Full Scale Participation by Karnataka State at the World Food India 2017 in New Delhi

Karnataka will be the Focus State with full scale participation at the World Food India 2017 event approaching shortly in New Delhi. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) held Roadshow in Bengaluru on Friday.

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Karnataka Minister for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda addressed the industrialists and business persons from the state, seeking their active participation in World Food India. More than 250 delegates participated in the Roadshow.

 
The three-day event, with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) being the National Event Partner, will be held in New Delhi from November 3-5, 2017.

Addressing the industry leaders at the roadshow, Ms Badal said ''We are eyeing to get $US10 billion investment in food processing sector in next few years. The food processing industry can grow multifold in coming years as government has come up with numerous schemes & initiatives to create the conducive business environment. 

Setting up of 42 Mega Food Parks will lead to direct employment for up to 5 lakh and benefit 25 lakh farmers.'' 

''The aim of these Mega Food Parks and SAMPADA scheme is to double farmers’ income. Reducing the plight of India farmers and making India a global food factory, centre has launched Scheme for Agro-Marine Produce Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters (SAMPADA) with increase in output 2.5 times by year 2020.

Food processing sector can help to achieve this goal as currently we are only processing 10% of entire raw products,'' she added.

Ms Badal said ''We need to reduce the food wastage in the country. We lost 1 Lakh crore worth of post-harvest annually which can be saved if we set up the proper food processing facilities across the country.''

She briefed the business community about the Government schemes related to food processing industry and highlighted the benefits of Kisan Sampada scheme of the Central Govt for Farmers, FPOs, Corporates etc. Kisan Sampada scheme will benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate 5,30,500 direct/indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20. 

She urged the business community of Karnataka for maximum participation in the event and look for new opportunities and collaboration with other Indian and global companies.

Speaking at the roadshow and highlighting the growth prospects in Karnataka, Byre Gowda said '' Karnataka will participate in this initiative at full scale and lend all the required support to make it successful. World Food India will be a platform to showcase the strengths and opportunities of food processing sector of the country. Karnataka has a huge potential in the food processing industry as the state produces variety of fruits, vegetables and grain and is the top five producer of sunflower, coffee, onion, tamarin, tomato, cinnamon, papaya, mango, etc. in the country.''

''Farmers will be benefited when food retail becomes organized and we need to push for policies for promotion of organized food retail in the country,'' he added. 

(With Agencies inputs)