India to build food parks

India to build food parks    The Indian government is offering individual companies up to $10 million in subsidies to help develop “Mega Food Parks” in 10 states throughout the country.
   The goal of the program is to better process India’s agricultural production, which has suffered from chronic spoilage due to poor transportation and storage. The blueprint developed by the government would see central processing centers developed in each of the 10 states, with six to 10 primary processing centers linking to the central center.
   The government is offering incentives for companies to build cold and dry storage facilities, logistics centers, and sorting and washing centers, among many other potential projects. The aim is to improve processing by 8 percent to 10 percent, and to minimize post-harvesting losses in the supply chain by 10 percent to 15 percent. Experts in cold storage in India estimate that one-third to 40 percent of the country’s production is lost to spoilage.
   The program is also geared to help farmers earn more income by preserving more of their production.
   The parks are planned in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
   For more information, go to the website of India’s Ministry of Food Processing Industries Web site.