• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Investor interest on the rise in agri & food processing sectors: CM

LOOKING RIGHT: Mr Geoffray Pyatt, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at a seminar on `Emerging Indo-US business opportunities in agri and food processing with special reference to the eastern region' jointly organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and Ministry of Food Processing, Government of West Bengal, in Kolkata on Friday. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , Jan. 19

The West Bengal Government is planning to set up six Food Parks in different districts of the State with Union Government support. The three main agri-products singled out for processing are mangoes, pineapples and tomatoes.

Stressing on the export of value-added processed agri-foods, if all the gains in agriculture have to culminate in something bigger, the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said here on Friday that these Food Parks would be based on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with support facilities such as cold chain and warehousing.

Project take-off

Speaking at a national meet — on `Emerging opportunities in agri & food processing industry with reference to the eastern region' organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Food Processing, Government of West Bengal, Mr Bhattacharjee said the projects have conceptually taken off, with many foreign and domestic companies showing interest in investing.

The Chief Minister pointed out that agri food-processing, horticulture and floriculture is now the third important area of investment in Bengal, after iron and steel, chemicals and petrochemicals.

He said Dabur has started an R&D project at Rajarhat (New Town) in Kolkata and that roses from Mullick Ghat near Kolkata have been sent to the Netherlands flower markets.

Contract farming

Pointing out that the Union Government was going ahead with the proposed food safety laws, the Union Minister of State for Food Processing, Mr Subodh Kant Sahai, made a strong case for the introduction of contract farming.

Uniform VAT rate

Seeking a special thrust to food processing, Mr Sahai urged the VAT-empowered committee to look at uniformity of rates to prevent intra-state price wars. He said VAT rate on perishables should be zero and on value-added items like processed potatoes four per cent, instead of 12.5 per cent.

Mr Sahai urged the Chief Minister to take up the matter with the Chairman of the VAT-Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, headed by Dr Asim Dasgupta.

Urging the Bengal Government, with strengths in agriculture, to lead the way, he called for a time-bound action programme for building capacities and speedy technological adoption. Stressing on the need for speedy development of supply chain logistics for post-harvest works, the Minister said fruits and vegetables valued at nearly Rs 50,000 crore are being wasted nationally because of lack of facilities.

More Stories on : Events | Foods & Food Processing | Standards & Benchmarks | West Bengal

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
MCX doubles fee structure for members

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line