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TS with 5 mega food parks to emerge as leading food processing state in India
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Thursday, 17 December, 2020, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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A Raju, Hyderabad
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With an aim to make Telangana state as a leading food processing state in India, the state government of Telangana has set up 5 Mega Food parks in the state during the past 6 years, since formation of a new state in the year 2014.
Unlike earlier, before 2014, where agriculture sector was in complete doldrums due to lack of irrigation water and majority of the rural folks abandoned their farming and migrated to big cities in search of livelihood, post formation of new state of Telangana, there has been drastic improvement in the agriculture sector and the state of Telangana within just two years (2016) was able to produce record Paddy production in the country and emerged as the next Rice bowl of India after Andhra Pradesh.
This was mainly possible only because of the various initiatives like 24 hours free power to farm sector, Rythu Bhandu, crop input subsidy of Rs. 10,000 per acre per year, Rythu Bheema, life insurance for the farmers, distribution of subsidized seeds and fertilisers to the farmers. The most important among all these is the fast development of irrigation facilities such as renovation of tanks and ponds under Mission Kakatiya and taking up of construction of ongoing, pending and new irrigation projects on war footage.
“We are happy to share with you that the scenario of farming sector in Telangana has witnessed a sea-change in just a period of 6 years. We are now heading to become India’s seed bowl and very soon we are also emerging as the country’s leading food processing state. Already 5 mega food parks are being established in the state, of them 3 have already started functioning,” informed Agriculture minister, Singireddy Niranjan Reddy.
The Agriculture minister informed that, while producing bumper crop was their primary focus in the initial days, however now with the farmers growing all kinds of crops and yielding better harvest twice in a year, the state government is planning to provide better value to the farm produce for the farmers and is planning to establish better marketing facilities and also planning to add value to their produce by setting up a large number of food processing units in each and every district across the state.
As part of this initiative, the state government had established the Telangana State Food Processing Society (TSFPS), whose sole aim is to promote food processing industries in the state.
The food processing industry covers the establishment of food processing units which process raw materials such as Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds, Fruits, Vegetables, Milk, Meat, Poultry, Fish produce etc. The TSFPS role will be to provide grant - in - aid up to 50 per cent of the project cost and other incentives to set up food processing units, cold chain and preservation infrastructure including reefer vans.
At present, the state of Telangana is rich in production of various agriculture raw materials for food processing which includes rice, maize, cotton, red gram, soya, groundnut and Sugarcane. Investors who wish to set up their food processing units in the state, can utilize these raw materials to further convert them into value added food products like puffed rice, rice flakes, rice flour, boiled rice etc.
By utilising the opportunities provided by the state and central governments investors in the food processing industry can also set up integrated units for processing of maize, soya, and rice and can produce value added foods like corn syrup, corn flour, corn flakes etc.
Apart from regular agriculture products like Rice, Maize, Soya, Cotton etc., the state is also rich in the production of oil seeds like groundnut, cotton Seeds, sunflower seeds, Sugarcane and others, using edible oil industries such as groundnut oil, cotton seed oil, and sunflower oil manufacturing units can be set up in each and every district.
“The state government of Telangana is moving with a comprehensive plan to completely overhaul the entire agriculture sector. Our aim is to make sure that each and every farmer in the state is benefited from agriculture. In the coming days, am sure even the educated people will come forward to look for employment in the agriculture sector. For this we are in the processing of preparing a strong ground and in the coming days, farmers in Telangana will definitely become richer and will earn a better living,” added the agriculture minister.
The agriculture department apart from ensuring that all the welfare and development schemes of the government are reaching to the farmers is also continuously working in providing extension and awareness services for the farmers. “Agriculture department’s role is not just providing extension services but is also to enabling transfer of the latest technical knowledge to the farming community. Apart from our objective to assess requirements of agriculture inputs well in advance and to regulate their production and monitor timely supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, implements, credit etc it is also ensuring implementation of various acts and regulations for maintaining quality control,” explained the minister, while enumerating the major roles of the Agriculture department in the state.
With the irrigation facilities improved to a larger extent, where in arid regions like Mahabubnagar, Adilabad, Nizambad and other districts in the state receiving irrigation waters under the gigantic irrigation projects like Kaleshwarm in the North and Palamuru-Ranga-Reddy Lift Irrigation projects in the south, highly water intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy are also increasingly grown. For instance, the Wanaparthy, Mahabubnagar and Nagarkurnool districts of erstwhile Mahabubnagar district which was mainly regarded a perennially drought hit and known for increased migration of labourers, has now witnessed reverse migration as the agriculture sector has drastically improved. Apart from oil seed crops like groundnut, new crops like Sugarcane and paddy are increasingly grown in these districts. The state government is now planning to set up a huge mega park in Wanaparthy, as already one Mega Park called Raagamayuri Agrovet has been established in Gadwal district.
In addition to regular crops, the state agriculture department is also prompting the horticulture sector in a big way. As part of this, the government is providing 70 per cent subsidy to farmers who are coming forward for setting up Mango plantation, Mosambi plantation, Guava plantation, Amla plantation, Grapes plantation, Watermelon plantation, Gherkin plantation, Okra plantation, Carrot, Tomato, Turmeric other horticulture crops in the state.
With an aim to add value to these horticulture crops, the state government is also inviting investments for setting up frozen fruit processing units in the state. Many fruit processing units like Mosambi grading, packing, juice extraction centers have been established. Apart from Amla/Grape vineyard and integrated wine production units are also established.
In addition to this Gherkins processing, Vegetable dehydration, pickles, Ketchups Squashes, Turmeric oil extraction and powder manufacturing units are also being set up in the state.
With an aim to promote tertiary products manufacturing units using the agriculture and farming raw materials, the state government is trying to add value to the food products and inviting industries which can manufacture ready to cook, ready to eat, head and eat products like jams, jellies, fruit pulps, biscuits, noodles etc. As part of this initiative the state government has embarked on setting up of 4 major food parks in the state which include Smart Agro Mega Food Park in Nizamabad, Raagamayuri Agrovet in Mahabubnagar, TSIIC Food part in Khammam, Basavashkti Mega Food Park in Medak district in the state.
For setting up these food parks and food processing units the state government is providing land on lease basis and encouraging the new investors with grant-in-aid and special incentives are also being provided. The state government is also encouraging new industrial enterprises through Telangana State Industrial Development and Entrepreneur Advancement (T-IDEA).
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