The Hindu Business Line : APEDA, MPEDA should be brought under Food Processing Ministry: Panel

A PARLIAMENTARY Standing Committee has recommended that bodies such as the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and the National Horticulture Board should be brought under the umbrella of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MFPI).

Noting the multiplicity of agencies and their overlapping roles that hinder optimum growth of the food processing industry, the Standing Committee on Agriculture has suggested that the various promotional bodies, operating under different ministries and departments, should all be brought under the aegis of the MFPI.

Chiding MFPI for its failure to tackle "teething" troubles, the Committee has cited several other problems that are inherent in the very nature of the food-processing sector such as seasonality, high perishability, low margins and the high-risk profile of entrepreneurs.

The Parliamentary panel has listed several instances of how different promotional bodies have common functions with the MFPI. For example, 75 per cent of APEDA's Plan Budget and 79 per cent of MPEDA's overlap with MFPI's schematic assistance.

Also, 70 per cent of the National Horticulture Boards' Plan Budget of Rs 105 crore was found to be overlapping with the MFPI's schematic assistance.

The committee said that out of the Rs 2,800 crore projected demand outlay for the Tenth Five Year Plan, only Rs 650 crore was allocated to the Ministry and of this, only Rs 225 crore has been spent by it within the first three years. It held the MFPI responsible for the lapse, charging it with devising defective schemes.

During the last fiscal, the Budget estimate for MFPI was Rs 110 crore, which was reduced to Rs 85 crore as per revised estimates.

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