The first fruit and vegetable processing plant in the eastern part of India that will benefit around 50,000 farmers will come up in Jharkhand, an official said on Wednesday.
The foundation stone of the plant will be laid on Thursday by Chief Minister Raghubar Das, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) chairperson T. Nandkumar told reporters.
The plant will be set by Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the NDDB.
"Around 50,000 farmers will be benefited by the processing plant. This is the first venture outside big cities in India. This will change the life of the farmers and their economy," Nandkumar said.
Mother Dairy will set up two plants -- one for a frozen facility for fruits and vegetables, and the second for pulp and concentrates.
Safal, a Mother Dairy brand, will set up a 5,000-tonne capacity freezing plant in Ranchi -- the second of its kind by the company in India.
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The plant for pulp and concentrates will have capacity of 20,000 tonnes per annum.
Both will come up at a cost of Rs.76.65 crore and the state government will provide Rs.14-Rs.15 crore.
At present, Safal has an 8,000-tonne plant in New Delhi.
Jharkhand produces one of the best qualities of peas in India -- around 9 percent of the total production in the country.
In India, the frozen peas production is around 80,000 tonnes per annum.