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MoFPI to up K’taka budgetary allocation to at least Rs 100 cr per year
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Saturday, 13 September, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d The ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) would now increase the budgetary allocation to Karnataka to a minimum of Rs 100 crore per year. Advocating the enhancement of budgetary allocation to states, the southern state’s agriculture minister, Krishna Byregowda, had said that budget to the state may be enhanced to a minimum of Rs 100 crore per year or to the extent of project proposals received in a year, whichever is higher.
In his address at a review meeting of the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) and other MoFPI schemes (conducted in association with the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India [ASSOCHAM]), the minister said, “Considering the vast potential of the food processing sector, the budgetary allocation for MoFPI schemes (Rs 770 crore) was too meagre (0.16 per cent), given the total plan outlay (Rs 4,84,532 crores) of the Centre.”
Byregowda stated that the Centre’s share of 75% under NMFP may be enhanced to at least 90% as in the case of the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), a Department of Agriculture and Cooperation scheme. Commenting on the upward revision of subsidies for component-I of NMFP, he said that the grant-in-aid for setting up/expanding/modernising food processing units may be enhanced from 25% to 50%, and the ceiling may be raised from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 100 lakh in view of the high project cost.
The minister suggested an increase in the capital subsidy for establishing warehouses and cold storages. “To augment the storage potential of foodgrains required to implement social security schemes like food security, minimum support price (MSP) operations and mid-day meals, the present capital subsidy for building warehouses under the Centrally-sponsored Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme (25 per cent) may be enhanced to 50 per cent in view of the increased construction cost,” he added.
The extension of a concessional rate of interest to all food processing units, the decentralisation of all MoFPI schemes, instituting a study to assess the reasons for the slow or poor progress of food parks in the Tenth Five-year Plan and the inclusion of lending to the food processing industry under agriculture lending are certain key suggestions given by Byregowda to accomplish the objectives of NMFP and other MoFPI schemes.
Earlier, while addressing the MoFPI-ASSOCHAM conference, food processing industries minister Harsmirat Kaur Badal stressed upon the need to bring down the percentage of losses in agricultural commodities, particularly fruit and vegetables, from the present 18 per cent to much lower levels. She added that the food processing industry had vast opportunities, as presently only two or three per cent of the fruit and vegetables is processed.
Badal also laid emphasis on using practical engineering solutions using simple techniques, particularly at the harvesting and transportation stages, to minimise wastage and to ensure that farmers get better prices for their produce. Mahadev Naik, Goa’s industries minister, suggested that cold storage be set up in villages for processing fish and meat.
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