Telangana govt mulls policy to promote food processing

The Telangana government would soon come out with a policy to promote food processing and value addition to farm produce, covering agriculture and allied areas,aimed at providing a better price to farmers, a senior official has said.

The policy proposes to cover a range of agri crops (for example rice, pulses, corn), state Principal Secretary (Agriculture) C Parthasarathi told PTI here.

The policy envisages promotion of units in the state to make value addition to farm produce towards giving a better deal to the farmers, he said.

For example, making dal out of red gram.

The farmers would benefit as those setting up industrial units would buy their produce at a higher price compared to the typical traders.

The price for farmers' produce often falls in the markets if there is no demand for it.

Providing subsidies (like on capital costs) and concessions (including power-related) to those setting up industrial units is being considered under the policy, the official said.

The government is also taking into consideration a situation where there is saturation ofa particular type of industry in an area, he said.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier appointed a cabinet sub-committee to go into the issue of ensuring a better price for farmers' produce and to promote food processing.

Rao had also directed that at least 100 food processing units be set up in the state with at least one in each assembly constituency, according to an official release.

The proposed policy would go to the state cabinet for approval after finalisation,Parthasarathi said.