Home |Business| Tsiic Invites Eoi For Setting Up Special Food Processing Zones
TSIIC invites EoI for setting up special food processing zones
An extensive meeting was chaired by Ministers KT Rama Rao, S Niranjan Reddy and Gangula Kamalakar at TSIIC office here on Wednesday, to discuss setting up special food processing zones.
Hyderabad: With agriculture booming in Telangana, the State government has expedited efforts to establish a large number of special food processing zones across the State based on the crops widely cultivated in the respective areas.
The Industries Department, which has already prepared the Telangana Food Map in this regard, has received over 350 Expression of Interest (EoI) applications from companies for setting up special food processing zones. It has been decided to extend the deadline for submitting EoI applications to facilitate more companies to establish these zones.
An extensive meeting was chaired by Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, along with Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy and Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar at the TSIIC office here on Wednesday to discuss the setting up of these zones. It may be recalled that the State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had recently given the nod for special food processing zones in nine erstwhile districts of the State, excluding Hyderabad. Subsequently, the officials concerned were instructed to set up rice mills and other food processing industries in these zones which will be spread over at least 250 acres each.
Rama Rao said the agricultural production in the State had increased tremendously with the completion of irrigation projects coupled with the farm-related schemes undertaken by the State government. He said all areas across the State, starting from districts like Mahabubnagar, which were once drought-hit, are now seeing projects brimming with water and the agriculture sector booming. “Telangana not only has kick-started a second green revolution in India but also has been facilitating rapid growth in meat, dairy and fisheries sectors, which could trigger a pink, white and blue revolutions in the country,” he said.
“But we must strengthen the food processing sector by establishing special food processing zones to create demand and marketing facilities for the growing agricultural production. We must also focus on scaling up food processing operations by giving importance to major crops such as paddy as well as government-prioritised crops like oil palm in these zones,” he said.
Explaining the progress made in the establishment of special food processing zones, officials said each zone would be set up on a minimum of 225 acres with infrastructure such as electricity, roads, drinking water supply, waste management and a common effluent treatment plant. Food processing units are being set up taking into consideration processing of crops such as paddy, chilli, turmeric, cereals, fruit and vegetables besides those related to cooking oil, which are widely grown in the State. Issues pertaining to storage and marketing are also taken into consideration.
About 350 EoI applications have already been received by the government for these food processing zones. The Minister, however, directed the authorities to extend the EoI deadline to facilitate companies interested in becoming partners in this initiative. He called on MLAs to take special initiative on issues such as land acquisition in the wake of numerous demands from farmers for the setting up of processing units across the State.
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said after the State formation, the agriculture sector had received a tremendous boost. He said the economic growth of the State and the country would only be possible with the large scale setting up of agro-based industries. The proposed processing zones would also address unemployment in rural areas.
Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar said considering the increasing paddy production, there is an urgent need to increase the milling capacity accordingly in food processing zones. He pointed out that the Civil Supplies Corporation had procured 92 lakh tonnes of paddy during Yasangi and it has become a challenge for the corporation to supply the milled rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) given the insufficient number of rice mills. He suggested designing a new policy for providing incentives and encouraging the milling industry. “Paraboiled and steam mills need more water, so arrangements should be made in these zones accordingly. If we increase milling further, Telangana will be able to export paddy abroad to countries such as China,” he added.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, officials from the Industries, Municipal and Agriculture departments also participated in the meeting.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today onTelegrameveryday. Click the link to subscribe.