President attends 1st convocation of NIFTEM in Haryana

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday attended the first convocation ceremony of the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Sonepat, Haryana.

Speaking at the event, the President said, "India has been an agrarian economy ever since our ancestors planted grains in the Indus Valley. Millions of farmers, both men and women, toil relentlessly and with great effort to grow food for us. They contribute to not just food security but actually national security."

"The President said that as a society and as a people we are obligated to make life better for our farmers and to free them from the fickleness of nature and of weather patterns - and, to the degree possible, of the unpredictability of demand and supply. This is the resolve of the government, and it has instituted policies and programmes to further this. Use of science and technology along the food chain is essential to these programmes. And this is where institutions such as NIFTEM and those who graduate from here will play a vital role," a statement quoting him said.

The President also said that with the increase in the number of nuclear families there has been an increase in the demand for ready-to-eat food products in India.

"The challenge is to maintain quality, safety and labelling standards for food and ingredients that are up to global benchmarks. It is to make certain that packaged foods promote both convenience and health. And that they keep alive the nutritious grains and traditional food items that can be found in every state of India. It is for the food industry to innovate and find easy-to-use solutions to the epidemic of lifestyle diseases in our country," he said.

The President further averred that NIFTEM as an institute has emerged in the social context.

"Those who graduate from this institute will serve as focal points, linking the farmer to science and technology, to entrepreneurship and to the food processing industry. It is for them to build partnerships among multiple stakeholders - industry, regulators, policymakers, consumers, financial and credit institutions and of course farmers," said the President.