Odisha mulls new 'Agribusiness and Food Processing Policy'

For the growth and development of agribusiness and food processing industry in Odisha, the state government plans to formulate ‘Odisha Agribusiness and Food Processing Policy’.

In a draft Vision 2025 document prepared on food processing in Odisha, the government has stated that the proposed policy will help promote/energise the sector in the state.

The fiscal benefits proposed in the draft vision document are down ward revision of VAT (value added tax) imposed on agricultural and processed food items to make the sector competitive, abolition of entry tax in line with High Court rulings of Kerala, Rajasthan and others states, lowering per unit power cost on supplies to agribusiness and food processing establishments like cold storages, processing units by amending state electricity regulations among others.

The office of the state mission director of National Mission on Food Processing, which has prepared the draft paper, has proposed for declaration of agribusiness and food processing industry as a priority sector.

For achieving the target, both short term and medium to long term interventions have been suggested in the draft paper. Among others, creation of directorate of agribusiness and food processing is identified as one of the major interventions of the state government.

The proposed directorate, to be created within the industries department, will act as a single window for catalysing the agribusiness and food processing industry in the state. The directorate will be headed by an officer in the rank of director who will be assisted by technical experts and officials drawn from the agriculture marketing directorate and MSME (micro small and medium enterprises) or industry departments to ensure development of the sector in Odisha.

It may be noted that a dedicated policy for food processing industries called “Odisha Food Processing Policy 2013” is already in place.

The document envisions a well developed agribusiness infrastructure with market linkages to reduce the high levels of wastages, which are currently pegged in the range of 30-35 per cent of the production. The mission director has sought views of the stakeholders of the sector for inclusion in draft document.