Andhra to set up food processing zones

The state government has asked the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (Incap) to develop a strategic plan till 2013 for the food processing industry in the state. It is keen on setting up multiple food processing units and related infrastructure across the state under the public-private-partnership model.

Speaking to Business Standard, Incap vice-chairman and managing director KV Reddy said the idea was to reduce the dependence on agriculture for livelihood and instead divert some of them to food procession, which is an allied sector of farming, and also do value addition.

At present, less than six per cent of the farm produce is processed. The state government would promote creation of infrastructure for grading, processing, packaging, marketing and logistics. It would also align its policies with that of the Centre’s.

“Stakeholders can take part in creating the infrastructure, use it to store their produce or hire them to others. There will be pay-and-use facilities for smaller farmers,” he said.The state plans to adopt a cluster model to develop each crop. For instance, it will work to develop tomato in Madanapalli in Chittoor district, mango in Krishna, chilli in Guntur, and ginger in Nizamabad among other.

“The effort would be on equitable distribution of food articles and bring in a price control mechanism for better returns to the farmer. This will also aid migration of agriculture labour to semi-skilled areas,” he said.

The strategic plan also envisages multiproduct food special economic zones to handle various operations.

The study, including identifying the clusters in each district, would be completed in two months.

“We will have a complete picture of the food processing industry in the state by March. We will be able to estimate the investments that are likely to come once the study is complete,” Reddy said.