Food & Beverage News: Food Processing - Minister highlights role of private sector in storage, food processing

Involvement of the private sector in creating modern storage and processing facilities for food grains is key to food security, according to union minister of state for agriculture K V Thomas. Addressing FoodCon 2010, a seminar on the latest developments in the food processing industry, he said that with the Centre planning to enact the food security law, over Rs 70,000 crore would be spent on food subsidy. This called for maintaining major reserves of food grains and other edible items. The proposed Food Security Bill would address specific concerns of the people in the below poverty line (BPL).

This also throws up other areas of concern. For instance, with the projections of good monsoon, agricultural output is likely to be good. However, he was worried about the large quantities of food grains stored in the open. The minister called on the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the organisers of FoodCon, to encourage investments in infrastructure. The private sector had to play an important role in food production, storage, value addition and packaging. Food processing, he said, was a crucial step in growing the market for farm produce.

P K Mohapatra, past chairman, CII southern region, said India was among the global leaders in dairy, poultry and marine products. However, food processing companies are yet to achieve global scale of operations. Companies must build food brands that earn the "faith and trust" of consumers. For this the industry had to go beyond technology, and food safety, and create a credible brand by tapping overseas and domestic markets. It was not without reason that some of the largest international brands of Indian food products were not in the country but in the US and the UK, Mohapatra said.

The food industry should invest in brand-building and in economies of scale. "Entrepreneurs need to think big and act big," he added.

Saikat Datta Mazumdar, technical director, NutriPlus Knowledge Centre, Agri-Science Park, Icrisat, Hyderabad, in his address said that the challenges that lay before the countrymen were climate change, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, food crisis, energy crisis and population explosion. Enhancing crop productivity through innovative methods would improve food availability to all and also reduce poverty, he said, adding catalysing strategic partnerships, building research and development (R&D) capabilities in the agriculture sector would help boost farm productivity.

A Padamsingh Isaac, event chairman, FoodCon 2010 and chairman, Aachi group of companies, said that 80 per cent of the food processing industry in India was in the unorganized sector. He urged the food processing industry to move up in the value chain by adhering to quality standards on food safety. Food safety and standards were key for the growth of the organized sector in food processing, he added.