Two more mega food parks to be set up in Villupuram, Krishnagiri

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu is likely to have two more mega food parks in Villupuram and Krishnagiri by availing funds from the Centre under the Kisan Sampada Yojana, according to Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister R Doraikannu and state agriculture secretary Gagandeep Singh.

Talking to Express on the sidelines of World Food India 2017 roadshow, both the minister and the secretary said that the state is preparing a project report for setting up mega foodpark in Villupuram and Krishnagiri districts under the just announced Kisan Sampada Yojana.

Land has been identified to set up Mega Food Park in Villupuram. The process is on to identify land in Krishnagiri, they added. This comes as Ministry of Food Processing Industry has accorded ‘in-principle’ approval on January 3, 2017 to Ratnatray Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. for setting up of a Mega Food Park at Village Akkarai Sengapally, Annur Taluka, in Coimbatore district.

This comes as Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal urged the state to avail funds under Kisan Sampada Scheme. The scheme has Rs 6,000 crore outlay and the focus is on mega food parks, integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure as well as creating infrastructure for agro-processing clusters.

The mega food park aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers’ income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector, said Badal. She said all the 42 mega food parks, taken up during Congress regime, will be completed in the next two years

Meanwhile, Doraikannu and Singh said that there is also a proposal to set up banana processing plant in Tuticorin and Theni districts. “We will be seeking funds from the Centre in this regard,” he said.

Singh said that the government is planning to set up fish processing plants in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam. This comes as lot of the catch in these two areas are being sent to neighbouring Kerala to be processed and exported. Already a fish processing plant is being set up in Thiruvallur on Sipcot land by a priate firm Monsoon Bounty.

The state government is also setting up terminal market complex in Melur in Madurai and Navalur near Sriperumbudur, said Singh.