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MoFPI to train, upgrade skills of 10,000 youth each year, says Hussain
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Thursday, 27 November, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Abhitash Singh, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d Initially, the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) would impart training to or upgrade the skills of 10,000 youth every year. This was stated by Siraj Hussain, the ministry’s secretary.
He informed that they would be trained in consultation with the sector, adding that the training programme would be supported by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
“The Centre is eyeing greater employment generation in the food processing sector, hence the need to equip the youth with the required skills. Our ministry has initiated measures to identify the areas where the sector lacks a skilled workforce,” Hussain said.
He added, “Ten sub-sectors have been identified in the first stage. These include fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and poultry. NSDC would identify the skills and select the areas for training.”
“The food processing industry has the potential to improve farmers’ earnings. There would be a reduction in the wastage of fruit and vegetables and larger quantities of commodities would be available. This would result in a fall in inflation,” Hussain said.
“In 2019-20, the employment in registered food processing units is set to increase by 2.75 million from 1.76 million in 2011-12, according to a Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report,” he added.
“The food processing industry in India is likely to touch about Rs 1,64,000 crore by 2015, and Rs 1,650,000 crore by 2020,” Hussain informed..
Ajit Kumar, vice-chancellor, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), said, “The food processing industry over the next couple of years would grow at a faster rate than any other sector in the economy.”
“In the next two years, the industry would achieve a growth of about 15-16 per cent from the current growth of over 10 per cent. And there would be more investment from overseas in this sector in the coming years,” he added.
“Fruit and vegetable processing and ethnic and regional foods would be the major contributor to the sector’s growth. The processing of ethnic foods, like khakhra from Gujarat and idli from the south, would witness more growth, and attract foreign investors,” Kumar said.
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