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“MoFPI supporting processing entities with incremental sales incentives”
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Monday, 30 March, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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 >At a time when India’s food processing sector is racing toward a projected $535 billion valuation by FY26, policy precision and market integration have become the twin engines of growth. In an exclusive interview with Abhitash Singh, Dr. Jitendra P. Dongare, Deputy Agricultural Marketing Advisor (SAG), Ministry of Food Processing Industries, lays out a bold and structured roadmap that connects farmers, processors, exporters and global buyers into one seamless ecosystem. A dairy technologist by training, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and a former key contributor at Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Dr. Dongare brings over 25 years of deep sectoral experience spanning policy design, food safety regulation, export competitiveness and supply chain reform. He explains how flagship schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana and the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industries are strengthening agri–food value chains, reducing post-harvest losses, empowering FPOs, accelerating digital traceability, and positioning Indian processed foods as global contenders. Excerpts:
MoFPI has been focusing strongly on strengthening agri–food value chains. How do you see agri-food value chain reforms improving farm-to-market efficiency for food processors?
Agri-food value chain reforms are pivotal to increasing efficiency from farm gate to the market, substantially reducing post-harvest losses and ensuring seamless supply of quality raw material to processors. MoFPI’s approach focuses on end-to-end integration, covering aggregation, primary processing, storage, logistics and market linkages. Under key schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), MoFPI has sanctioned over 1,134 food processing projects including 41 Mega Food Parks, 395 Cold Chain projects and 76 Agro-Processing Clusters, expanding processing and preservation infrastructure across India. These interventions collectively support temperature-controlled logistics, pack houses, primary processing and value-addition food processing units closer to production hubs. These reforms reduce intermediation, shorten supply chains, ensure consistent quality of raw material, and enable processors to source directly from farmers or FPOs, thereby improving predictability, traceability and cost efficiency.
India’s food processing sector is witnessing rapid growth in fruits, vegetables, dairy and grains. What policy interventions from MoFPI are helping improve market access and price realisation for farmers?
India is among the world’s largest producers of agricultural and food products, supported by vast raw material availability, a diverse food culture and a rapidly modernising food processing sector. MoFPI’s policy interventions are designed to ensure that value addition translates into better farm incomes. To improving market access and price realisation through focused investments in infrastructure and support through schemes such as:
- PMKSY has generated processing and preservation capacities exceeding 14.4 lakh MT, benefiting over 3.5 lakh farmers and creating more than 57,000 jobs through approved projects.
- PMFME scheme has sanctioned over 1.44 lakh micro food processing enterprises, formalising local value chains and enabling farmers to tap organised markets.
- PLISFPI supports creation of global champions with sanctioned assistance to 170+ companies, enhancing demand for agricultural raw materials.
These policy measures strengthen price discovery, reduce distress sales, enhance shelf life, create sustained market pull for farm produce and improve farmers participation in organised markets.
How is MoFPI leveraging digital platforms and market intelligence to strengthen agricultural marketing linkages and reduce inefficiencies across the supply chain? MoFPI is actively harnessing digital platforms and real-time market intelligence to reduce inefficiencies. Digital traceability systems, compliance reporting and demand forecasting tools facilitate better alignment of production with market needs. Digital portals like SAMPADA, PLI portal etc. streamline applications for infrastructure projects and subsidies helping beneficiaries online interface with the Ministry for claim submission, tracking status etc. By integrating digital solutions, information gaps in supply chain, reduction of transaction costs and enhancement of transparency throughout the process is possible. MoFPI is increasingly leveraging digital tools and data-driven approaches to enhance market linkages. This includes:
- Promoting digital traceability, quality certification and compliance systems in processing units.
- Facilitating market intelligence, demand forecasting and export readiness tools available with agencies such as APEDA and DGFT.
- Promoting digital solutions for logistics optimisation, inventory management and buyer–seller matchmaking, especially for MSMEs and FPOs.
Such digital integration improves transparency, reduces information asymmetry and helps align farm production, processing interventions with market demand.
Cold chain and post-harvest infrastructure remain critical challenges. How are existing MoFPI schemes addressing wastage, logistics gaps and quality preservation?
Post-harvest losses are a key concern and MoFPI has made cold chain and preservation infrastructure a priority area. Under PMKSY, we support:
- Integrated cold chains from farm gate to consumer.
- Pack houses, reefer transport, ripening chambers and storage facilities.
- Preservation infrastructure such as IQF, freezing, irradiation and value-added processing units.
395 cold chain projects have been approved nationwide, significantly enhancing cold storage, pre-cooling, ripening and transport infrastructure. Completed cold chain infrastructure has demonstrated substantial reduction in wastage notably in fisheries and dairy products with improved preservation outcomes. Under the Operation Greens scheme 41 projects are at various stages of implementation for setting up of value chain development projects to reduce post-harvest losses by developing farm-gate infrastructure, establishing efficient agri-logistics and creating suitable storage capacities. The 20 completed projects have created food processing and preservation capacities of 6.37 lakh MT. MoFPI investments are directly tackling losses due to perishability and logistics gaps, bridging quality preservation from farm to market and supporting better utilisation of shelf-life for high-value crops while enabling farmers and processors to access distant and export markets.
With increasing emphasis on value addition and exports, what opportunities do you see for Indian agri-produce and processed foods in global markets?
The global trajectory for Indian agri-produce and processed foods is very promising. India’s processed food sector is poised for robust growth from its Rs. 30.5 lakh crore market size in 2024, with exports accounting for 13% of total exports and projected to significantly rise reflecting rising global demand for consumer-preferred, quality Indian products. India has a strong competitive advantage due to its diverse agro-climatic zones, large raw material base and improving processing capacity. Global demand is rising for:
- Processed fruits and vegetables
- Dairy products
- Ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods
- Traditional and ethnic Indian foods
- Millet-based and health-oriented products
Under the PLI scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI), Ministry is supporting food processing entities with incremental sales incentives. It aspires to not only support creation of global food manufacturing companies, but also to strengthen select Indian brands of food products for global visibility and wider acceptance in the international markets. MoFPI is enabling Indian processors to move up the value chain and establish a strong presence in global markets over the next few years. With ongoing policy support, quality certification and market diversification, we expect Indian processed food exports to grow rapidly in key regions like the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia, contributing strongly to agricultural incomes and foreign exchange earnings. To provide global platform to Indian food processing industry, the World Food India is being organised by the Ministry with aim to showcase the vast investment opportunities available in India for food processors, technology and equipment manufacturers and suppliers, logistics players, cold chain operators in manufacture and trading of food products.
How can Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) be better integrated into the food processing and organised marketing ecosystem?
FPOs are critical to inclusive growth in food processing. Their integration being strengthened by:
- Linking FPOs directly with food processors through contract farming and assured procurement models.
- Supporting primary processing, aggregation and storage infrastructure at the FPO level.
- Facilitating access to credit, capacity building, quality certification and market intelligence.
- Encouraging FPO participation in trade fairs, export platforms and digital marketplaces.
Backward and forward linkage projects connect FPO aggregators with processors, reducing aggregation costs. Under the Creation of Backward & Forward Linkage (CBFL) scheme, 60 projects have been approved. Out of 60 approved projects, 53 projects were completed and 7 projects are under implementation with creation of total processing capacity of 5.02 Lakh MT per annum and total preservation capacity of 3.81 LMT per annum. Targeted support under PMFME scheme enables FPO-led micro processing units, improving scale and quality. Digital tools enhance direct market access for FPOs to national buyers and exporters. This strategic integration increases farmers’ bargaining power, improves price realisation, and drives equitable participation in organised value chains.
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