While farmers in certain areas in Maharashtra will be able to fetch somewhat satisfying prices for their onion produce, thanks to Telangana’s willingness to purchase it, the persistent neglect of the food processing sector has been highlighted once again. Agricultural produce worth millions of rupees is wasted annually since there are no adequate processing and storage facilities for fruits and cereals produced across the state.
Former MLA and now Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader Harshvardhan Jadhav from Aurangabad had demanded that the state government in this must start onion and cotton procurement centers at the earliest since prices of both commodities were crashing. His grouse is that the government is not taking farmers’ problems seriously. When frustrated, he approached the Telangana State Market Committee with a plea to help out the distressed farmer. The committee showed readiness to buy all the onion at right prices. Jadhav has declared that onion grown in Marathwada will be sent to Telangana.
However, this relief will be temporary. The problems before farmers are only increasing. This summer, too, was no exception. Over the past few days, onion has made farmers cry, figuratively and literally. The farmers demanded time and again, held protests but the state government did not take any notice of their grievance. The farmers were compelled to send their onion at throwaway prices. Some angry farmers threw onion on road, staged a mass protest on the national highway in Kannada taluka of Aurangabad district a week ago. It was at this juncture that Harshvardhan Jadhav stepped in.
The result was that Hyderabad Agricultural Produce Market Committee Director M Ravikant met the farmers in Kannad area. He promised to buy all the onion at a right price. Jadhav had learnt that wholesalers buy onion for Rs 3–4 per kg and it is sold in Telangana at Rs 17—18 per kg. Therefore, Jadhav arranged a direct contact with the farmers. Accordingly, Ravikant had come to Kannada taluka.
Maharashtra produces almost 30 percent of onion in India. At the second place is Madhya Pradesh, whose production is a little over 15 percent. Karnataka (13.64), Gujarat (6.42), Bihar (6.25), Rajasthan (4.80), Andhra Pradesh (5.00), Haryana (3.36) and West Bengal (2.00) are the other states to produce onion. As the leading state on this count, Maharashtra needs to create facilities to process and store onion. Somehow, this has not happened so far.
The Ministry of Food Processing industries (MoFPI) has been implementing a Central scheme – Pradhan Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) — for overall growth and development of food processing sector across India. The scheme includes rural areas of Maharashtra. Under PMKSY, the ministry planned to provide mostly credit-linked financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for setting up of food processing and preservation industries. Till last year, the ministry had approved three mega food parks, 62 cold chain projects, 12 agro processing clusters, 39 food processing units, 12 projects of creation of backward and forward linkages along with 26 food test laboratories in Maharashtra for assistance under corresponding component schemes of PMKSY. But the state government has so far not published the progress of the scheme neither its achievements so far.
As part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, the ministry is implementing a Centrally sponsored scheme-PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) for providing financial, technical and business support for setting up and upgradation of two lakh MFP enterprises based on “One District One Product” (ODOP) policy through credit–linked subsidy during five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. There is an outlay of Rs.10,000 crore. Of these, 20130 units have been allocated to Maharashtra with an estimated outlay of over Rs 920 crore. Banana has been approved as ODOP for Dhule and Jalgaon districts. Still, the plight of banana growers this summer is extreme because of unseasonal rains and otherwise bad weather. In 2021, the Centre had announced expansion of the scope of “Operation Greens scheme,” which till then had been covering tomato, onion and potato (TOP). The expansion covers 22 perishable products, so as to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products. Banana has been included in these perishables, but the potential beneficiary has remained unaided.
On its part, the Maharashtra government provides several incentives to the food processing sector. They include : 5 percent interest subsidy on loans for fixed capital investment for five years; stamp duty and registration fee exemption; electricity duty exemption; 50 percent land-related concession and five percent subsidy on capital equipment for technology upgradation. The government also provides financial assistance for new plant setup, modernization and expansion of the food processing industries. The sectors eligible for the scheme include fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products, poultry, meat, fishery, rice milling and pulse processing.
At present, Maharashtra has eight food parks situated at Nagpur, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Latur, Osmanabad, Nasik, Nanded and Ratnagiri. It is claimed that they have world-class facilities for cold storage, advanced packaging, warehousing and test laboratories. Maharashtra also has three wine parks and three floriculture parks. While there are immense opportunities for the food processing industry in Maharashtra, experts warn that starting a food processing business is not easy. Entrepreneurs planning to enter into the food processing industry face several challenges in technology adoption, liquidity or marketing and above all, overcoming the governmental hurdles at every stage and concerning every department of the machinery. Market research, product identification, product ideation, development, plant set up, technology adoption, funding, shelf-life improvement, R&D, business development, sales, marketing, supply chain management and a bevy of factors matter, each for its own role.
The Maharashtra government needs to accord due importance to the food processing sector, which has immense potential for employment generation, value addition to the produce, preventing wastage of fruits and vegetables. Above all, the consumer will be able to obtain quality products at reasonable prices.
The Telangana offer to buy Marathwada onion should be taken as a warning and not as a political move. If this happens, even the onion will taste sweet.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
