The Indian government aims to increase food processing by 2.5 times in the next 10 years, in a bid to reduce post harvest losses. Presently, food processing stands at only 10% of India's total agricultural output, but according to Radha Mohan Singh, Union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, the government aims to raise it to 25% by 2025.
“The government is promoting the processed food industry for value-addition in agricultural products. Not only this, the government is also chalking out its programme through different schemes to increase the production of fruits and vegetables and its processing with assistance from the ministry of food processing industries,” said the minister.
But, the agriculture sector is facing a huge problem with mounting post-harvest management losses due to inadequate availability of storage and lack of required care of the stored crop in warehouses.
The National Agriculture Market is set to help nationwide electronic trading of agricultural commodities, the minister said. In this programme, 585 Indian agriculture markets will be connected to each other. The farmers will get the maximum price for their crops and the interference of mediators would be reduced to a great extent. Direct foreign investment was also being encouraged in this field.
The minister further said the government was considering setting up a committee which would recommend measures to enhance efficiency in warehousing space to reduce post-harvest crop losses. Attempts were also being made to introduce new technology for handling harvested crops and therefore reduce pilferage, the minister said.
