Food for thought
The food processing industry is the mainstay supporting the economic growth of India as 70% of its population continues to rely on agriculture for employment and livelihood. During the last decade, India moved from a position of scarcity to surplus in food. Given the trade in production of food commodities, the industry in India is on a high growth trajectory. During the last four years, the growth of food processing sector has nearly doubled to 13.7 per cent.
India’s strength in the food processing sector lies in the fact that the country has natural resources in abundance that provides it a competitive advantage. Due to its diverse agro-climatic conditions, it has large raw material base suitable for food processing industries. India, having access to vast pool of natural resources and growing technical knowledge base, has strong comparative advantages over other nations in this industry. In addition, the country also enjoys a competitive edge in terms of raw material and labor offers lucrative opportunities.
In the past few years, the food processing industry has witnessed several changes. Trends such as changing demographics and rapid urbanization have shaped and will continue to shape the demand for value added products and thus for food processing industry in India. The industry holds great opportunities for large investments considering the large raw material base that the country offers.
However, the sector has a long way to go. Lack of adequate quality control and testing methods as per international standards are hindering the growth of the food-processing industry. Poor infrastructural facilities and an inefficient supply chain is a major bottleneck in the sector. India lacks cold chain facilities that are needed to prolong the shelf life of the produce. Efficient and scientifically designed channels of distribution like cool storage, sorting and grading facilities are either in the developing or underdeveloped stage. While countries like Thailand have exploited the global markets in a big way by fine-tuning quality management aspects of their food processing industry, India are yet to make headway on this front.
The absence of a proper cold chain, therefore, results in huge wastage. Several thousand crore worth of farm produce is lost every year due to inefficient post-harvest practices for storage and processing. Annually, wastage of $13 billion is reported from India as processing accounts for a small proportion of production (Source Dun & Bradstreet). According to the Food Processing Ministry, only 2.2 per cent of fruit and vegetables get processed compared to 30 per cent in countries like Thailand, 65 per cent in the US, 78 per cent in the Philippines and 23 per cent in China. The wastage is as much as 60 per cent. In case of milk, meat and poultry products, processing accounts for only 35 per cent, 21 percent in meat and 6 percent respectively. This is situation when the country produces 90 million tones of milk annually and 150 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables. After harvest, foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish,) are liable to accelerated physiological, chemical, and microbial processes that invariably lead to deterioration.
Cold storage facilities have an important role to play in not only reducing the wastages of the perishable commodities but also help in extending the shelf life thereby curtailing losses due to rotting away of large quantities of fruits and vegetables. For the agriculture sector, the state governments will have to play a critical role in raising yields and improving quality of agricultural produce. This would require improving infrastructure for warehouses, cold storage, access roads, creating facilities for primary grading/sorting and supply chain management.
The other reason for wastage of food can be correlated with the lack of production and identification of items with commercial viability. India needs to develop varieties which can be processed. For instance, tomatoes and oranges produced are not commercially viable for producers. Oranges originated in Southeast Asia, ironically we still have to import oranges from places like California. Even the apples produced in Jammu and Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh are mostly the table variety with very less juice content. Taking a cue from China or other countries we can have more processable varieties of crops. Agri-research centres play a significant role in developing such varieties. The Central Food Technology Research Institute should play a more central and pro-active role in promoting the knowledge base of the industry through greater public private partnerships in technology development.
A focused attention is needed to create a strong supply chain for perishable farm produce, setting up infrastructure facilities for processing of such produce and infusion of technology to boost agri-production. Further, in food processing sector, research is an essential component for the development of new cost-effective technologies for preservation and packaging of food products, use of energy-efficient processing and development of innovative products using new technologies. Investing in research and development would significantly lead to value addition, development of innovative products, efficient processing and new technologies. In this context, research should be encouraged in perishables such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, poultry products, fish and marine products
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