The Indo-American Farmers' Coalition (IAFC), a body formed by Non-resident Indians (NRIs), plans to pump in funds to build one food processing unit in each of the 729 districts of the country and a nationwide chain of 'Farm to Consumer Shop', IAFC chairman Ramesh Patel said.
This 'Farm to Consumer Shop', will be set up through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) at an investment of about "US 2.5 billion" and the SPV will enter into 'Crop Development Contract' with the local Farmers' Crop Development Cooperatives (FCDC).
"A representation in this regard has already been made to C Rangarajan, chairman of Economic Advisory Council of Prime Minister. We will discuss this issue with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi soon," IAFC chairman Ramesh Patel said.
The project will provide for procurement of agricultural produce from the farmers at a pre-determined affordable rate and offering the producers share in profit earned through value addition made in the produces.
The SPV will develop infrastructure and sales-marketing network for distribution and marketing of the farm produce, while the cooperative bodies will take care of integration aimed at supply of farm produces.
Explaining the project, Patel said, "The central idea of the project is to bring professional management skill of the corporate sector in the retailing of the farm produce, which will, in turn, make the business, mainly undertaken through the cooperative sector, a lucrative proposition."
"This holds significance considering the fact that India stands at 97th position in the list of 125 countries providing healthy food to their entire population. Extent of wastage of farm produce is also high. Even in Gujarat, wastage of fruits and vegetables is pegged at Rs 11,400 crore per annum," Patel said.
Apart from NRIs from the United States, United Nations, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) are supposed to be partner in the project execution, he said.
Implementation of such project in India can also help a lot in successful implementation of Food Security Act, Patel said.
