Govt aims to increase food processing sector 2.5 times in 10 years

Agri minister says national e-mandi to reduce post harvest loss, raise farmers' income

Faced with mounting losses of agricultural products after harvest, the government has set a target to increase food processing by 2.5 times in the next 10 years. Currently, food processing has achieved only 10 per cent of India’s total agricultural output. But, the government aims to raise it to 25 per cent by 2025, said Radha Mohan Singh, Union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, on Saturday. The minister was speaking on the sidelines of the third meeting of the Indian Grain Storage Working Group, organised by the Crop Care Federation of India.

“The government is promoting the processed food industry to make value-addition in agricultural products. Not only this, the government is also chalking out its programme through different schemes to increase the production of fruits and vegetables and its processing with assistance from the ministry of food processing industries,” said the minister.

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But, the agriculture sector is facing a huge problem with mounting post-harvest management losses due to inadequate availability of scientific storage and lack of required care of the stored crop in warehouses. A recent survey showed India’s annual loss worth Rs 1 lakh crore due to non-availability of scientific warehouses.

Meanwhile, the entry of private players in warehouses and the collateral management sector through increased government focus has revived the storage management industry in the past few years.

“India is the second-largest producer of agricultural products and leader in the post-harvest management losses. We deliberated the mechanism to reduce post-harvest agricultural losses which according to us should be possible through increasing scientific storage capacity and preventing damage through fumigation and other means of protection of stored produce,” said S Ganesan, public and policy advisor for Crop Care Federation of India.

To focus on reduction in post-harvest losses, the government has promoted a region-based strategy. This is done according to the climatic diversity of every state and region by implementing the unified Horticulture Development Mission. Under this mission, the government aims to promote technical setup, extension of area under horticulture crops, post-harvest management, processing and marketing etc. India ranks second globally in horticultural crops, after China.

The minister said that in spite of a severe loss to the crops owing to unseasonable rainfall, hailstorm and other natural calamities, total foodgrain production, which was 252.02 million tonnes in 2014-15 according to advance estimates, it had increased to 253.16 million tonnes in 2015-16. The government is committed to doubling farmers’ income in the next five years, as was announced in Budget 2016-17.

The National Agriculture Market would help nationwide electronic trading of agricultural commodities, the minister said. In this programme, 585 agriculture mandis of India would be connected to each other. The farmers would get maximum price for their crops and the interference of mediators would be reduced to a great extent. Direct foreign investment was also being encouraged in this field.

The minister further said the government was considering setting up a committee which would recommend measures to enhance efficiency in warehousing space to reduce post-harvest crop losses. This apart, attempts were being made to introduce new technology for handling harvested crops and therefore reduce pilferage in the entire system of grain management, the minister said.