By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala’s food processing sector will get a boost with Minister of State for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahay announcing central assistance for a slew of initiatives including a food park, a food laboratory and a modern abattoir here Thursday.
Speaking at an interactive session with state government officials, Sahay said the central government would provide Rs.500 million for setting up a mega food park.
“We will provide Rs.150 million for a modern abattoir, Rs.100 million for a cold storage facility and 100 percent support to set up a state-of-the-art laboratory in food processing,” the minister said.
“The need of the hour is a separate policy for food processing because there are large numbers of non-resident Keralites who are ready to invest in this sector here,” he added.
Sahay also urged more favourable policies for the sector.
“This sector today here has to pay 20 percent tax. This is not at all favourable because several states have brought this in the zero to four percent tax bracket,” he pointed out.
“Another area where the state government should intervene is to set up either contract farming or cooperative farming because agriculture is the backbone for the food processing industry,” added the minister, who holds independent charge of the central food processing ministry.
The state’s Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said Kerala government has already begun steps to set up the mega food park at Wayanad.
“The state-owned K-BIP (Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion) has been entrusted to set up the state-of-the-art laboratory. A private entrepreneur is already given 25 acres of land at Malappuram to set up an abattoir and three cold storage facilities also would come up in the state with the support of the centre,” said Kareem.
Kareem however declined to comment on the issue of contract farming. His party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which leads the ruling coalition in Kerala, is strongly opposed to it.
“That comes under the purview of the agriculture department,” said Kareem.
Kerala currently has three operational food parks with another under construction.