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| New policy for processing of 10 % food items |
| Bishnu Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Oct 19, 2009, 00:14 IST |
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The draft food processing policy being finalised by the Orissa government aims to raise the level of processing of vegetables, fruits and other food items in the state from 0.7 percent at present to 10 percent by 2015.
This is expected to promote use of latest technology, utilisation of waste to useful products, increase in direct and indirect employment in rural areas and provide market linkages to producers by way of forward and backward linkages, sources said.
The Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (APICOL) will play a catalytic role for bringing higher investment to this sector and create conducive environment for healthy growth of the food processing industries in the state.
Since a strong and dynamic food processing sector plays a crucial role in the diversification and commercialisation of agriculture, the proposed policy is expected to help in enhancing the self life of agri-products and ensure value addition.
“Food processing is one of the thrust sectors for the Orissa government and we aim at increasing the level of processing to 10 percent by 2015 from 0.7 percent at present”, a senior official of APICOL told Business Standard.
Sources said, the new policy proposes integrated and cohesive value chain management, which includes primary producers. It recognises and seeks to encourage strong market orientation, advanced customer research, technology upgradation, quality assurances among others.
The policy will encourage different levels of processing like cultivated plant origin, farm animal origin and semi-aquatic and aquatic origin. Various enabling support infrastructure like cold chains, development of terminal markets and testing facilities will be developed. Further, in line with the National Codex Contact Point (NCCP), the policy suggests to put in place a similar structure at the state level to be named as State Codex Contact Point (SCCP). It will demystify codex, train personnel and raise awareness among the primary producers and the industry to meet global standard.
Public-private-partnership (PPP) model is proposed for mobilisation of resources required for the development of this sector. Special concession for perishable based industries like investment promotion assistance, concession to mega projects in allotment of land, exemption from payment of stamp duty, entry tax and interest subsidy on term loans have been proposed in the draft policy.
For better implementation of the food processing policy, the draft envisages setting up of a task force named as ‘Food Processing Monitoring Council’ under the chairmanship of the state agriculture minister. It will have representatives from research institutes, food processing industries, state government, financiers and experts.
The proposed council will advise government agencies on various aspects of research, formulation and implementation of plans, regulation of the sector and monitoring among others.
Besides, the council will also advise the industries on adoption of environment friendly technology.
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