UP's agro-industrial base to be modernised

A day-long conference here Friday called for improvements in production capacity which need to be coordinated with storage, transportation, aggregation and market information efforts in order to be successful.

Speakers at "Strengthening Post Harvest Infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh" said the ultimate goal of the system was to deliver high quality and safe food to consumers.

The UP state horticulture and food processing department organised the programme in partnership with the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry).

An official said the aim was to promote best practices for post-harvest handling and management along with food supply chain, focusing on a broad spectrum of operations and stakeholders in traditional and modern marketing systems.

A large number of private sector companies participated in the conference.

In his address, UP's Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Anand Singh said the state offered immense potential and the state government was committed to support the units that process oil-seeds and various other agri-products.

At present 30 percent produce from field to the plate was damaged or lost for want of infrastructural facilities, he said.

State agricultural produce commissioner Alok Ranjan detailed various schemes and future plans of the state government to streamline and broadbase facilities for food processing and to promote agro-business in a big way.

"The state has tremendous potential and the government is determined to overhaul the structures and speed up the momentum of growth in this vital sector," he said.