ABOUT EDITORIAL ARTICLES RECIPES PROJECTS NEWS & VIEWS BAKERY LEADERS FORMS
17 New Mega Food Parks Sanctioned
(Bakery Processing May Be One of the possibilities in these Parks).
17 new Mega Food Parks (MFPs) sanctioned by the Indian Government shall entail fresh investment of around Rs. 2330 crores. This will include grant-in-aid for an amount of Rs.850 crores. Announcing this at a press conference in the Capital, Food Processing Minister Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that these 17 new MFPs spread across 11 States would attract a total investment of around Rs.4,000 crores and the annual turnover of the Food Processing units in these MFPs would be more than Rs.8,000 crores. She informed that these new MFPs will generate direct/indirect employment for around 2.5 lakh people and it is expected that more than 12 lakh farmers would be benefited after these MFPs are operational.
Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal informed the press that this time a change was made in the eligibility criteria and Govt. organisations/ State Govts were also allowed to apply. Out of the 17 MPFs, 06 have been sanctioned for the State Govt. authorities and 11 to private sector. Out of the ongoing 25 Mega Food Parks, 2 have already been inaugurated and 3 more are expected to be operationalised by middle of this year vis-a-vis 2 Mega Food Parks operationalised by the previous Government since 2008.
She expressed the hope that once these 42 MFPs, inclusive of the 25 sanctioned by the previous Govt., become operational, the farmers would be greatly benefited in terms of better price for their produce and consumers would get wider choice at a very reasonable price.
To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage and loss at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Food Mega Food Parks Scheme in the country since the year 2008. Financial Assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore is provided for setting up Mega Food Parks for creation of modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market. A Mega Food Park located in the area of a minimum of 50 acres work in a cluster based approach based on a hub and spokes model. Infrastructure is created for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs), Collection Centres (CCs) located in production areas. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre like modern warehousing, cold storage, IQF, sorting, grading, packaging, pulping, ripening chambers and tetra packaging units roads, electricity, water, ETP facilities etc. This helps in reducing the cost of individual units significantly and makes them more viable. Induction of latest technology, quality assurance of processed food products through better process control and meeting of environmental and safety standards are other major benefits of Mega Food Parks.
Total 42 Mega Food Parks have been sanctioned by the Government for setting-up in the country. Currently, 25 projects are under implementation, Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited on all India basis on 10.02.2014 with the last date of 31.07.2014 to fill up vacancies. Ministry received 72 proposals and after going through a stringent and transparent process of scrutiny, 17 suitable proposals from 11 States of the country have been selected and approved for implementation.
Society of Indian Bakers held its General Body Meeting during 2014-15. The new executive was chosen besides adopting annual report and the audit accounts for the year. The introductory remarks were presented by Sh. L.R.Kandhari, the former Director U.S.Wheat Associates and the founder president of the society. He highlighted that the bakery industry has evolved over the years in India from family to a commercial activity and a respectable business as compared to old times. He further expressed that a handful of bakery technicians, professionals and practicing bakers got together to form a group that later took the shape of Society of Indian Bakers.
During its initial 40 years SIB undertook to conduct workshops & Exhibitions in different parts of India. Also it brought out a bakery magazine in Hindi and English. Another land mark initiative by the SIB was to celebrate on 8th October “Bakers Day” in line with western countries where this day is celebrated as “Day of Bread”.
Besides organization of bakery programs the SIB, bakery schools and several institutions in India are playing significant role in up gradation of the bakery craft and know how. With fast food culture gradually catching up amongst young folks, bakery industry is faced with new challenges of providing innovative products to consumers. SIB had been playing a vital role in fulfilling these objectives.
