As part of a ₹400-crore modern supply chain management project for fruits, vegetables and perishables, Tamil Nadu is exploring options of a public private partnership or a joint venture model, according to officials concerned.

The ₹398.75-crore project, spread across 10 districts, involves establishment of over 58 primary processing centres with cleaning and grading facilities.

Project funding

The project will be funded through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development under the Nabard-Warehouse Infrastructure Fund which will provide 95 per cent of the cost. The balance funding will be from the State through the Agricultural Marketing Board.

The biggest of the facilities is coming up at a cost of about ₹52 crore at Pochampalle including ₹39 crore for export-oriented processing of mangoes, according to officials.

Civil works for this facility will be completed by June-end and in the next 4-5 months equipment — including irradiation facilities for mangoes — will be in place. By the year-end, the project will be in place, the official said.

Hyderabad-based Icrisat is the process consultant and Ernst & Young is in the process of studying the possibility of Public-Private Partnership for the supply chain project.

Roping in FPOs

The government is keen on including the private sector and Farmer Producer Organisations, groups of farmers brought together in company-style structure, to run the primary processing facilities in PPP model or in joint venture.

In this context, the State government is also examining the option of amending the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act to involve private sector players.

It will see if private-run markets can be encouraged along the lines of regulated markets.

Processing centres

The facilities are coming up in major production centres including Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Ramanathanpuram, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Theni, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Ramanathapuram.

The objective is to set up the primary processing centres close to major production centres where farmers can avail of the basic processing facilities such as cleaning, grading and sorting to get better value for their produce.

Developing infrastructure

According to government estimates, Tamil Nadu has over 24,000 small and micro food processors and 1,000 medium and large players in the segment.

But despite such a large base in food processing, the State is yet to launch a mega food park.

But this gap will soon be fixed as there is a proposal to establish a mega food park in Tindivanam, about 75 km south of Chennai, the official said.

Linking the farmers with processors will add value to the both segments quantitatively and qualitatively.

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