The Hindu Business Line : Buddhadeb seeks larger play for food processing

Kolkata, Feb 2 The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has stressed on the need for more entrepreneurs in food processing in the State.

Speaking at the annual awards ceremony of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Kolkata Chapter here, Mr Bhattacharjee said West Bengal was the country’s largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Last year alone, the State produced 11.6 million tonnes of vegetables. However, 30-35 per cent of the production was wasted every year owing to “lack of processing facilities, cold chains and market mechanisms”, he said.

Mr Bhattacharjee said young entrepreneurs should seriously look to setting up food processing chains and ensure that agriculture and horticulture produce is not wasted due to lack of processing.

Besides spurring economic activity, this would also provide a boost to the rural economy, he said.

Stating that it was no more “possible or desirable to dissociate from globalisation”, he said entrepreneurship was necessary to provide employment to millions of Indians. “West Bengal is the largest producer of raw jute in the world. However, the jute industry has no future if it only produces jute bags, because it will be overtaken by the synthetics bags industry. To survive, the industry has to produce diversified jute goods and small and medium entrepreneurs can play a big role therein. This will also secure the future of 40 lakh raw jute farmers in the State.”

Mr Bhattacharjee said the Government was taking steps to augment the number of ITIs, polytechnics and technical training institutes in the State.

More Stories on : Foods & Food Processing | Awards & Honours | Entrepreneurship

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