India’s Khagaria mega food park expected to open in 2018
The 70-acre food park is located in Mansi, on the outskirts of Khagaria town in the state of Bihar. The project is being developed by Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Pvt. Ltd. (PLIPL) under an agreement with India's Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI).
The Pristine Mega Food Park site is well connected to the rest of India through a nearby national highway, and Khagaria is said to be at a major rail junction connecting the rest of the country to the north-eastern states.
More than three years in the making
In August 2015, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha laid the stone for the building project for Pristine Mega Food Park.
It was reported that this mega food park was expected to have a turnover of Rs500 crore (about US$77.59m) and would benefit 30,000 farmers in the area. According to Badal, the cost of the project was about Rs127.6 crore (about US$19.8m).
MOFPI said that the park would comprise about 30 to 35 units and have modern infrastructure.
“On completion, the park will have facilities of 40,000 tonnes dry warehouse, 10,000 tonnes grain silos, 5,000 tonnes multi-products cold storage, 10 tonnes per hour packing house, two tonnes per hour IQF, 1,500-tonne deep fridge, besides having modern testing labs and reefer vans,” the Economic Times had reported.
"It will create immense opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in the state bestowed with huge agriculture production potential. It will benefit the farmers, growers, food processors and consumers in the state of Bihar," said Badal.
One of many expected by 2019
Earlier, in July 2017, Badal had said that all 42 mega food park projects that have been approved by the government will be operational in 2019.
The government sanctioned these projects in a Mega Food Parks Scheme between 2008 to 2009. Each park includes various facilities for farmers, retailers and exporters, to help various stakeholders in the food processing industries support one another and grow together, faster.
The mega food park model aims to facilitate the establishment of a strong food processing industry in the area, backed by an efficient supply chain including collection centres, a central processing centre, as well as cold chain infrastructure.
This is an integral set-up in India’s dream of a comprehensive “farm-to-plate” supply chain network.
