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Informist, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024

 

--Food processing secy: Price-dependent output planning remains a challenge

--CONTEXT: Food processing secy Praveen at FICCI's annual event

--Secy Praveen: Need to look at food processing to sustain surplus output

 

 

NEW DELHI - Indian agriculture has the cyclical challenge of price-dependent production planning, and food processing is key to sustain surplus production, Food Processing Secretary Anita Praveen said. 

 

"The moment price of onions goes up a particular year, next year you see overproduction of onion and then a glut. So that kind of a cyclical problem is something that we have been enduring, which needs to be taken care of," Praveen said at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry 97th annual general meeting. 

 

In the absence of large-scale food processing, the surplus production results in a lot of wastage, Praveen added. "There is no way that we can sustain that much production. In the end we lose a lot, which is a pity because we are a country where calorific value is not as high in large numbers of countries," she said. 

 

To efficiently reduce wastage, processing units need to be closer to fields, Praveen said "I do understand that large industries cannot come around each and every farm to help them to process their produce," she added. 

 

She stressed the need to devise methodology and intermediary players to ensure farm produce reaches the large processors in good shape and fresh form.                           

 

To improve farm productivity, the secretary asked the industry to extend a hand and onboard farmers with financial and technological support. On industry initiatives to improve farm productivity and prosperity, industry experts on the panel stressed leveraging digital and artificial intelligence to mechanise agriculture and provide market linkage to farmers. 

 

On mechanisation, Mahindra’s Farm Equipment President Hemant Sikka said, "We have launched tractors at very low price points. But not many farmers have the real affordability to buy tractors."

 

Sikka said there is a growing desire to mechanise agriculture and own tractors, but most small-scale farmers depend on rental farm equipment. Renting farm equipment is nothing new in India, Sikka said. But equipment visibility is limited to the immediate circle and surroundings, which calls for technological innovations, he added. 

 

"India is the largest tractor market. Having done all the work in mechanisation, we still need to do more," Sikka said. To improve mechanisation through rental equipment, Sikka said that they have launched apps that provide farm equipment visibility in a larger radius. 

 

In the next three years, FICCI aims to onboard 800,000 farmers in the Krishi-e app by launching in 1,200 plus market locations. The federation also aims to achieve 80?rm mechanisation in targeted markets. 

 

To make value-added products, the industry stressed the need to support horticulture clusters and upskilling farmers. Knowledge transfer is very important to empower farmers, Sanjiv Kanwar, Managing Director, Yara South Asia, said. Agriculture needs hyper-local and crop-specific weather forecasts, he added.

 

On improving farm productivity, Kanwar said, "Depleted soil health is the major challenge in agriculture. Our soil is deficient in micronutrients." Indian agriculture is contributing to high carbon emissions. "Everybody is blaming Punjab farmers for the pollution. But the fact is that the ecosystem is set against them," Kanwar added. End

 

Reported by Afra Abubacker 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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