Mega Food Parks

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More About Mega Food Parks

• The Scheme aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure

. maximizing value addition

. minimizing wastage

. increasing farmers’ income 

. creating employment opportunities particularly in the rural sector

• The Scheme is based on the ‘Cluster’ approach and envisages creation of state of art support infrastructure in a well-defined agri/ horticultural zone for setting up of modern food processing units in the industrial plots provided in the park with a well-established supply chain.
• Mega food parks typically consist of supply chain infrastructure including:

. collection centers (CC)

. primary processing centers (PPC)

. central processing centers (CPC)

. cold chain 

. around 25-30 fully developed plots for entrepreneurs to set up food processing units

• The project is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a body corporate registered under the Companies Act. 
• State Government, State Government entities and Cooperatives are not required to form a separate SPV for implementation of Mega Food Park project. 

Pattern of Assistance

• The Scheme shall provide a capital grant at the rate of 50% of the eligible project cost in general areas and at the rate of 75% of eligible project cost in difficult and hilly areas i.e. North East Region including Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and ITDP notified areas of the States subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 crore per project.
• In the interest of expeditious implementation of the projects, a Program Management Agency (PMA) is appointed by the Ministry to provide management, capacity building, coordination and monitoring support. 
• The extent of land required for establishing the CPC is around 50-100 acres, though the actual requirement of land would depend upon the business plan, which may vary from region to region. The land required for setting up of PPCs and CCs at various locations would be in addition to land required for setting up the CPC.
• It is expected that on an average, each project will have around 25-30 food processing units with a collective investment of Rs.250 crore that would eventually lead to an annual turnover of about Rs.450-500 crore and creation of direct/ indirect employment of about 5000 persons. Each MFP on being fully operational will also benefit about 25000 farmers.