Close on the heels of bagging the Tata Nano project from West Bengal, the government of Gujarat today launched another bid, this time to woo food sector investors from Bengal.
The department of agriculture and cooperation of the government of Gujarat held a roadshow here today, highlighting the investment friendly nature of government and seeking investments in agro and food processing sector.
In an interactive session branded ‘Vibrant Gujarat 2009’ as part of the biennial industry summit of the Gujarat government, P N Roy Chowdhury, principal secretary of the agriculture department of Gujarat, said, “We are holding this roadshow to make West Bengal aware of agro business opportunities in Gujarat and attract investments. Gujarat government settles disputes and issues. A state which cannot decisively settle disputes amongst various sectors cannot succeed.” The roadshow was to be attended by the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, but his visit was cancelled.
Agriculture in Gujarat was growing at 12.27 per cent against the national growth of four per cent, according to Roy.
Uninterrupted power supply for farming, availability of water, universities based research projects, 42 ports across a coastline of 1600 kilometres to handle exports and import cargo and a gas grid of more than 1000km in southern and northern parts of the state were some of the factors responsible for high agricultural growth in the state, Roy added.
The department will similarly hold roadshows in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Delhi on agricultural issues, highlighting Gujarat as the best investment option.Gujarat was rich in marine produce in addition to being a big producer of cotton, castor, sesame and groundnut as well as horticulture produce.Reliance, Amul and Parle had invested in the state, added Chowdhury.
The state budget for agriculture sector was Rs 750 crore while private investment in food processing units have been nearly Rs 500 crore this year.