New Delhi:The Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated Zoram Mega Food Park(Mizoram) at the virtual inauguration ceremony.
The Zoram Mega Food Park (MFP) will provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC (Core Processing Centre) and PPC (primary processing Centre) catchment areas, said Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The project was approved in 2013 but the process to establish it began in 2015. Mizoram shares an international border with Myanmar and Bangladesh. So, this food park will benefit the North East and neighbouring countries too.
Speaking at the virtual inauguration ceremony of the Zoram Mega Food Park located in Mizoram, Smt. Badal said that the Park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 Crore in about 30 food processing units in the park and would eventually lead to a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 Crores annually.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal virtually inaugurated the Zoram Mega Food Park in the presence of Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region.
Union Minister for Food Processing Industries said that the modern infrastructure for food processing created at the MFP will benefit the farmers, growers, processors and consumers of Mizoram and adjoining areas immensely and prove to be a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in the State of Mizoram.
Ministry has approved the Mega Food Park in the State of Mizoram to give an impetus to the growth of the Food Processing Sector in Mizoram. The Mega Food Park at Village-Khamrang in Kolasib District, Mizoram is promoted by M/s Zoram Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. This is the first Mega Food Park operationalized in the State of Mizoram.
North East is home of organic foods and superfoods which are in great demand these days.
Union Minister Badal shared that, so far, a total of 88 MoFPI supported projects have been sanctioned in the North Eastern Region and 41 have been implemented. She added that projects worth Rs. 1000 Crores approximately have been sanctioned with subsidy support of over Rs. 520 Crores. She said that 88 projects when fully completed, would create processing and preservation capacity for 8.66 Lakh MT to handle Agro produce worth Rs. 2,166 Crores.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal also said the government is fully committed to providing an environment that is smooth, transparent and easy for investors wanting to start an enterprise in India and in a bid to make India a resilient food economy and the Food Factory of the World, the government has made Food Processing a major thrust area of ‘Make in India’.
She said that under the visionary guidance of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focusing on boosting the food processing industry so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmer’s income and ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.
M/s Zoram Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. has been set up in 55.00 acres of land at a project cost of Rs. 75.20 crore. The facilities created by the developer at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park include Cold Storage-1000 Metric Tonn (MT), Drywarehouse-3000MT Aseptic pulp line with canning, aseptic and tetra packing-2 MT/Hr, Ripening Chambers-40MT/Hr, Spices drying facility-2MT/Hr, Food Testing Laboratory besides state of art enabling infrastructure.
The Park also has a common administrative building for office and other uses by the entrepreneurs and 03 Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) at Champhai, Thingfal and Thenzawlhaving facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms in the catchment area to benefit farmers. This Mega Food Park will benefit the people of Kolasib-District as well as nearby Districts of Mamit& Aizawl of Mizoram and nearby districts of Hailakandi, Cachar of Assam.
Under the Mega Food Park Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance up to Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project. Presently, 18 Mega Food Park Projects are under implementation in various states and 19 Mega Food Parks have already become functional in the States. Six of them are in the Northeastern region. Two MFPs in Northeastern Region are operational at Assam and Mizoram.
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