Govt to set up 5 food processing units in state

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 13:

The State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) on Friday approved setting up of five food processing units at an outlay of Rs 24.60 crore in Balasore, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur districts of Odisha.

Besides, four other projects relating to agro-diversification, food processing, and modernization of existing units shall be taken up, involving a total investment of around Rs.35 crore, an official release said.

The initiative follows the Food Processing Policy of the Government of Odisha as well as the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) of the Union Government, which aims at establishment food parks and mega food parks.

This policy is in conjunction with IPR 2007 and MSME Development Policy, 2009 and emphasizes development of supply chain and infrastructure in the food processing sector in rural areas, development of food parks providing various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to promote food processing industries.

Odisha Food Processing Policy (OFPP)- 2013, formulated in May this year, aims at value addition and waste reduction of the farm produce thereby increasing the income of farmers, maximize direct and indirect employment generation opportunities in food processing sector, increase the flow of investment across the supply chain from farm to market.

Several projects to be undertaken as a part of NMFP and OFPP-2013 includes establishment of modern food processing units, technology upgradation in existing units, schemes for cold chain, value addition, preservation, setting up and modernization of abattoirs, upgradation of infrastructure in 2 Govt. technical institutions, entrepreneurship development, schemes for creation primary processing units, collection & aggregation centers, modernization of at least 50 meat shops both from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and promotional activities like conducting exposure visits, surveys, exhibitions and facilitation workshops.

Chief Secretary on Friday suggested that a State Level Steering Committee (SLSC) on food processing be formed under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Agriculture for coordination among different departments and agencies involved in implementation of Food Processing policy of Government of Odisha as well as the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP).

The departments like Horticulture, BMC,OMFED, APICOL , Employment Technical education & Training who are mostly implementing the food processing policies will brought under one umbrella for more focus and facilitation.

The horticulture departments will take up promotional activities, creation of collection centers, technology upgradation works under the scheme. Besides, BMC will undertake modernization of at least 50 meat shops both from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar as a part of the food processing scheme of the state, official sources said. MS&ME department has been directed to expedite the process and clear up the permissible projects quickly.

It is worth mentioning that, the state in the past has received a string of investment proposals from biggies in the food processing sector like ITC, Parle Agro Indo Nissin, Future Foods and Nestle.

The state government provides various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for promotion of food processing industries in the state, like — reimbursement of 100% VAT paid for a period of 10 years limited to 200% of fixed capital investment to industrial units in the Mega Food Park and Sea Food Park sector, Capital Investment subsidy @ 25% of the project cost subject to a limit of RS.2 crore and @33% subsidy for units promoted by women entrepreneurs and SC & ST entrepreneurs and units promoted in KBK areas up to maximum Rs 33 crore.

Besides, Capital subsidy up to 20% of the project cost is given under the OFPP, 2013 to special purpose vehicles (SPV) to develop Mega Food Park and Sea Food Park in the state subject to limit of Rs.15 crore, among all other incentives provided under the state policy.