Bhopal: The government is keenly working on promoting food processing industries in the state. It has already allocated Rs 350 crore to set up cold storage chains, with 25 per cent subsidy. Being the leader in food grains production, the state has immense scope for the food processing sector. This was stated by Suryaprakash Meena, minister of state for horticulture and food processing, while inaugurating a day-long summit on ‘Agro and Food Processing: Technology-Investment-Infrastructure’ with focus on Madhya Pradesh. It was organised by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM).
Dhaval Raval, chairman, food processing and SME Committee, ASSOCHAM Western Council; Dr KK Singh, director of Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Satyanand, director of horticulture and food processing and other speakers expressed their views on the occasion. Most of the speakers were of the view that better infrastructure like storage and transport, minimum support price and marketing facilities can benefit farmers as well as industries. Raval in his welcome address said that the objective of the summit was to dwell upon the opportunities and challenges, technological advancements, investment opportunities and infrastructure availability for promoting the agro and food processing sector in the state.
Dr KK Singh, referring to the food grains production statistics of the state said that although the production has increased immensely but we are still not able to match global standards as far as ensuring better returns by processing the produce is concerned. “We are far behind China, the US and even countries like the Philippines.
