India is advantageously placed to ensure the viability of food processing units. The cost of production and post-harvest handling of most agricultural, horticultural and animal products is low compared to that in many developed countries. The varied agro-climatic conditions can facilitate production of the same stuff at different places at different times to aid availability. This makes it possible to develop cottage, small- and medium-scale units which can also serve as suppliers of partially processed raw material to bigger units for further processing, value addition, packaging and marketing. Besides providing benefits of scale, such an approach will facilitate technology induction. For this, the food processing sector will, of course, have to be fully dereserved from its small-scale status. Moreover, these units will have to be encouraged to develop backward linkages with farmer producers for which the new national agricultural policy has already formulated the enabling provision.
The food processing ministry
