Kerala - Kochi

Task force soon for food processing industry

KOCHI: The State government will shortly form an empowered task force to chart out the modalities for the development of the agricultural and food-processing industry in the State, K. Jayakumar, State Agriculture Production Commissioner, has said.

Talking at an interaction session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Tuesday, Mr. Jayakumar said the task force would be composed of agencies like CII, scientific bodies, and various government departments.

It would have to come out with recommendations on the incentives to be given to entrepreneurs in the field and various subsidies available to them from the Union Ministry for Food Processing and the industries department, he said.

Elaborating on the need for such a task force, Mr. Jayakumar said that full potential of the agri-processing industry in the State could not be achieved in the present set up owing to the “mundane” reason that the State government did not have a corresponding department to work in tandem with the Union Ministry for Food Processing.

“Food processing is an orphaned activity in the State resulting in the wastage of many an opportunity for want of timely action,” he said. Mr. Jayakumar felt that the industry could be groomed in the same way as the tourism industry with the government donning the role of a facilitator while unleashing the energy of the private sector.

He also emphasised on the need for a change in the mindset of the government that looked at an agri entrepreneur as a profit maker.

He urged the entrepreneurs to work in tandem with the farming community to ensure value sharing between the two stakeholders.

He said that the agriculture department was planning a buyer-seller meet to introduce these technologies to the entrepreneurs.

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