Food Processing ministry organises roadshow in Chandigarh

Union ministry of Food Processing today organised a roadshow here ahead of a global food fair to be held in November this year to provide a platform to Indian farmers and manufacturers to showcase their products and explore partnerships with foreign companies.
The three-day 'World Food India 2017' will be organised in November by the Food Processing ministry, where industry body CII will be an event partner.
Food Processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with other senior government officials took part in the event today.
Addressing industry leaders at the roadshow, Badal said, "India has a vast scope in food processing sector and offers tremendous investment and employment opportunities."

Setting up of 42 Mega Food Parks will lead to direct employment for up to 5 lakh and benefit 25 lakh farmers, she said.
"My dream is that every farmers gets together as self-help group to progress. We aim to provide a platform to all farmers at World Food India 2017," she said.

"I welcome Haryana which has confirmed to be partner state for World Food India 2017," she further added.
Speaking at the roadshow, Haryana's Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar asked the Union government to open Agri Business School in every state to make farmers capable of packaging and marketing their own produce.

"Since our farmer do not know how to do marketing, the Centre should initiate move to open Agri Business School in every state. In order to make the farmers financially strong, big companies should take the farmer forward by making him a shareholder.
"We want all villages in Haryana to be identified with the product produced by its farmers," Dhankar said.
The route from Delhi to Chandigarh is considered the best food highway, he said.
"We want to bring the product of our farmers to the Delhi NCR market with peri-urban culture. For this, we are working on peri-urban agriculture concept worth Rs 500 crore, and it is expected that World Food India will fulfill the dreams of Haryana," he added.

Suresh Narayanan, Chairman CII National Food Processing Committee and Chairman and Managing Director, Nestle India Ltd talked about Nestle's experience of working with more than one lakh farmers in Haryana and Punjab.
Italy has confirmed to be focus country and Haryana and Andhra Pradesh will be partner states at the mega event.
"World Food India has received tremendous response across the globe and will see participation from over 20 countries. More than 10 states and all leading giants from India and abroad in food processing, food technology, technology and equipment players, cold chains, food retailers will be present at World Food India," a CII release said.