Bangalore to get mega food park

Three mega food parks, including one in Bangalore, will be set up in the next six months with each cluster attracting investments up to Rs 500 crore, said Food Processing Secretary Siraj Hussain on the sidelines of a function here on Tuesday.

The food parks, to be set up by the Ministry of Food Processing, would help farmers get better remunerative price for their produce as the same would be converted into food products.

“The three food parks will come up in Punjab, Kolkata and Bangalore. Already two food parks are in operation at Patanjali in Uttarakhand and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh,” he added.

The Centre has approved 30 mega food parks with an aim to provide remunerative price to farmers, reduce wastage of agricultural produce, build capacity of producers and processors and create efficient supply chain from farm to market, Hussain said. 

Each project will be eligible for a maximum grant of Rs 50 crore from the government and is expected to generate employment for about 30,000 people.

Hussain said that each park would have 25 to 30 units with an expected investment of Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore.

“The food processing sector has registered a growth of 8.6 per cent in the last 10 years, at a much higher rate as compared to agriculture and manufacturing,” he said.

He also said that establishment of parks would be delayed as there were difficulties in getting land for the project and some approvals from the State government.