The Union Ministry of Food Processing is putting together a proposal to de-centralise implementation of its major programmes by involving the State Governments in them from next fiscal.
“So far, the Ministry has been taking up various projects in the food processing sector. But now, as the size of the programmes has grown, we are finding it difficult to manage them from Delhi. Therefore, we intend to involve the State Governments in them in a much better way,” Mr Rakesh Kacker, Secretary to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, told mediapersons on the sidelines of the IndPack meet here.
He said the response from the State Governments has been encouraging. The Ministry would like each State to have a separate administrative arm to implement the schemes. “We will be providing financial assistance to the States depending on the number and nature of programmes they implement,” he said.
The Ministry would only handle the major projects, such as the mega food parks and the cold chain projects, while the States would handle other programmes such as technology upgradation, human resource development and the smaller infrastructure projects.
Mr Kacker said the Ministry was taking up 30 mega food park projects, 15 of which have been allotted to private promoters. “For the rest, we had invited EoI last week, with the last date being in February. We are funding each of the projects to an extent of Rs 50 crore,” he said.
The projects are getting a bit delayed due to land acquisition and funding problems.
Mr Kacker said the Ministry is in the process of setting up a network of 49 cold storage projects, including reefer transportation, at a cost of Rs 360 crore. Of these, eight have been completed and two have started partial production.
Stating that wastage in the fruits and vegetable segment was between 5 and 18 per cent, he expected this to come down with the proposal to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retailing.