Food Conclave: Telangana gets investment commitments worth Rs 7,218 crore
KTR said the Food conclave was not just about exploring trade opportunities, but also to make the country a one stop destination in terms of food production and processing
Hyderabad: The inaugural Food Conclave 2023 here concluded on a strong note on Saturday, attracting investments worth Rs.7217.95 crore leading to 58,458 direct employments in the agri-food industry in Telangana.
Inaugurating the conclave, attended by industry leaders and experts from around the world to discuss the latest trends and innovations in agriculture, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao asserted that Telangana was the best place to invest in the country, since the State was ushering in five revolutions, including in the agriculture sector, dairy, meat and fisheries all at once.
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The conclave was not just about exploring trade opportunities, but also to make the country a one stop destination in terms of food production and processing and meet the food needs of the rest of the world. When one State adopts best practices and delivers goods, other States can learn and imbibe, he said.
Assuring that the Food Conclave would be made an annual fixture and would become a go to destination for all food industry companies, he said the State identified food processing as a core thrust area.
“Over the last five years, Telangana has added more than Rs.7,000 crore worth fixed capital base to food processing capacities in the State. In order to further boost the food processing sector in the State, we are building Special Food Processing Zones that will collectively bring more than 10,000 acres under fresh food processing capacities,” he said, adding that this would be rolled out to industries with packaged and customized incentives.
Stating that the Conclave saw the State receiving investment commitments worth more than Rs.7000 crore in Aqua, Dairy, Agro Processing and allied sectors, creating total direct employment of 58,458, the Minister said the State was also working on supply chain linkages where the industry would be connected to the farmers of the State by effectively deploying the agriculture extension system that was built in the state.
“The Self-Help Groups in Telangana also present a massive untapped potential in mobilizing farm produce in partnership with industry. Therefore, we are creating farmer producer organizations (FPOs) to provide plug and play supply chains for the food processing Industry,” he said, adding that the State government was also committed to empower small entrepreneurs in the State and as of now, was nurturing more than 2500 micro and small enterprises held by the State departments and supported by several welfare schemes,
Citing the success of one scheme, the Dalit Bandhu scheme launched to promote entreprenuership among SCs, the Minister said the State government offers Rs.10 lakh assistance to each family.
In Durala village of Sircilla, four beneficiaries joined hands together and set up a rice mill with an investment of Rs.3 crore, he said.
“This is something that the rest of the country can learn on how wonders can be created under public private partnerships and how to promote micro entrepreneurs,” he said.
“With industry friendly policies, robust and fast-growing raw material base, world class industrial infrastructure and active facilitation extended by our government to not just set up but to operate the industry in the most competitive manner, Telangana is the best place to be at this point in time,” he said.
“Telangana is not only ushering revolutions in terms of production, but an ecosystem for generating talent pool is also being created for the benefit of industries,” Rama Rao said.
Paddy production increased from 68 lakh metric tonnes to 2.68 crore tonnes in the State. Similarly, Telangana’s cotton was adjudged as the best by industry. In fact, Vijaya Dairy, the government dairy unit, was in losses when this government had come to office.
Vijaya Dairy paid a dividend of Rs.30 crore in the last few years back to the government. This is the story of Telangana, he explained.
Taking a dig at the BJP government at the Centre, the Minister said mere sloganeering of doubling the farmers income would not serve purpose. “It has to be backed with policies and economic support. This is what Telangana does,” Rama Rao said.
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy, Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav and others also spoke.
