Harsimrat lays foundation of mega food park in Kerala
Chandigarh: Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today laid the foundation stone of a Mega Food Park being developed by KINFRA at Palakkad. The foundation stone of the Park, which is being developed by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA), was laid in the presence of Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Kerala besides Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, minister of state for food processing. Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Badal said under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government. To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country. Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs). Mrs Badal informed the Palakkad Mega Food Park was being set up in 78.68 acre of land at the cost of Rs. 119.02 crore. The facilities being created by the KINFRA at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Pack house (Sorting grading packing) of 10 MT/hr, Warehouse of 12000 MT, Silos of 6000 MT, Multi Product Cold Storage of 5000 MT, Processing including Mechanical Dryer of 15 T/day, Ripening Chamber of 120 MT, Cashew Roasting of 2MT/day and other food processing facilities. In addition 4 PPCs at Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Wayannad having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms are also being set up. Mrs Badal was scheduled to inaugurate another mega food park at Alappuzha but could not reach there due to bad weather. The Kerala chief minister laid the foundation stone of the Park which has been set up in 68.18 acre of land at the cost of Rs. 129.15 crore. The facilities being created by the KSIDC at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Cold Storage of 3000 MT, Deep Freeze Unit of 3000 MT, Deboning and Canning Unit of 50 tonnes/day, Warehouse of 1000 MT and other food processing facilities. 5 PPCs at Thoppumpady, Vypeen, Munambam, Aroor and Neendakara having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms are also being set up. The Minister also informed that both the Parks have common administrative building for office and other use by the entrepreneurs. She said the Union government is providing financial assistance of Rs. 50 crore to each of the projects. Mrs Badal said both food parks will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in 25-30 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 crore annually. Each of the Parks will also provide direct and indirect employment to 5000 people and benefit about 25000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas. —PTC News
