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Foundation stone for Mega Food Parks at Palakkad and Alappuzha in Kerala laid

Updated: Jun 12, 2017 06:10:21am
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Foundation stone for Mega Food Parks at Palakkad and Alappuzha in Kerala laid

New Delhi, June 12 (KNN) Giving a big push to the infrastructure development for food processing in the state of Kerala, foundation stone of 2 Mega Food Parks has been laid on Sunday in Palakkad and Alaphuzha districts in the state.

Of the two Mega Food Parks, one is being developed by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) at Palakkad and other by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) at Alappuzha.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing Industries in the presence of Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala laid the foundation stone for the Mega Food Park at Palakkad.

While the foundation stone for Mega Food Park at Alappuzha was laid by Vijayan. 

Speaking on the occasion, Badal said Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government. 

To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.

Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs).Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project.

Badal said the Mega Food Park at Palakkad is being set up in 78.68 acre of land at the cost of Rs. 119.02 crore. The facilities being created by the KINFRA at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Pack house (Sorting grading packing) of 10 MT/hr, Warehouse of 12000 MT, Silos of 6000 MT, Multi Product Cold Storage of 5000 MT, Spices & Condiments Processing including Mechanical Dryer of 15 T/day, Ripening Chamber of 120 MT, Cashew Roasting of 2MT/day and other food processing facilities. In addition 4 PPCs at Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Wayanad having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms are also being set up. 

Mega Food Park at Alappuzha is being set up in 68.18 acre of land at the cost of Rs. 129.15 crore. The facilities being created by the KSIDC at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Cold Storage of 3000 MT, Deep Freeze Unit of 3000 MT, Deboning and Canning Unit of 50 tonnes/day, Warehouse of 1000 MT and other food processing facilities. 5 PPCs at Thoppumpady, Vypeen, Munambam, Aroor and Neendakara having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms are also being set up. 

Minister of Food Processing and Industries also informed that both the Parks also have common administrative building for office and other use by the entrepreneurs. Government of India is providing financial assistance of Rs. 50.00 Crore to each of the projects. 

She said that the modern infrastructure for food processing created at the Mega Food Parks will benefit the farmers, growers, processors and consumers of Kerala and prove to be a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in the state of Kerala.

The Mega Food Park will benefit not only the people of Palakkad and Alappuzha but also the people of their adjoining districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kochi and Kollam.

Badal further said that each of the Mega Food Parks will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in 25-30 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 Crore annually. Each of the Parks will also provide direct and indirect employment to 5000 people and benefit about 25000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas.

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