Orissa to frame new food processing policy soon

The Orissa government will soon formulate a Food Processing Policy to give a boost to the agriculture sector in the state.

This was announced by chief minister Naveen Patnaik here today. Addressing the International Crop Summit-2011, organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here, Patnaik said, the draft policy is almost ready and it would be launched soon.

Patnaik said, in spite of natural calamities visiting the state frequently, production and productivity of various crops in the state is on the rise. “However, the state lacks in agri infrastructure such as storage, cold storages, cold chains and other post harvest and marketing facilities and the focus in near future would be on the development of agri-infrastructure”, he added.

The chief minister said, the adverse impact of climate change is already manifested in erratic monsoon behavior for the last few years. During the current monsoon season, while country as a whole received normal rains, parts of Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh faced severe deficit leading to droughts.