Challenges with the food processing sector
1. Fragmentation of landholdings:
Land fragmentation is a problem because it reduces agricultural output and limits economic potential. Since India’s independence, land fragmentation has been a problem. Because of inheritance regulations, the amount of arable land shrinks with each generation.
2. Climatic variations:
Climate change is affecting food production. Due to intense heat, harsh weather, and droughts, wheat, maize, and other crop yields have been dropping in several nations. According to some predictions, worldwide yields might drop by up to 30% by 2050 if appropriate adaptation is not implemented.
3. Poor laboratories quality standards:
The large number of entities participating in the food value chain, particularly in the big unorganized portion, makes enforcing quality and safety standards challenging. As a result, procedures like milk adulteration and the use of carbide for fruit ripening have become increasingly common.
4. Poor marketability of processed products:
Gaps in supply chain infrastructure in the food processing sector include insufficient primary processing, storage, and distribution facilities; an insufficient link between production and processing; seasonality of operations and poor capacity utilization; and institutional supply chain gaps.
5. Low access to credit and subsidized financing:
Despite the introduction of the Food Processing Fund a few years ago, the industry has been suffering from a lack of resources. Even if a foreign investment has increased recently, it still falls short of the industry’s needs.
Government Policies to Meet the Challenges of the Food Processing Sector
Food processing is a type of manufacturing in which raw materials are processed into intermediate foods or edible items using scientific knowledge and technology. Bulky, perishable, and occasionally inedible food resources are converted into more usable, concentrated, shelf-stable, and pleasant meals or beverages using a variety of techniques. Food processing, for the most part, improves the storability, portability, palatability, and convenience of the finished product. General features of raw food resources, principles of food preservation, processing elements that impact quality, packaging, water and waste management, excellent manufacturing methods, and sanitary protocols are all important for food processing professionals to know.
The Food Processing Industry (FPI) is a rising business that has gained traction in recent years. Because of the critical links and synergies that it fosters between the two pillars of our economy, industry, and agriculture, the industry is extremely important. It has a lot of potential for stimulating economic growth, which has prompted the government to take a number of legislative steps to support the food processing industry.
The Indian food sector ranks fifth in terms of scale, contributing almost 6% of GDP, 13% of Indian exports, and 6% of overall industrial investment in the country. Furthermore, it is expected to develop at a pace of 20%, with the processed food category accounting for 25%. Milk and milk products, snack foods, bread goods, fruit and vegetable products, fish and meat processing, and food processing machinery and related equipment are all important aspects of this business. Exports are increasing, which creates more job opportunities.
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