A mega food park provides various facilities to food processors, farmers, retailers and exporters, helping achieve faster growth of food processing industries.
According to sources, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is likely to announce next week the sanctioning of these 17 mega food parks in states including Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
The total investment in these mega food parks is estimated at Rs 2,100 crore, of which the government's contribution would be to the tune of Rs 850 crore, they added.
Under the scheme (2008-09) of mega food parks, the Food Processing Ministry had sanctioned 42 projects throughout the country. Of these, 25 parks have already been allocated.
Also Read
"...We have received proposals for allocations of food parks, we are in the process of evaluating those proposals and I think very soon we would be able to allocate these food parks," Badal had said earlier this month.
The Minister had also said that it would be ensured that at least one Mega Food Park is established in every state.
Badal had further said only 2 per cent of total fruits, vegetables and grains produced in the country are processed.
The Mega Food Park Scheme, based on cluster approach, is modelled on hub and spoke architecture. It aims at facilitating the establishment of a strong food processing industry backed by an efficient supply chain, which includes collection centres, central processing center (CPC) and cold chain infrastructure.