The Government has approved thirty two projects in the food processing sector under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana also known as PMKSY. As per reports, the projects will be spread across seventeen states.
The Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee meeting chaired by Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in Delhi last week had approved these projects. The main focus area of the projects is to increase employment opportunities in rural parts of the country and create direct as well as indirect employment for over 15000 people.
An official release said that the introduction of latest processing techniques for food results in improved shelf-life of the agricultural produce & ensures steady income to farmers. It added that the food sector has emerged as a high-profit and high-growth sector because of its immense potential for value addition.
What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana?
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana aims to create processing & preservation capacities & modernize existing food processing units to improve the quality of processing & reduce wastage.
The PMKSY has 7 component schemes that include mega food parks, creation of backward and forward linkages, integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure, creation or expansion of food processing & preservation capacities, infrastructure for agro-processing clusters, food safety & quality assurance infrastructure & human resources and institutions.
