India to set up 15 more mega food parks

The government today approved setting up of 15 more mega food parks with an investment of Rs 787.50 crore to provide better infrastructure to reduce the wastage, which has been estimated at 40% of the total fruit and vegetables production.

The Cabinet has approved the proposal for setting up of additional 15 mega food parks. These parks will be set up in the 12th Plan period [2012-2017],"Law Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs.

An estimated 40% of fruit and vegetable production in India goes waste due to lack of storage, cold chain and transport infrastructure. The government had set a target of establishing 30 mega food parks in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2011).

It was only this year, the government approved 15 food parks, of only eight parks have been completed.

Khurshid said 15 more food parks cleared by the CCEA would be developed under the Infrastructure Development Scheme in the 12th Five Year Plan.

He said that the estimated investment in each project would be about Rs 100 crore in common facilities and would leverage an additional investment of Rs 250 crore.

Each food park should be completed in 24 months from the date of the release of the first tranche of the first instalment, he said.

The expected turnover from each project will be Rs 500 crore and an estimated 30-40 FPI would be established in each park, Khurshid added.

The government expects the food parks to benefit 6,000 farmers directly and 25,000-30,000 indirectly and generate about 40,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Through the establishment of mega food parks, government aims to provide latest infrastructure to the FPI as well as intends to upgrade the value chain from the farm to the market.