Two mega food parks mooted for south Orissa

Two mega food parks would come up in South Orissa’s Ganjam and Gajapati districts at an investment of about Rs 200 crore. Out of the total investment, the Centre will bear 50 per cent of the cost while the balance 50 per cent would be borne by the Orissa government.

While one food park would be set up between Berhampur and Chikiti road, another food park would come up on the Digapahandi-Mohana road. The proposed food parks would offer marketing avenues for different agricultural and horticultural products of the farmers after these products are scientifically processed.

Two mega food processing units would be set up in the food parks to facilitate processing of vegetables and fruits. These agricultural and horticultural products will be processed in the processing units to produce some of the value added products and thereafter these products would be marketed.

Official sources said that the proposal for setting up the two mega food parks is now pending before the concerned departments of the Centre.

Gajapati has been identified as the horticulture district as the tribal dominated district produced several horticultural and agricultural products. Ganjam, on the other hand is famous for the production of vegetables and cashew.

Both Ganjam and Gajapati districts have been included under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and Food Security Mission (FSM) sponsored by the Union Government to boost agriculture and horticulture production.

In the past five years, several acres of land have been earmarked for cultivation of different agriculture and horticulture products under the NHM and FSM of the Centre. These products include mango, cashew, banana, litchi, orange, ala and lemon.

Besides, several acres of farm land were also being brought under floriculture in both the districts. The two districts also produce several vegetables like potato, brinjal, capsicum, chili, cauliflower, cabbage and maize.