Context:

• World   Food   India   2019   will   be   the   biggest   gathering   of   all   global   and   domestic stakeholders in Food Processing Sector.

World Food India:

• The government initiated biennial event- World Food India to promote food processing sector at global level.
• WFI 2019 will be held from 1-4th November 2019 in New Delhi and will position India as Food Processing Destination of the World.
• The tagline of the event will be “Forging Partnerships for Growth”.

 

Why there is need to focus on Food Processing Industry:

• India produces more fruits & vegetables in comparison to food grains. There is huge loss of Fruits and Vegetable due to perishable nature of it.
• As   per   APEDA   (Agricultural   and   Processed   Food   Products   Export   Development Authority),  India  loses  Rs.  13,000  to  15,000  Crore  every  year  on  waste  of  fruits  and vegetables.
• Non availibity of Storage facility is issue, only 2% of the perishable produce has that Facility.

Scope for Food Processing Industry:

• Due to Increase in Standard living of people– there is demand for quality food , Packed food.
• Packaging increases shelf life of food.
• farmers also shifting production towards horticultural crops to cash in on growing demand of packaged food.
• food, it can be customized to suit the nutritional requirements of groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, infants, young children and athletes.
• Food processing industry is sun rise industry.
• Indian  Food  Processing  Industry  has  grown  tremendously  recording  11%  growth  rate, which is twice the pace of Global Industry.

Global Market:

• Global Food processing industry market valued around USD 3.4 trillion.
• Only  6  percent  of  processed  foods  are  traded  across  borders  compared  to  16  percent  of major bulk agricultural commodities.
• There is room for India to capture this space in international market.

Issues in Food Processing Industry:

• Productivity of Food product is quite low compared to international standard. Supply Chain Issue – Backward and Forward Linkage Gap.
• Certification infrastructure gap.

Government Initiative:

• The Scheme of Mega Food Park aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.