Need to focus on Food Processing – UPSC GS3

Food processing sector is clocking double-digit annual growth.

Proactive Governments policy and measures are one of the major reasons for the growth of Food processing sector in India.

However, there is a lot more that needs to be done, as the food processing industry still faces some formidable constraints.

The government have incentivised private investment in the food processing sector to facilitate value-addition of farm produce and reduce its wastage.

The government’s production-linked incentive has facilitated the availability of world-class food products for the domestic and export market. It will also help in building of global brands to boost exports, which are already rising rapidly but still have untapped potential.

Another well-thought-out scheme, the one-district-one-product, aims at promoting micro food processing units to capitalize on the popularity of local food products.

Various limitations of supply chain infrastructure

Seasonal production

Lack of preliminary farm level freshness-retaining treatment

Small scale of production

A lack of focus on quality, and

Compulsion to source the raw material through the mandis run by the agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs)

Need to focus on food preservation techniques. In a country like India where a sizeable part of the population lives in tiny villages with no or difficult access to the market, food preservation is as important as food processing.

There is a need for greater research and development effort to refine the preservation methods to retain the quality and safety of preserved foods by preventing their contamination by hazardous bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms.