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Industry should take steps for growth of food processing sector: Patil
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Monday, 01 July, 2013, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d Expressing concerns over the non-utilisation of special funds allocated for growth and development of rural India, Shivraj V Patil, Punjab governor and Union Territory administrator, lamented the half-hearted approach of the private players in taking initiatives in the food processing sector.
He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of a national conference on 'Linking Growth Drivers of Food Processing Industries', organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recently.
Patil said there are associations like ASSOCHAM, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which help in bringing entrepreneurs together to see that policies which are conducive for the development of industry, agriculture and other activities are working well, and also trying to see how produce can be sold in the market and be exported.
“The industry should set up research and development (R&D) centres in rural areas to help the farmers in getting their due share for their produce thereby avoiding the middleman and making agro-products available to the common man at affordable prices. The corporate sector needs to work directly with farmers without engaging the middleman as it would also help to abate food inflation,” he said.
Patil said there is no dearth of funds for establishing food processing units. Money is available, but it has not been fully disbursed by the banks in the rural areas. These funds are transferred to the National Bank for agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to disburse for its full utilisation. He said only the private sector could help in strengthening and promoting the food processing industry by developing their own research and development wings.
In its study, ASSOCHAM suggested that the industry switch to renewable sources of energy like solar and wind power, as the rural sector suffers from acute power shortage.
“The government should adopt a stable policy for encouraging private trade procurement. A liberal credit policy for farmers, large investments in developing infrastructure for storage and preservation of fruit and vegetables to avoid wastage, industry-friendly movement of the grains are some of the pre-requisites to achieve the desired results in the food processing sector in rural India,” the study by the chamber highlighted.
Patil said the need of the hour is to find out the ways to check the problems being faced by the food processing sector and to understand emerging demand and trends in the food market. On the occasion, Patil also released a book, titled 'Study on Value Addition in Agricultural Products in India'.
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