As per latest Annual Survey of Industries(ASI) 2018-19, the total output in food processing sector has been increased from Rs. 9,34,272.19 crore in 2014-15 to Rs.12,76,995.11 crore in 2018-19 at the Compound Annual Growth Rate of 8.13%.
The number of persons engaged in the registered food processing sector increases from 17.73 lakh in 2014-15 to 20.05 lakh in 2018-19.
As per the National Sample Survey (NSS 73rd round 2015-16), a total of 51.11 lakh persons are engaged in the unincorporated/unregistered food processing sector.
The efforts being made for promoting exports of processed food products are:
(i) A comprehensive “Agriculture Export Policy” has been introduced to harness export potential of Indian agriculture.
(ii) Products Specific Export Promotion Forums set up by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to give impetus to the export of potential products as well as to remove the bottlenecks in the supply chain.
(iii) APEDA has also formed Export Promotion Forums (EPFs) for the products, viz., Grapes, Onions, Mango, Banana, Pomegranate, Floriculture, Rice,Dairy Products and Nutri cereals.
(iv) A Farmer Connect Portal has been set up for providing a platform for farmers, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives to interact with exporters.
(v) Assistance provided through several other schemes to promote exports, including food export, viz.
Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES), Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme, Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), Export Promotion schemes of APEDA &Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) etc.
(vi) Under the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for food products, marketing and branding support is provided by MoFPI for enhancing global visibility of Indian food products.
Further, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries(MoFPI) is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme-PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) from the year 2020-21 for providing financial, technical and business support for upgradation / setting up of 2 lakh micro food processing enterprises based on One District One Product (ODOP) approach.
The scheme is being implemented for the period 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.
MoFPI is implementing Central Sector Scheme–Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) since 2016.
PMKSY provides a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country helping thereby the farmers in getting better prices for their produces due to higher demand for agricultural produce by the food processing industries as raw material.
It is thus a big step towards increasing the farmers’ income in addition to creating employment opportunities especially in the rural areas, reducing wastage of agricultural produce and enhancing the export of the processed foods.
This information was given by Minister of State for M/o Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
