• UGI USER
  • Jan 05, 2023
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Elaborate the scope and significance of the food processing industry in India.

Introduction

Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food or one form of food into other forms. It also includes the process of value addition to produce products through methods such as preservation, the addition of food additives, drying etc.

Scope of food processing in India:

  1. India is a significant food producer, ranking first in the production of items including milk, ginger, bananas, guavas, papayas, and mangos. In terms of producing rice, wheat, potatoes, sugarcane, cashew nuts, tea, etc., it comes in second. It ranks in the top 5 producers of coffee, tobacco, spices, seeds, and other products. With such a big supply of raw materials, it would be simple for us to surpass all other food suppliers globally.
  2. India has a number of resources to its benefit, including a wide range of domestic animals, vast coastlines suited for fishing, and a variety of soil types and climates for the production of various food crops.
  3. Increasing employment: More than 10 lakh new jobs are anticipated to be created.
  4. Migration Reduction: By creating jobs in rural areas, migration from rural to urban is reduced. handles urbanisation problems.
  5. Reducing food inflation: Eliminates problems with wastage or the middleman. reduces the price of food. indirect alleviation for inflation not related to food.
  6. Crop diversification: Due to the lengthy shelf life, producers are able to change up their offerings.
  7. The potential for demand: expected to reach 250 billion dollars by 2015 and 350 billion dollars by 2020. Positive characteristics mentioned include the youth population, middle class, rising income, nuclear families, and media penetration.
  8. Government measures to increase food processing: A number of government initiatives, including those to increase FDI and reduce excise taxes, have increased food processing.
  9. Future growth in India will be driven by: 10% of the agriculture-manufacturing sector’s GDP is accounted for by the food processing industry. It has the capacity to be more.

Conclusion: Going forward, the Government needs to ensure fairness by producers so that farmers get a better realization of the money earned across the value chain. A policy intervention or regulation in this regard is the need of the hour.