Guidelines and Opportunities of Mega Food Parks for the Food Processing Industry

Agriculture is the backbone of our Indian economy and more than 70 per cent of rural households depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. In the present scenario, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP is steadily declining. To overcome this, it is necessary to develop the food processing sector, as increasing the life span of perishable agricultural products and promoting value addition will keep the agricultural sector alive in the future. With this in mind, the Government of India implemented the Scheme of Mega Food Park in the year of 2008 by the Ministry of Food Processing, which aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers to ensure minimizing wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities, particularly in rural sector. Mega Food Park is a cluster approach that supports the infrastructure for setting up food processing units. These food parks give a great impetus to the food processing industry by reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with a particular focus on perishables. This article explains the various guidelines and opportunities available from the Central Government to set up a Mega Food Park.