OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2015. 17 new Mega Food Parks (MFPs) sanctioned by the Government today shall entail fresh investment of around Rs. 2330 crores. This will include grant-in-aid for an amount of Rs.850 crores. Announcing this at a press conference in the Capital today, Food Processing Minister Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that these 17 new MFPs spread across 11 States would attract a total investment of around Rs.4,000 crores and the annual turnover of the Food Processing units in these MFPs would be more than Rs.8,000 crores. She informed that these new MFPs will generate direct/indirect employment for around 2.5 lakh people and it is expected that more than 12 lakh farmers would be benefited after these MFPs are operational.

Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal informed that this time a change was made in the eligibility criteria and Govt. organisations/ State Govts were also allowed to apply. Out of the 17 MPFs, 06 have been sanctioned for the State Govt. authorities and 11 to private sector. Out of the ongoing 25 Mega Food Parks, 2 have already been inaugurated and 3 more are expected to be operationalised by middle of this year vis-a-vis 2 Mega Food Parks operationalised by the previous Government since 2008.

She expressed the hope that once these 42 MFPs, inclusive of the 25 sanctioned by the previous Govt., become operational, the farmers would be greatly benefited in terms of better price for their produce and consumers would get wider choice at a very reasonable price.