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Pune, Aug. 30 With a potential for 200 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables in the next five years, the country should focus on shelf life extension of the products, value addition and by-product utilisation, Dr V. Prakash, Director, CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute), said here today.

He was in the city for the launch of a business development services (BDS) programme for fruits and vegetables processing cluster. He said despite being one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables, the country lacked in efficient handling of processing because of the predominance of small players. Such projects would enable the SME (small and medium enterprises) units to have access to technology, information and markets.

The food processing industry ranks fifth in the country and employs 16 lakh workers, comprising 19 per cent of the country’s industrial force. It accounts for 14 per cent of the total industrial output with 5.5 per cent of the GDP. Its turnover is estimated at Rs 1,44,000 crore of which Rs 1,11,200 crore is in the unorganised sector. The total annual production of horticultural crops in the country is around 149 million tonnes and India is the second largest producer of fruits (45.5 million tonnes) and vegetables (90.8 million tonnes), contributing 10.23 per cent and 14.45 per cent of the total world production respectively. It is also the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices.

Dr Prakash pointed out that there existed a good potential for networking and linking farmers and growers to the market. Apart from the global market, one should look at the national and the regional markets as well. He said post-harvest management and value addition would induce more agricultural productivity. “It is not only production but accessibility which is also equally important and perhaps we should look at the paradigm shift towards rural, quality, process and policy along with and just not urban quantity, production and technology,” he added.

Commenting on the Pune Fruit and Vegetable (F&V) Processing centre, Dr Prakash said the total investment in plant and machinery is to the tune of Rs 300 crore of which 51 per cent was in the non-F&V segment. Of the 49 per cent accounted for by the F&V segment, 43 per cent was in spices and pickles, 45 per cent in F&V and 12 per cent in RTE/RTC (ready-to-eat/ready-to-cook) category. Total investment in Pune F&V sector is around Rs 147 crore.

Mr V.S. Rathore, Chief General Manager, SIDBI, said the implementation of the four-year project in Pune Fruit and Vegetable Processing cluster has been assigned to Apex Cluster Development Services Ltd.

On other cluster projects, Mr Rathore said SIDBI has identified 20 key clusters in the country. Currently three have been identified which include Pune fruit and vegetable cluster, Kanpur leather cluster and Allepey coir cluster. The floor covering cluster in Panipat and leather cluster in Chennai, would also be kicked off by December. Another five by March 2008 and the total of 20 by September 2008, he added.

More Stories on : Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Foods & Food Processing | Maharashtra

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