The Indian government will introduce a raft of measures to address rising food costs and the amount of fresh produce going to waste because of poor infrastructure as part of its 2011 budget.
In his budget speech on Monday finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the country would fund 15 mega food parks, in addition to the 15 it has already sanctioned, reported the Economic Times.
“An estimated 40 per cent of the fruit and vegetable production in India goes to waste due to lack of storage, cold chain and transport infrastructure. To address these issues, during 2011-2012 approval is being given to set up 15 more mega food parks,” said Mr Mukherjee.
He also called for state governments to reform the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act to clean up inefficiencies in the supply chain, made apparent by recent rises in fruit and vegetable prices, the newspaper reported.
“The government-regulated mandis sometimes prevent retailers from integrating their enterprises with the farmers. There is need for the states to review and enforce a reformed Agriculture Produce Marketing Act urgently,” said Mr Mukherjee.
The budget will also provide a 50 per cent increase in funding to the Food Processing Ministry, the newspaper reported.
In an effort to boost investment in agri-infrastructure the country’s Viablity Gap Funding Scheme (VGFS) has been extended to include public private partnership projects to set up modern storage facilities.
The government will also remove excise duties on much of the materials used for setting up cold chain systems such as, air-conditioning equipment, refrigeration panels and conveyor belts, reported the Economic Times.
“The announcements made to strengthen the farm sector, cold chain investments and recommendations to amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act are all indicative of the government’s will. All measures announced today are a precursor of things to come,” he said.
