Chennai:
In a bid to enhance the growth of food processing
industry in Tamil Nadu, the state government is planning to set up three
agro-processing corridors in the state.
Delivering the inaugural address of Confederation of
Indian Industry’s Foodpro 2013 Exhibition and Conference on Technologies for
Value Added Food Product Development, State agriculture secretary Sandeep
Saxena said that the state will be setting up the corridors in Madurai-Thoothkudi
belt, Coimbatore-Dindugal belt and Kanchipuram-Villupuram belt.
He said the state government is working towards making
the farmers a stakeholder in the food processing industry in a bid to ensure
inclusive growth. “The government can act as a facilitator between growers and
producers,” he said.
Saxena said that the state government will bear 25 per
cent of equity share of farmers in the agro-processing industry in a bid to
make them a stakeholder in the sector. He also sought more investment from the
private sector to realise the goals of the 2023 Vision document.
The exhibition was inaugurated by state Agriculture Minister
S Damodaran.
Australian trade commissioner Michael Carter said that
Australia has a strategic intention for direct collaboration with Tamil Nadu in
fishing, aquaculture, dairy farming and horticulture.
He also said that Australia is keen on making the Tamil
Nadu coast the hub for lobsters and yellow-fin tuna.
“We already had discussion with the state government,”he
said. Interestingly, the yellow fin tuna project is also being tried out in
neighbouring Kerala.
During the conference, CII experts from food processing
industry also interacted with the media. Piruz Khambatta, chairman of national
committee on food processing and managing director of Rasna Private Limited
said that agro food processing sector could help combat the inflation. He said
while the prices of fruits and vegetables have gone up, the processed food
prices have been more or less the same.
He said the processed food market is growing by 14 to 15
per cent and is more than 66,000 crore. However, these figures does not include
the small and medium size companies and the unorganised sector.
While welcoming the foreign direct investment in food
processing sector, Khambatta also expressed CII apprehensions about foreign
companies dumping goods in Indian market. Some of the products they dumped were
expired goods. Due to our intervention, the government has passed an order than
any imported goods should have a residual life of 60 per cent.
Interestingly, Khambatta expressed over the introduction
of Goods and Services Tax which he said would result in increase in the cost of
all processed food. He said government should not levy any tax on processed
food.
More than
150 exhibitors from across the globe are participating in the three-day Confederation
of Indian Industry's (CII) 10th edition of the Indian Food Processing &
Food Technology Fair - Foodpro 2013.
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