The Ministry of Food Processing Industries together with the Ministry of Women & Child Development will organize an organic food festival in Delhi later this month. The motive is to promote women entrepreneurship in the production as well as processing of organic products.
The two ministries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help connect women entrepreneurs in the organic food segment with government schemes & concentrate on hand-holding initiatives to enable them to become competitive in the international market. The exhibition is part of this initiative.
Health awareness
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister for Food Processing said, “With increasing awareness about health & wellness, the demand for Indian organic products has also been growing all across the world. We believe that the organic food festival will serve as a platform for women entrepreneurs to exhibit their products & enhance direct linkages with consumers. This will also be a platform for them to learn skills to scale up their initiatives & get training to improve their potential for processing of organic products.”
Around 150 women entrepreneurs from different States will participate in the 3-day festival that will be held from 21-23 February 2020.
Badal said, “There are already many government schemes that focus on promoting organic farming & we feel this festival will increase awareness about organic food products among consumers”.
It is important to mention that India has the largest number of organic food producers. It is ranked the ninth-largest in terms of the land dedicated to organic agriculture. It has produced around 1.70 million tonnes of certified organic food produce in the year 2017-18 that includes cereals, millets, oilseeds, cotton, pulses, medicinal plants, fruits etc.
The country has also exported organic products worth 515 million dollar in 2017-18 to countries like the EU, the US, Canada, Switzerland, Israel & South Korea.
