Kerala should take advantage of the prospects of food customisation and promotion of convenient and ethnic food chains under the One District One Product (ODOP) concept that gave thrust to the motto of Vocal for Local.

C Anandharamakrishnan, Director, Indian Institute of Food Processing, Tanjore, said India holds immense potential in developing into the world food factory with its huge food and grocery market share that has been ranked sixth largest in the world.

He was speaking at a webinar organised by Kerala Agricultural University on the emerging opportunities in the food processing industry under the Prime Minister Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The webinar was designed for the development of micro food industries under self-help groups and farmer producer organisations through technological handholding and mentoring for entrepreneurship development.

He highlighted the importance of the food sector in the Indian economy that supports 19 per cent of the total workforce which can further be augmented through technology integration to trap the opportunities provided by the production advantages in fruits, vegetables, spices, milk products etc.

The ODOP programme was aimed at the upgradation of micro enterprises on select products within the district through credit linked subsidy of 35 per cent of eligible project cost limited to a maximum of ₹10 lakh. New units will be permitted only on ODOP to generate scale and non-ODOP units only permitted for expansion. It is also intended at augmenting common service facilities in product clusters for packaging, quality testing, branding and marketing.

KAU officials later said the University and the State Industries Department have joined together to implement the ODOP concept to create micro enterprises focused on local strengths and brand creation. A baseline study conducted for the programme has identified produce ranging from mussels to tapioca, coconut oil, and spices for various districts.

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