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Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated a food processing unit in Barabanki through video-conferencing on Wednesday.
The project, M/s Organic India Pvt. Ltd, has an investment of over Rs 50.33 crore and is expected to benefit over 5,000 farmers of the district.
On the occasion, Badal said that food processing sector was witnessing robust growth and had been identified as a champion sector by the Government of India.
She added that diverse basket of agricultural raw material base and agro-climatic attributes of the state provided requisite platform to develop a vibrant food processing industry.
Badal urged the promoters of the unit to experiment and invest further in new innovative products in the organic segment of food processing sector.
She appreciated the promoters for setting up a manufacturing plant in UP to export an array of tea products to about 30 countries.
The minister further said that with the promoters having obtained necessary global certifications, their mission of making organic products of India globally famous would be a boost to India’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India campaign.
The Union minister added that food processing sector offered a huge potential for export of value-added items which would not only earn foreign exchange but also create employment in domestic market.
She said that the FDI data for 2019-2020 showed a whopping hike of 44 per cent over 2018-19. She said that the food processing sector had grown at AAGR (average annual growth rate) of around 8.41 per cent.
Minister of State for Food Processing Industry, Rameswar Teli, Secretary FPI Pushpa Subramanian and promoters of Organic India were also present at the virtual function.