The Madhya Pradesh government will set up food parks in the state through public-private partnership (PPP). The government plans to organise a convention of agro-based industries in December this year, and is likely to seek partnership with foreign countries in this regard.
To promote the agro-based industries that lack government support, state Industry Minister Kailash Vijayavergiya met a few industrialists last week for setting up a food park in each district.
Two years back, the state government had created a horticulture and food processing department that was supposed to develop new food parks.
The department of industry was asked to maintain the existing food parks.
However, following some changes in the government’s strategy, the state industries department will develop new food parks through its arms.
“We have plans to create food parks in each district, but initially we will identify areas where food parks can be developed to provide farmers an access to the market. Thus, they can add value to the yields and can fetch handsome returns,” Vijayavergiya said.
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Currently, Madhya Pradesh has six food parks at Nimrani, Khargone, Jaggakhedi and Bhind, among others. These were created through a central government-sponsored scheme which failed to attract investment. As a result, infrastructure at these parks like chilling plants and warehouse facility are lying defunct. As a result, the central government has discontinued the scheme.
Praveen Garg, managing director of one the food parks, said,“State government agencies like Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam and Madhya Pradesh Agro Industries Development Corporation will join hands to develop the new food parks through the PPP model, where we will allow all agro-based industries to flourish.”
Allocating funds for infrastructure like road, power and water are yet to be worked out.