Rs 150-cr maize processing complex in Nabarangpur soon

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LMJ International, a Kolkata-based export firm has proposed to set up a maize processing complex in south Orissa’s Nabarangapur district at an investment of around Rs 150 crore. The company will sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government very soon.

The maize processing complex will help raise the income level of maize producers in the state through enhanced production as well as better processing and marketing, B K Rath, chairman, Agriculture Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (APICOL) told Business Standard.

A high-level team consisting of the APICOL chairman; managing director Industrial promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (IPICOL) and a senior company official discussed the project proposal with Rupa Mishra, the Nabarangpur district collector on Sunday.

The district administration has agreed to provide 125 acres of land for the purpose at Dhodra area in the district. While around 60 acres of land would be alloted in the first phase, the rest 65 acres would be provided in the second phase of the project, sources said. It is necessary to establish a maize processing complex in Nabarangapur district as the district accounts for about 50 per cent of the total maize produced in the state, said Rath

The annual maize production in Orissa is estimated at five lakh tonnes out of which 2.5 lakh tonnes is produced in Nabarangapur district.

As per the projection of the state agriculture department, the maize output in the district would reach six lakh tonnes in the next five years, he informed. The maize producers in the district however could not get the remunerative price on their products as some of the entrepreneurs from neighboring Andhra Pradesh purchase the raw maize at a throwaway price through the middlemen.