The Two-day Conference was inaugurated by Shri Siraj Hussain, IAS., Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Shri J S V Prasad, IAS, Secretary to Government - Food Processing, Government of AP. Also present on the occasssion were Ms. Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, FICCI, AP Chapter; Mr. S Sivakumar, Group Head, Agribusiness Division, ITC Ltd.; Mr. J A Chowdary, Conference General Chair, FICCI FOOD 360; Dr. Saikat Datta Mazumdar, COO, ICRISAT and Mr. Rajat Wahi, Partner, KPMG, releasing FICCI – KPMG Report.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Siraj Hussain, said, Government of India doesn’t want any restriction on inter- state movement of agricultural produce with in the country, there is no such restriction on industrial goods, why should it be for agriculture produce, the farmer should not suffer and he should sell his produce where he gets maximum profit, trading in agricultural commodities should be free in the country, he added. He said states have single window clearance for investments, but they need to make it function more efficiently. Agriculture exports was all time high last year. Indian exports of agricultural produce is around $30 million per annum and is growing at 20% on an average in the last five years. The Cold storage capacity in India was 25 million tons in 2010, while the requirement is around 61 million tons, since then we have added 10 million tons and the deficit is still in the range of 15 million tones, we are looking at investments from entrepreneurs to bridge this deficit without government subsidy. stated that India has a tenth of world’s arable land and a fifth of world’s irrigated land. We are major producer of fruits and vegetables and top producer of milk. We have a domestic market of over a billion consumers with 300 million middle class. Preferences and practices in consumption are changing very fast in favour of processed food. Abundant supply of raw materials, increased in demand and fiscal incentives offered by the government has impacted food processing sector positively in the last couple of years. Today the food processing sector growing at a faster rate than agriculture sector. This implies that more and more agriculture produce is now getting processed. However, we need to accelerate the trend as the level of wastage at harvest and post-harvest stage is unacceptably high.
Secretary applauded FICCI for choosing the theme “The Next Wave of Opportunities” in Agri & food space and introducing important topics to the young entrepreneurs is at the need of the hour.
The Principal secretary of the AP Government Shri J S V Prasad, IAS, desired such conferences being hosted at district level. He said mega food parks is the need of the hour. Mega food parks will benefit the farmers in many ways. He promised to expedite clearances for investments by removing obstacles. Investments in Food processing will benefit farmers big way. There is tremendous potential in food processing and needs to be tapped sooner than later. He said, Andhra Pradesh has been doing well in exports. Most exports are of marine products, rice and pulses, there is good potential for exports of processed and organic foods. He stressed on the importance of agriculture and the significant diversification towards vegetables, dairy and poultry. While we acknowledge this, there is a need to focus on ensuring the interest of farmers in agriculture by a coordinated and holistic development of all areas of agriculture like indigenous technologies, new technologies, capital investments, improvement in rural infrastructure, market linkages and conducive policies. Another area of focus should be ensuring safe food for the consumers and increasing the level of processing and value addition. The need is to develop a sustainable model where there is focus on increasing quality and quantity of food production followed by adequate market linkages to ensure farm prosperity.
FICCI FOOD360 conference has brought out two Reports; FICCI-KPMG report on “Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian Food Chain” and FICCI-ICRISAT Report on “Promoting Entrepreneurship in Food Processing Sector for Inclusive Market Oriented Development (IMOD) - Strategies & Support Mechanisms”. These two reports identify challenges and also convey the opportunities for the Food and Agribusiness community.
Ms. Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, FICCI AP State Council Ms. Sangita Reddy said 46% of our children are undernourished and is therefore a need for significant advances in production and processing of agricultural output. She informed that FICCI has identified Food & Agribusiness as a focus sector, and has undertaken various thought-leadership initiatives both at National and Regional Levels covering across all segments in the agricultural food value chain, from farm inputs to processing to food retailing. She further emphasizes that Government also has accorded a high priority to the sector and has provided many fiscal incentives. On the other hand though substantial investments have been made in the areas of food processing and agriculture, the fact remain that India's share in the global food trade is a meager 2 percent. In this scenario, FICCI’s Food 360 will discuss critical issues like key constraints that are slowing the growth of the food processing sector and how they are being addressed, various opportunities that the Indian Food Processing Industry provides, trends in the food trade, changing consumer food habits and its affect the industry, support initiatives taken by the government and opportunities provided in the value chain, global trade opportunities and most importantly, the role of innovation and Technology in achieving aforesaid objectives.
The conference-cum-exhibition will showcase the huge potential for developing the Agribusiness / food processing industry in India in general, and Andhra Pradesh in particular, with a view to forging global linkages. The effort would be to expose delegates to the global developments with regard to trends and opportunities in the food processing industries.
Mr. J A Chowdary, Co-Chairman of FICCI AP & Conference General Chair said “The third edition of FOOD 360 conference will truly become a wonderful interaction space for most prominent industry representatives of agribusiness and food processing sector. He reinforced the importance of Agriculture and allied sectors and opportunities that are available in this space. He strongly believes, the next wave of industrial revolution can be achieved only by connecting Innovation and Technology to the complete value chain of Agriculture and Food Processing. By doing this, the opportunities are going to be plenty and economy flourishes
The plenary sessions will be held on the themes like Emerging Business Opportunities in Agri Services, Venture Capital Connect with Food & Agripreneurs, Adding Value to Food through Processing & Packaging will receive special attention at the conference.
In addition to the conference, the third edition of the event will also include the Exhibition, CEO Conclave & FOOD 360 Awards etc. FOOD 360 Awards, it is a platform to not only recognize exceptional individuals, institutions and companies, but to also share innovative practices and technology in agriculture and food processing for a larger community benefit. CEO conclave which is scheduled prior to awards is to understand the visionary’s approach and their out of the box thinking in making India hunger free with good governance.
Mr. S. Sivakumar, the Programme Chair & Group Head – Agribusiness, ITC Ltd, said food processing industry is growing twice as fast at agriculture and today Food processing is consuming a lot of agricultural produce. Till now India was producing more to feed, but in future the produce will have to as per the needs of food processing and consumer needs. The job multiplier of food processing industry is much higher than any other industry. He said that increasing per capita incomes and growing awareness, today’s consumers are seeking better quality and more variety in their food products. They are willing to spend more on products that offer convenience while buying and using. Food safety is becoming an area of concern for them. Much like the way agricultural production system responded to the need for more food in the past, this next wave brings an opportunity to build businesses around meeting these new consumer preferences. Besides the obvious opportunity of adding value through food processing and packaging, there are several other possibilities in the areas of agri services, farm mechanisation, post-harvest management, quality testing services, and supply chain management. These interventions have immense potential to raise farm incomes as well, contributing to an area of national priority.
The Exhibition will showcase various products, technologies, services pertaining to Agriculture and Food Processing Industries during the two days of the event. DFRL (Defence Food Research Laboratory, Directorate of Sorghum Research, NAARM, NIABI, Sri Biotech, some of the Agri input companies, community farming companies has given special attraction at the exhibition
We take this opportunity to thank the Andhra Pradesh Government, especially Agricultural Marketing department, AP Food Processing Society, Food Corporation of India for their encouragement & support. We would also thank all our Industry Partners, Industry representatives, committee members for their valuable inputs and support in making this event a grand success.
