Mega Food Park Scheme

• 04 Jun 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries virtually inaugurated the Indus Best Mega Food Park at Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

• It is built under the Mega Food Park Scheme. By this food park, about 5000 people will get employment and about 25000 farmers will be benefited.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • It was launched in 2008-09 to give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with a particular focus on perishables.
    
    • The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.
  • Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster-based approach.
• Aim:
  
  • To provide a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities particularly in the rural sector.
• Approach:
  
  • The Scheme is based on the “Cluster” approach and envisages creation of state of art support infrastructure in a well-defined agri/horticultural zone for setting up of modern food processing units in the industrial plots provided in the park with a well-established supply chain.
• Components:
  
  • A Mega food Park typically consists of supply chain infrastructure including collection centers (cc), primary processing centers (ppc) central processing centers (cpc), cold chain and around 25-30 fully developed plots for entrepreneurs to set up food processing units.
• Financial Assistance:
  
  • The central government provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50 Crore per Mega Food Park (MFP) project.
  • The MFP project is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate registered under the Companies Act, 2013.
    
    • SPV is a subsidiary company that is formed to undertake a specific business purpose or activity.
• Present Status:
  
  • Presently, 22 Mega Food Parks are operational. It is in line with the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ vision of the Government of India.

Source:PIB