The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Set up food parks, Minister tells entrepreneurs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 03, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Set up food parks, Minister tells entrepreneurs

By Our Staff Reporter

THANJAVUR, AUG. 2. The Union Ministry of Food Processing will provide a grant of Rs. 4 crores to entrepreneurs who start food parks, the Union Minister of State for Food Processing (independent charge), Subodh Kant Sahai, said here today.

The food park project could either be a joint venture with the Government or a private pursuit. From Tamil Nadu only one proposal had come. ``This is unfortunate and Tamil Nadu, particularly Cauvery delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam have wide scope for putting up food processing industries,'' Mr. Sahai told presspersons here.

He called upon the entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu to come up with more proposals. For putting up a single food processing unit Rs. 50 lakhs is given as grant by the Union Ministry.

Mr. Sahai visited the Paddy Processing Research Centre (PPRC) here and discussed with scientists the work being done there.

Shifting ruled out

To a question, the Minister ruled out shifting of the PPRC to Chennai. ``There is no such move and the PPRC would continue to function at Thanjavur. In fact, we are going to take up expansion of the centre at Thanjavur.''

The Minister said that the present Union Government had given several concessions for starting food processing units. Income tax for a food processing unit was waived and there was no excise duty. After the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement, foreign countries expected food products of quality. They wanted to know about the complete chemical analysis of food processed meant for export.

Institutions such as the PPRC were able to satisfy such demands. Research and development at the PPRC looked after not only the big exporters but also marginal farmers.

The PPRC helped in avoiding waste.

However, he said, India had not gone into the international market in food processing.

``India is the third largest country in the world in the production of fruits and vegetables. But we are wasting 50 per cent of our produce.''

Dakshinamurthy, Director of PPRC, and scientists showed the Minister the research projects in the centre. Krishnaswamy Vandayar, State secretary of the Congress, and J.M. Haarun, MP, accompanied the Minister.

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