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Development of farmers key for developing food processing: WB minister
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Thursday, 21 July, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d A Seminar on ‘Food Processing and Horticulture Industries in West Bengal: New Opportunities’ was organised by Bharat Chamber of Commerce at its premises in Kolkata recently. The seminar was attended by about 100 participants representing sub-sectors including fresh fruits and vegetable exporters, food processors, producers of sweet meat and milk processors, fish processors, and processors of tea.
Abdur Razzak Molla, minister-in-charge, department of food processing industries and horticulture, Government of West Bengal, inaugurated the seminar as the Guest-in-Chief. Jayanta Kumar Aikat, director, directorate of food processing industries, Government of West Bengal, made a Presentation on the ‘Technical Perspectives of Food Processing in West Bengal.’
In his welcome address, Rakesh Shah, president of the chamber, observed that food processing sector was one of the important focal areas of the chamber. He said, “During the last few years, our chamber has published three editions of comprehensive compilations on food processing and in the year 2014 the chamber has organised a national seminar on ‘Agriculture and Food Processing: Opportunities and Challenges – Focus Eastern India.’ This seminar was inaugurated by Union minister for food processing industries Government of India Harsimrat Kaur Badal.”
Suggestions made by Shah
• The Government of India has announced a scheme for Skill Development in food processing sector to be implemented through state governments under the National Mission on Food Processing. The programmes included under this scheme are creation of infrastructure for degree and diploma courses in food processing, entrepreneurship development programme and establishment of food processing training centres. In this regard, the state of West Bengal is still to reap advantages from the schemes.
• West Bengal possesses a lot of scope for export of processed food if producers can develop processing of varieties of food that are consumed in its neighbouring countries. For this, the state government needs to help in carrying out market studies, because, the entrepreneurs mostly belong to the MSME and cannot afford to undertake the studies on their own. In this regard, Bharat Chamber of Commerce agreed to support the government in conducting such a study.
• Mangoes are being exported from India in large quantities. During 2014-15 about 18,500 tonne of mangoes were exported with very little share from West Bengal. States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have exported mangoes to the extent of 1,300 tonne and 4,500 tonne respectively last year. Unlike these two states, West Bengal has coastal connectivity and direct air connectivity with countries in South-East Asia. In this regard, the state needs to explore the potentials of processed mangoes.
• Assistance in terms of freight rates of goods to be exported from West Bengal are based on that of Mumbai freight rates assistance. However, in order to export goods from Kolkata, consignments are first carried to ports such as Colombo and Singapore in feeder vessels. It is from here that the shipments of processed food are transported to its importing destination by mother vessels. Further to geographic bottlenecks of ports in West Bengal, the exporters from this region being in the MSME sector suffer from cost escalation. Transport assistance to exporters of processed food and agro-based products from West Bengal, thus, needs to become more competitive so as to enable the sector to grow rapidly.
Later in the course of his inaugural address, the minister assured the president to look into the suggestions made by him for the sustainable growth of the food processing industry in West Bengal.
S N Mitra, chairman, Food Processing and Agriculture Standing Committee of the chamber, in his introductory observations highlighted some of the important problems faced by the food processing and agro-based industry in West Bengal.
Problems faced by WB food processing and agro-based industry
• One of the most important requirements for the food processing industry today is backward integration. In other words, we have to identify the varieties of various crops, both agricultural and horticultural, which are appropriate for processing and encourage cultivation of those varieties. This will help the growers to earn more in terms of value addition and the cultivators can also market their products to the food processing industry in the nearby states after meeting our requirements.
• West Bengal is one of the largest producers of pineapple. Unfortunately, the varieties of pineapple grown in the state are not suitable for processing because of high acid content and low sugar content. The shape is also unsuitable for machine processing. Pineapple is grown in North Bengal almost throughout the year. Unfortunately, because of lack of market, pineapple growers are resorting to cultivation of other crops. The state need to introduce the varieties which are produced in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, which are popular worldwide. It would be helpful if the agricultural universities in West Bengal could be motivated to take up projects of plant breeding to develop improved varieties of pineapple with proper sweetness, colour and aroma, suitable for processing.
• Tomato is another crop which is produced in West Bengal in large quantities and is grown almost throughout the year, except one or two months. Most of the produce is, however, unsuitable for processing and the growers often have to resort to distress sale because the varieties grown do not ripen uniformly and have undesirable tinges of green and yellow colours making them unsuitable for production of puree, sauces, paste, and so on. There is a need to popularise cultivation of the desirable qualities of tomatoes again through the help of agricultural universities.
• West Bengal is one of the leading producers of mango. The varieties available locally, however, have poor shelf life and cannot be procured for processing. There is a need to introduce the varieties of mangoes grown in south India, which are handy for transportation and have longer shelf-life. It is necessary to introduce field trials for growing mangoes which can be processed into pulps and juice. Similarly, there is a large requirement of green mangoes, chilli and lime by the pickle and chutney manufacturers which are being transported from south India at additional costs. Ashwina variety of mango suitable for making pickles was available at Malda. The plants have been uprooted for unknown reasons.
• There are many crops like cauliflower, cabbage and the like, which had seasonal production in West Bengal and so had to depend on Ranchi, Punjab and other places for supply throughout the year. Now the state is growing these crops throughout the year through scientific approach to cultivation. Therefore, there is a need to introduce other varieties of the same crop suitable for processing. This would uphold concept of backward integration.
• For the food processing industry in West Bengal, particularly for those in the MSME sector, the FSSAI certification has become an important issue. Unfortunately, due to ignorance and other reasons, the growers are using banned agricultural inputs, which are leading to contamination of the raw materials with undesirable chemicals. As a result, the food processing industries are unable to fulfil the requirements of the Food Safety and Standards Act. There is a strong need for education and regulation to prohibit use of undesirable inputs in agriculture and horticulture not only for the requirements of industry but also in the interest of the common man in the state.
• In foreign countries, quality control of processed food starts at the cultivation stage, whereas, in India, the control is executed on the end-product of the food processing industry.
• Initially, the food processing industries were included under the ‘Priority List.’ However, after the enunciation of the MSME policy it is no longer treated as the ‘Priority Sector.’ In this regard, there is a need to include the sector in the priority list. Further, the units in MSME are unable to organise funds for collateral security. This also needs to be considered.
• In order to stimulate the growth of food processing industry, there is an urgent need to develop mini and mega food parks with proper infrastructure within 20 to 25 km of Kolkata. The reason being the facility of transportation to the airport, Baruipur can be an ideal location for a mega food park. The facilities should include controlled and modified cold storages, supply of potable water free from iron, arsenic, etc. as lack of water purification affects processed food adversely. Thus, to meet the present requirements, water purification plant is a must. The cost and maintenance is, however, very expensive which is not possible for the MSME sector.
• The Government of India used to provide a one-time developmental fund of upto Rs 50 lakh for expansion of existing capacity or establishment of new capacity. Subsequently, the scheme has been routed through the state governments. The food processors in the neighbouring states of West Bengal such as Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh enjoy this facility, whereas, the food processors of West Bengal have not been recurring this facility for the last few years. Besides, exporters of food products have been granted the facility of receiving a licence for four per cent redemption of the cost of raw material in case of their imports. Manufacturers, who do not have to import raw material, have the benefit of selling such licences. The state government, however, charges VAT on the money received by processors from selling the licences. In this regard, Mitra felt that any incentive provided by the government should not be taxed.
• Issues regarding inordinate delays in refund of VAT which were blocking large amounts of funds for the MSMEs were also highlighted. There is a need to streamline the system. The processing industry is also being harassed due to the West Bengal Agriculture Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1972, as processors are being branded as traders and pay tax, while the manufacturers should not be subjected to this tax.
Jayanta Kumar Aikat, director, directorate of food processing industries, Government of West Bengal, made a presentation on the ‘Technical Perspectives of Food Processing in West Bengal.’
Aikat highlighted the following points
• As per the visit of the Parliamentary Committee to West Bengal between June 18 to 20, 2016, it was identified that there is a need for a detailed study on how processed food impacts human health.
• Meat processing is an area in which West Bengal is lacking and can specialise taking into consideration a very high demand for processed meat by its immediate neighbour Bhutan which imports large volumes of meat per year.
Molla stressed on these points in his inaugural address
• Development of farmers only would lead to the development of the food processing industry in West Bengal. This is possible only if farmers get adequate returns from there produce and the thick layer of middlemen between the actual producer and consumers is removed.
• The removal of such middlemen is possible only if the food processing industry decides to enter into a ‘Buy-Back Agreement’ with the farmers. As the land laws of West Bengal do not permit the introduction of contract farming, food processors may enter into such agreements.
• The minister stated that the department of food processing industries and horticulture are in the process of establishing Farmers-Processors Organisations (FPOs) which will facilitate such agreement through legal and infrastructural support. FPOs in each district would cover a minimum of 1,000 and a maximum of 1,753 farmer members.
• The Government of West Bengal would act as a mediator to mitigate the plight of export of fresh agricultural and horticultural produce in West Bengal through the development of pack-houses under APEDA. However, the operation and administration of such pack-houses would have to be looked after by the private sector players.
The inaugural address was followed by a one-to-one interaction between the representatives of the food processing and agro-based industries and the minister.
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