Coimbatore [India], July 20 (ANI/PNN): Farmers, processors, and retailers are upbeat over the announcement by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to infuse USD 2 billion to help develop a series of food marks in India to help tackle food insecurity in South Asia and the Middle East.
The Government of India has launched the Scheme of Mega Food Park aimed at providing a mechanism to link agriculture production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors, and retailers to ensure maximum value addition, minimize wastage, increase farmers’ income, and create employment opportunities, particularly in the rural sector.
At present, about 22 Food Parks are operational in different states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttrakhand, Tripura, and West Bengal.
Experts opined that the UAE’s bid to invest USD 2 billion in the integrated food parks in India would hugely benefit Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The investment will help achieve India’s goal of achieving 500GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.
Addressing the Agri Intex 2021 conference in Tamilnadu’s Coimbatore held on July 15, Vijay Dwivedi, chairman of Fynomics Financials, an expert in food parks, said, “UAE’s bid to invest in the Food Parks in India is going to benefit Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh”. “AT the I2U2 summit, it has been decided that India will provide appropriate land for the project and will facilitate farmers’ integration into the food parks, while American and Israeli private companies will assist in the project that will help maximize crop yields and, in turn, help tackle food insecurity in South Asia and the Middle East.”
In India, the Mega Food Park Scheme is based on the “Cluster” approach. It envisages the creation of the state-of-the-art support infrastructure in a well-defined Agri / horticultural zone for the setting up of modern food processing units in the industrial plots provided in the park with the well-established supply chain. Mega food park typically consists of supply chain infrastructure including collection centers, primary processing centers, central processing centers, cold chain, and around 25-30 fully developed plots for entrepreneurs to set up food processing units.
And as ironic as it sounds, while the agro-industry is going full throttle to reek from the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, UAE’s announcement of a USD 2 billion investment has come as a ray of hope.
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