Introduction
The changing demographics, lifestyle patterns, food consumption patterns has increased the sales of packaged food, canned/ dried processed food, frozen processed food, meal replacement products, condiments, beverages and so on.
The Indian food processing industry holds tremendous potential to grow, considering the still nascent levels of processing at present. India, with an arable land of 184 million hectare is, the highest producer of milk in the world at 134.5 million tonne p.a., second-largest producer of fruits (77 million tonne) & vegetables (150 million tonne), third-largest producer of food grains (255 million tonne) and fish and has the largest livestock population.
Considering the wide-ranging and large raw material base that the country offers, along with a consumer base of over 1.25 billion people, the food industry holds tremendous opportunities for large investments. There is therefore a need to have a well-coordinated and integrated approach for production, processing and distribution of food products. The Mega Food Park (MFP) is a concept which is aimed at establishing direct linkages from the farm to processing and on to the consumer markets, through a network of collection centres and processing centres. Efficient logistics facilities will connect the collection centres to the primary processing centres, which in turn will be connected to a central processing centre.
Mega Food Park Scheme
Mega Food Park Scheme is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India. The scheme proposes a demand- driven/pre-marketed model with strong backward/forward linkages and sustainable supply chain.
The primary objective of the proposed scheme is to facilitate establishment of integrated value chain, with processing at the core and supported by requisite forward and backward linkage. Under the scheme, the ministry had sanctioned 42 projects throughout the country. Of these, 17 parks were allotted to state governments and private firms.
The scheme provides for creating infrastructure for farm level primary processing centre-cum-cold chain in identified clusters, processing of intermediate products, collection centre-cum-cold chains, centralised infrastructure to take care of processing activities, which require cutting edge technologies and testing facilities, besides the basic infrastructure for water supply, power, environmental protection systems, communication and so on.
The supply chain will establish on-farm primary processing centre-cum-cold chain facilities for aggregation of the produce at village level, which will be linked to the retail outlets/processing parks through appropriate produce aggregation facility and collection centre-cum-cold chain and reefer transportation networks. The scheme is proposed to be entrepreneur-driven to be implemented on a PPP basis.
Benefits of Mega Food Park
1.Benefit 6,000 farmers / producers directly and 25,000-30,000 farmers indirectly.
2.Generate about 40,000 direct and indirect jobs.
3.New employment opportunities will be created within rural areas which will reduce rural-urban migration, unplanned urbanisation, slums/social problems in cities.
4.Will accommodate 30-40 food processing industries in it.
5.Provide efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
6.Common facilities will reduce operational cost.
7.Farmers can utilise the cold storages, ripening chambers, and warehouses. So, less wastage and no distress sales.
8.Good transportation facilities viz. reefer trucks and vans.
9.Food entrepreneur can establish backward linkages (with farmers) and forward linkage (with retailers) will provide compact supply chain and more profits.
Incentives Offered
The scheme envisages a one-time capital grant of 50% of the project cost, subject to a maximum of Rs 50 crore in general areas and 75% of the project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore in difficult and hilly areas i.e., North-East Region including Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and ITDP notified areas of the states.
TUFS - Technology Upgradation Funds (MoFPI Scheme)
25% of the cost of plant & machinery, and technical civil work subject to maximum of Rs 50 lakh
MoFPI Scheme for Backward and Forward Integration and other Promotional Activities
Backward Linkage
Incentive in the form of reimbursement up to 10% of total purchases made by processing unit in a given year, limited to Rs10 lakh for a maximum period of three years
50% of the cost of the campaign towards market survey, test marketing and brand promotion, subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh
MoFPI Food Fortification Scheme
50% of the cost of the capital equipment (dosing machine etc.) and its installation charges up to Rs 3 lakh available to existing industries engaged in production of cereal/ cereal-based products
MoFPI Packaging Centre
25% of the total cost of plant and machinery and technical civil works subject to a maximum of Rs 2 crore for establishing packaging centres.
MFPs in India
India Food Park (IFP) Tumkur, near Bengaluru
The India Food Park (IFP), an integrated food processing facility located in the Tumkur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The food park was developed by Integrated Food Park Private Ltd (IFPPL), a public-private partnership between India's MoFPI and the country's leading retail company Future Group. The food park became partially functional in 2014 and involves an investment of more than Rs 10 billion for full commissioning. Food products produced at the facility will be sold in the market through Future Group's retail formats including Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Foodhall, KB's Fairprice, Big Apple and Aadhaar.
Indus Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd
Indus Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd (IMFPPL) is set up at Khargone (near Indore, Madhya Pradesh). It is located at almost 90 km (at Panwa Village, Khargone district) from Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Conceptualised as a food processing infrastructure facility providing world-class infrastructure and technology to the enterprises engaged in the food processing industry, the park will provide a platform and establish backward and forward linkages covering the entire food processing value chain, quality assurance, food safety and implementation of best practices in post-harvest management.
Dankuni Food Park
Keventer Projects Limited was introduced as Anchor Promoter for the Dankuni Food Park in 2005. The area of the food park is located right on NH-2 (Delhi Road) linking many cities in Eastern India, Delhi on one side and Mumbai on the other side. The park is strategically located just 25 km away from the Kolkata Airport and 20 km away from Kolkata port. It has a catchment that is ideal for cultivation of potato, rice, vegetables, fruits, oilseeds, pulses and coconut along with a good yield from aqua-cultural farms within 50 km radius.
MITS Mega Food Park
MITS Mega Food Park is one of its kind SEZ in the state of Odisha for the promotion of the food processng industry. It is loacated in southern Odisha i.e, Rayagada, which is the growth engine of Southern Odisha. The project provides the best incentive and common facilities for food processing industry in whole of eastern India. The main objectives of creating the park is to help establish food processing industrial estates/ parks by providing assistance for common facilities such as analytical and quality control laboratories, cold storages/modified atmosphere cold storages, warehousing facilities, supplementary pollution control facilities etc.
Upcoming MFPs
All the 42 Mega Food Parks approved by the government will become operational by 2019, which will yield a potential investment of about Rs 14,000 crore. Focus will be on perishables, especially fruits and vegetables, as their processing in the country is as low as 2%.
Keventer Mega Food Park - Kahalgaon, Bihar
The Keventer Mega Food Park is to be set up on 80 acre of land at industrial area in Kahalgaon, Bihar. It will be a breakthrough development for food processing and agro-based industries in the eastern region. It will strengthen backward and forward linkages for food retail, on one hand, while creating diverse farm and non-farm livelihood opportunities in rural areas, on the other. Proposed as part of the Mega Food Parks Scheme (MFPS), the flagship programme of MoFPI, the park is thus a complete development scheme, providing total infrastructure solution for the regional food processing industry.
Food Park Projects are also proposed in Odisha and Karnataka
MFP- ‘Smart Agro’ in Telangana
A Mega Food Park with an initial investment of Rs 110 crore is set to come up in Lakkampally village in Nizamabad district of Telangana State. Situated about 150 km from Hyderabad, the complex will also consist of a smart agro park. There will be ancillary units in nearby Medchal, Medak and Nalgonda. In the first stage, 78 acre of land will be developed with 30 units. It is expected to give a boost to agro-processing. Smart Agro Food Park is promoted by non-resident Indians -- Pailla Malla Reddy, Mohan Patalolla, Razmesh Kumar Kambam, Dodla Dairy Ltd and Kishore Ganji. The park will provide facilities for multicommodity, cold storage, deep freeze, raw material warehouse, finished goods warehouse, silos, turmeric processing facility, quality control and food testing lab. The completed Rs 800 crore investment park will become fully operational by June 2017. It will process grains like maize and rice; oil seeds like soyabean, vegetable crops like tomato, cabbage, and cauliflower; and fruits such as mango, papaya, citrus, and guava; and spices like turmeric.
Challenges
One of the key challenges faced by the food processing sector is the lack of raw materials of processable quality. Other challenges faced on the production side are shrinking land base, inadequate water resources, and vagaries of nature, shortage of labour and increasing cost. As per census data 2011, small and marginal farmers account for 44.3 per cent of the total operational agricultural land-holding. The average land-holding of individuals in the small and marginal farmer category is 1.42 hectare and 0.38 hectare respectively. Also, low levels of farm mechanisation and average farm power availability pose challenges.
Prospects
An integrated facility such as a mega food park will take care of backward and forward linkages, storage and wastages resulting out of inadequate facilities or improper handling.
The primary goal in development of agriculture infrastructure is to provide facilities along the value chain from the farm to table. It provides the much-needed alternative platform to the farmers in the catchment areas to sell their produce. Such an infrastructure may also promote organised contract farming in the catchment areas.
Other important tangible benefits include well-developed post-harvest and processing infrastructure thereby reduction of wastages, market-driven price realisation for farmers, capacity building for food processing and direct and indirect employment creation opportunities.
With the well directed effort by current government on partnership with private firms for developments, the food processing map of India may significantly improve ultimately benefiting the entire value chain in the agriculture space.
Food grains wastage due to inadequate systems and storage mechanisms is a perennial subject of debate across sections of the agriculture value chain and otherwise.
