies and dedicated efforts towards development in the food processing sector.
In his address at a day-long seminar titled “Make in India & FDI in Retail: Opening Bright Avenues for Food Processing Sector” organised jointly by The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in joint association with Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) here, the Minister said that there has been a paradigm shift in people’s perspective towards food processing sector and in the future there will be a surge in this area.
Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and it will manifest in the coming future, he said.
Sunil Mishra, managing director, Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) stressed that Chhattisgarh has a lot of potential in the food processing sector.
Earlier, Veenu Jain, chairman Chhattisgarh Committee in his welcome address said that ‘Make in India’ is the government’s flagship campaign intended to boost the domestic manufacturing industry and attract foreign investors. He added that Chhattisgarh has opportunities and state-of-the-art infrastructure to establish and run business. Chhattisgarh can become an entrepreneurial hub in the next few years as it has huge investment potential and is on the fast track of development, Jain said.
He said that the need of the hour is to create favourable climate in the State to enhance industrial production and create additional employment opportunities
Shashank Rastogi, Co-chairman, PHDCCI Chhatti-
sgarh Committee in his vote of thanks said that the Chhatti-
sgarh Government and its allied entities will have to play the role of facilitator in inviting private sector for investment and encourage the creation of long term partnership for filling the gaps existing in system.
It might be recalled that Chhattisgarh Government has recently signed a Memor-
andum of Understanding (MoU) with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to develop clusters for providing a push to export of agri products.
There is a plan to create a ‘cluster’ for horticultural crops in common geographical locations with a view to select the best produce for their packaging and processing for the exports market, officials said.
APEDA would assist the government in finding exports markets to sell the produce.
For this, the government has chosen three key horticulture producing locations in which papaya, bananas and vegetables are grown. For papaya and bananas, Durg, Bemetara, Raipur, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon districts were chosen whereas for vegetables, Durg, Bemetara, Raipur, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Balod, Surguja, Bastar and Raigarh were identified.
It might be recalled that Chhattisgarh Government has prepared a five-year master plan to provide fillip to the cultivation of horticulture based crops in the State. The master plan is for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22, officials said.
Horticulture is a sunrise sector in the State. The Horticulture crops cover an acreage of 7.41 lakh hectares and production is about 85.95 lakh metric tonnes, officials informed.
The acreage under horticulture crops had increased several times since 2004-05. According to the master plan, the target is to increase acerage of horticulture crops by about 4.52 lakh hectares.
Under the Centre’s Micro-Irrigation Mission Project about 75,000 hectare land was brought under micro-irrigation in Chhattisgarh. The proposal is to bring in additional 2.34 lakh land under micro-irrigation during the next five years. An additional investment of `1,405 crore is likely to be incurred for this. Farmers will be trained in the processing of horticulture crops.
Additional training centers for production of horticulture crops will be established under the private partnership plan, officials said.
Agriculture expert teams will also visit villages in the State and guide the farmers. About 30,000 farmers and 185 employees will be trained in the coming years and 100 farmers will be sent overseas on a study tour.
The Horticulture Depart-
ment officials said that under the post-harvest management, a network of cold storages and pack houses will be established to prevent the damage of perishable commodities in the State. About `90.81 crore is likely to be invested for the project. Green Houses, shed net houses and mulching will be established at a cost of `321 crore. To encourage mechanisation of horticulture, 20 horse power tractors, rotavator, power sprayer and light trap instruments will be supplied to the farmers at a cost of `16.74 crore. Honey bee industry will be doubled in due course of time. There is a proposal to invest `6.40 crore for rearing honey bees .
Meanwhile. Prime Minis-
ter’s Crop Insurance Scheme will help farmers to cover the losses. About 90 nurseries out of 122 nurseries will be upgraded. Ten minor and three major plug type vegetable seedling units are operating at present. An additional 20 minor and 10 major units will be established soon. Ten lakh saplings will be planted every year, added the officials.