Daily Current Affairs 16.11.2018: Mega Food Park

Overview: 

Maharashtra’s second Mega Food Park has been opened in Aurangabad District. It is promoted by M/s Paithan Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd, the Park. A 3rd Mega Food Park has been sanctioned by the Ministry in Maharashtra and is under implementation in Wardha District while the first Park was inaugurated on 1st of March 2018 in Satara district. 

Know the Mega Food Parks:

Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.

Objectives:

Mega Food Park aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastages, increasing farmers’ income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.

These food parks give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables.

A maximum grant of R50 crore is given for setting up a MFP, in minimum 50 acres of contiguous land with only 50% contribution to the total project cost. 

Mode of operation:

• The Scheme has a cluster based approach based on a hub and spokes model. It includes creation of infrastructure for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and Collection Centres (CCs) and common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre (CPC).
• The PPCs are meant for functioning as a link between the producers and processors for supply of raw material to the Central Processing Centres.
• CPC has need based core processing facilities and basic enabling infrastructure to be used by the food processing units setup at the CPC. The minimum area required for a CPC is 50 acres.
• The scheme is demand-driven and would facilitate food processing units to meet environmental, safety and social standards. 

Sources: pib.