With the emergence of food services in India, the food processing industry and cold storage facilities should see an upturn in the coming years.
With organised food services like McDonald's and other international names coming into India, perfection is fast becoming a norm, with standard quality levels and timely deliveries. Also, investments in cold storage facilities will ensure reduction in wastage.
Currently, wastage is at a huge 25 per cent of the total production of fruits and vegetables. The fruit processing sector has been growing at a rate of 20 per cent a year, but higher growth rates have been seen in the frozen fruits and vegetables sector, which is at 121 per cent, and dehydrated fruits and vegetables at 24 per cent, says a report on food and agricultural business released by Rabo India Finance.
Currently, there are over 4,000 fruit processing units in India, with an aggregate capacity of more than 1.2 million metric tonnes, which is less than 4 per cent of the total fruits produced.
It is estimated that around 20 per cent of the production of processed fruits is meant for exports, while the rest caters to defence, institutional sectors and household consumption.
The main deterrent to the Indian fruit and vegetable industry, says the report, is that it is de-centralised.
A large number of units are in the cottage, home-scale and small-scale sectors, with capacities of up to 250 tonnes a year. In contrast, the big Indian and multinational companies have larger capacities. "There is a need to streamline the value chain. The various intermediaries are small and not in a position to exert sufficient pressure by themselves," the report says.
The retailers are unorganised. There are over 5,000 commissioned agents in the wholesale markets for handling daily volumes of 20,000 tonnes.
A quarter of the domestic output of fruits and vegetables goes waste. Due to the absence of a proper cold chain facility and the non-adoption of appropriate technology for increasing shelf-life to reduce post-harvest loss, the export of fresh fruits and vegetables is restricted.
India
