Foundation stone laid for mega food park in Andhra

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday laid the foundation for a mega food park in Kurnool district, which is expected to give a boost to agro-processing in the state.

The park is being established over an area of 758 acres in Tangadacha in Jupadu Bungalow mandal.

The facility will deal with fruit processing, vegetables and spices processing, agri biotech and research and development.

The food park will also have manufacturing components like micro-irrigation systems, PVC and PE pipes and tissue culture while technology innovations will constitute product and crop demonstration centre, water-harvesting demonstration centres and renewable energy hubs.

Naidu said the mega food park would create employment opportunities. Infrastructure facilities will be provided with an investment of Rs.250 crore.

He said if proper infrastructure was made available, the region can attract Rs.3,000 crore investment.

"Given that food habits are changing with lifestyles and the demand for food is a growing concern, we believe R&D will help us understand the existing trends in food, understand the consumption of certain foods and predict the need for future.

"We will continue to conduct research on various agriculture practices which will help us increase the yield," the chief minister said.

Naidu also laid the foundation stone for the Gujarat Ambuja Exports facility coming up on 200 acres with an investment of Rs.240 crore.

The company is setting up a maize processing unit in Orvakallu of Kurnool district which will offer both direct and indirect employment to locals. This unit will crush 750 tonnes of maize and will have a derivates (of maize) capacity of 350 tonnes per day.

"These investments reflect our decentralised development strategy for the state," Naidu said.

The government plans to set up food parks in every district.

Stating that Kurnool did not attract much investment in the past, the chief minister said his government would make all efforts to turn it into an industrial hub.

He announced that a six-lane road will be built between Kurnool and Guntur.