Exports of agricultural, processed food up 23 per cent in Apr-Jan

Source: Financial Express, 07 March 2022

Exports of agricultural and processed food products rose over 23 per cent to USD 19.7 billion during April-January 2021-22 as compared to the year-ago period’s, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

The exports stood at USD 15.97 billion in the ten-month period a year ago.

Export of rice was the top forex earner at USD 7.7 billion during the period under review, it said.

Similarly, shipments of wheat increased to USD 1.74 billion during the period.

Meat, dairy and poultry products exports grew over 13 per cent to USD 3.40 billion during the ten-month period of the current fiscal year, it said adding fruits and vegetables outbound shipments were up 16 per cent to USD 1.20 billion.

“We continue to focus on creating infrastructure for boosting exports by focusing on clusters in collaboration with state governments while taking into consideration the objective of Agriculture Export Policy, 2018,” M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, said.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) comes under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

20 projects worth Rs 363.4 crore sanctioned for infrastructure and expansion of food processing

Source: The Economic Times, Feb 17, 2021

New Delhi: Twenty projects leveraging an investment of Rs 363.40 crore supported with a grant of Rs 102.81 crore under the scheme for creation for infrastructure for agro-processing cluster (APC) and the scheme for creation and expansion of food processing and preservation capacities (CEFPPC) under pradhan mantri kisan sampada yojana (PMKSY) were sanctioned by the Inter Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) chaired by Food Processing minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

The projects are likely to generate employment for nearly 11,960 people and benefit 42,800 farmers.

“The proposals for projects approved in the IMAC meetings are expected to increase the level of processing and value addition of horticultural and agricultural produce, which will result in increase in the income of the farmers and create employment at the local level,” Tomar said.

Under the CEFPPC, 11 proposals with total project cost of Rs 113.08 crore including grants-in-aid of Rs 36.30 crore will come in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Mizoram, and Gujarat. The scheme approved since 2017 promotes processing and preservation of agro food products and modernization and capacity enhancement of food processing.

This will help in increasing the level of processing and value addition thereby reducing the wastage of agro-produce.

Further, under the scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for APC will encourage entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based on cluster approach. Under these nine proposals with a total project cost of Rs 250.32 crore including grants-in-aid of Rs 66.61 crore in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Rajasthan have been approved.

UAE’s Lulu group to set up food processing centre in Jammu and Kashmir

Source: The Economic Times, Dec 11, 2020

DUBAI: The UAE-based Lulu Group International has announced a plan to set up a food processing centre in Srinagar for sourcing a wide range of agriculture products from Jammu and Kashmir.

The announcement was made by Lulu group chairman Yusuffali MA on Thursday during a meeting with a delegation from Jammu and Kashmir headed by its Principal Secretary (Agriculture Production and Horticulture) Navin Kumar Choudhary on the sidelines of the UAE India Food Security Summit 2020.

“As per the commitment made during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE in 2019, Lulu Group is fully focused on sourcing a wide range of agri products from J&K,” Yusuffali MA said.

Centre okays Rs 107.42cr grant for 28 food processing projects

Source: The Economic Times, Nov 21, 2020

New Delhi: The government on Saturday said a grant of Rs 107.42 crore has been approved for implementing 28 food processing projects spread over 10 states that are likely to generate jobs for nearly 10,000 people.

A decision in this regard was taken in the virtual meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) chaired by Food Processing Industries Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Junior minister Rameswar Teli was also present in the meeting.

The committee considered the projects applied through a unit scheme of Creation and Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities (CEFPPC) under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) for necessary grants-in-aid.

“28 projects with project costs of Rs 320.33 crore, supported with a grant of Rs 107.42 crore by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) were approved under the CEFPPC Scheme by the IMAC,” an official statement said.

Of this, a grant of Rs 20.35 crore has been approved for six projects from north eastern states. These projects are worth Rs 48.87 crore, it said.

The projects will create a processing capacity of 1,237 tonne daily and are spread across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Assam, and Manipur.

These projects are likely to generate employment for nearly 10,000 people, it added.

Food Processing Ministry launches PM FME scheme to help micro-food processing enterprises

Source: The Hindu Business Line, Jun 29, 2020

In line with the Centre’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ initiative, the Ministry for Food Processing has launched the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) scheme with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore.

The scheme, launched on Monday, will assist nearly 2 lakh micro-food processing enterprises with credit-linked subsidy and special focus will be on supporting farmer producers organisations, self-help groups and cottage industries in rural and tribal regions, over the next five years.

The expenditure under the scheme would to be shared in 60:40 ratio between the Central and State governments and in 90:10 ratio with North Eastern and Himalayan States.

One district, one product

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, “The Ministry will adopt the ‘One District One Product (ODOP)’ approach and focus on scaling up existing clusters. States will be given complete flexibility in deciding what product needs to be promoted and from which districts,” she added.

These could be perishable or cereal based products such as mango, potato, litchi, tomato, poultry or millet-based products.

Speaking at the launch of the scheme in a virtual event, she said, that there as many as 25 lakh such unorganised small food processing units.

“Nearly 66 per cent of these units are located in villages and about 80 per cent of them are family owned. They face various challenges such as lack of access to institutional credit, to modern technology, do not have requisite marketing and branding skills and lack awareness about quality control,” she added.

“We hope to address these challenges through the launch of this scheme and enable them scale up their businesses in line with the ‘Vocal for Local’ initiative. We believe this will also catapult this sector by bringing unorganised micro food processing units to the organised sector,” Badal added.

The Ministry believes the scheme will generate investments of ₹35,000 crore and help create 9 lakh skilled and semi-skilled jobs.

Operation Greens scheme expanded

The Ministry has also formally announced the expansion of Operation Greens scheme from tomato, onion and potato crops to all perishable fruits and vegetables. Under this scheme, 50 per cent subsidy will be provided for six months for transportation of eligible crops from production clusters to consumption centres and for hiring storage for three months.

“Though we are formally launching this scheme now, we have already got more than 100 applicants for this scheme through the Ministry’s portal,” the Minister added. Badal added that the Ministry is also starting 41 free e-learning certification courses for SC and ST entrepreneurs in the food processing sector.

Cabinet gives green light to food processing plan

Source: Bangkokpost.com, Apr 30, 2020

The cabinet on Tuesday approved an action plan for food processing industry development for 2019-27 and a supporting budget of 6.6 billion baht.

According to Rachada Dhanadirek, the government spokeswoman, the action plan aims to upgrade Thailand to become a hub of processed food in Asean and become one of the top 10 food exporters to the global market by 2027.

The goal is to upgrade the processing of targeted food such as rice, fishery products, vegetable and fruits, livestock and biofood as well as beef up food packaging and digital technology to support innovative food.

She said the action plan covers a new entrepreneur incubation programme, value addition to food, job creation and income generation for the food industry.

The plan also centres on developing innovative food to commercial scale; food development and smart packaging development.

• Food exporters urged to think smaller
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The government is also committed to assisting all levels of entrepreneurs to access local and global markets by using existing digital platforms; developing local economy and infrastructure to support entrepreneurs and food tourism as well as upgrading Thai food to achieve world-class standard.

She said the government plans to allocate 6.6 billion baht in nine years, with the private sector likely to contribute an estimated 2.22 billion baht.

The government will also establish a national committee to supervise food processing development to ensure that it aligns with the action plan.

The government aims the food industry to generate 1.42 trillion baht worth of income by 2027, with related food industries such as packaging contributing 4.5 trillion baht and investment worth 48 billion baht a year. Thailand is currently the 11th-largest food exporter in the world market, with food shipments generating US$33.1 billion in 2019, up 3% from 2018.

37 mega food parks and 297 integrated cold chain projects sanctioned under PMKSY

Source: The Economic Times, Mar 17, 2020

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has sanctioned 37 mega food parks and 298 integrated cold chain projects throughout the country to fill in the gaps across the value chain and establishing the cold chain grid, said Rameswar Teli, minister of state for Food Processing Industries, in a reply in the Lok Sabha today.

The MoFPI is focusing on building cold chain infrastructure across the country, for seamless transfer of perishables from production to consumption areas, through the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).

Apart from the mega food parks and integrated cold chain, 45 projects have been approved for agro processing clusters, 58 projects have been cleared for creation of backward and forward linkages, he said.

Further, 219 projects for creation and expansion of food processing and preservation capacities have been approved in the country he said.

Under operation greens, five projects have been approved and another 150 projects under food testing laboratories.

These schemes aim at arresting post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce by encouraging the creation of cold storages/ primary processing/ and transportation facilities across the country.
These schemes are demand-driven, mostly by the private investors, said Teli. Financial assistance to the eligible applicants is provided against the Expression of Interests (EoI) issued by the MoFPI from time to time, he said.

West Bengal govt to set up a world class food processing centre

Source: The Economic Times, Mar 13, 2020

West Bengal government is all set to enter into a collaboration with the Arizona State University to set up a world class diagnostic laboratory and also a food processing centre with the Oceanic University to optimize the business of marine products between India and the USA. This was revealed by Dr P K Mazumdar, advisor to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee on agriculture & allied sectors at the 5th Food Processing Conclave organized by CII in Kolkata today.

Mazumdar said that the Bengal government has made a decisive “paradigm shift” in the food and agri geography by shifting the focus from increasing yield to maximizing capacity building of small and marginal farmers by risk mitigation strategies, minimum support prices for essential crops, building 186 Krishak Bazars, warehouses, cold storages, water storage schemes, river lift irrigation, check dams, distribution of solar irrigation pumps to marginal farmers at nominal or no prices, crop insurance etc. Dr Mazumdar said that the West Bengal government “actively encourages” FPOs and its focus is on improving productivity and production of crops on demand of the industry which would make the farming vocation “productive and economically viable.” He added that there are opportunities of investors in the horticulture, dairy, fisheries, animal husbandry spaces in the state and that West Bengal . He requested industries to come forward with their views on the incentive policies of the government.

“One of the leading agri suppliers in the world, Thailand has taken affirmative steps in increasing productivity in this space through the Thailand 4.0 model, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the Food Innopolis,” Ms Sweeta Santipitaks, Consul General, Royal Thai Consulate General in Kolkata said while addressing the stakeholders and Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs).The Consul General spoke extensively about how her country has taken the locational and climatic advantages to become a $6.2 billion agri business industry with the help of Thailand 4.0 model and creating the EECs for innovation and digitization. Thailand, according to the Consul General, has been able to create a nurturing ecosystem for innovation, provide incentives to strengthen business by creating the Food Innopolis which focuses on cutting-edge research, innovation for food processing among others. She invited Indian investors to visit the EEC and Food Innopolis to learn best practices in this vertical.

Speaking at length about how the industry can leverage opportunities with the FPOs, Mr Awadhesh Kumar, General Manager, NABARD said that the FPOs need support of the stakeholders in terms of training and capacity building as they are not “traditionally business people” and “need to understand the demands of the market.” The General Manager of NABARD called for the support of financial institutions for capital disbursement to the FPOs who usually have difficulty in getting capital due to poor track records. He urged CII to create linkages between FPOs and the industry to take forward the Government of India’s target of promoting 10000 FPOs and also requested the state government to firm up a policy for these organizations who, according to Mr Kumar, need the support of financial institutions, academia and the government to become a strong stakeholder in the agri geography.

Food processing ministry grants aid for 10 projects

Source: The Hindu Business Line, Mar 05, 2020

New Delhi: The Food Processing Ministry said on Thursday that grant-in-aid of ₹67.29 crore has been sanctioned for 10 projects worth ₹301.54 crore under the “Agro Processing Cluster Scheme” of the Ministry’s Kisan SAMPADAYojana.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee chaired by the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Food processing ministry approves Rs 162 cr under Operation Greens scheme

Source: The Economic Times, Feb 26, 2020

The government has approved Rs 162 crore under Operation Green scheme which has an outlay of Rs 500 crore to stabilize the supply of tomato, onion and potato (TOP) crops and to ensure their availability round the year without price volatility.

The scheme announced in 2018-19 budget aims to enhance value realisation for farmers by targeted interventions to strengthen production clusters and the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and linking them with the market.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said five projects have been sanctioned in the country and more were in line for approvals. “The total cost of the projects is Rs 426 crore and the grant we will give is Rs 162 crore,” she said.

Badal added that infrastructure projects for the agro commodities will come in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Banaskantha in Gujarat and two in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. “More than 50,000 farmers will benefit with these upcoming projects and it will create 10,000 jobs. Storage of over 90,000 tonnes and over 3.64 lakh tonne of daily processing capacity will be created,” she said.

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) will be the nodal agency to implement price stabilisation measures. The pattern of assistance will comprise grants-in-aid at the rate of 50% of the eligible project cost in all areas, subject to maximum Rs 50 crores per project. The ministry will provide 50% subsidy on transportation of the crops from production to storage and hiring of appropriate storage facilities.
As part of the long term integrated value chain development projects, the government will help in capacity building of FPOs, quality production, post-harvest processing facilities, agri-logistics, development of markets and creation and management of e-platform for demand and supply management of the crops.