PATNA: Union food processing minister
kumar Paras on Friday proposed to set up a food processing institute- National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) in Bihar and sought land from state industries department for it.Welcoming the proposal, state industry minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said all required steps will be taken for the establishment of NIFTEM in Bihar.
Deliberations regarding the samewhere held during a meeting between the two ministers at New Delhi on Friday. Incidentally, it will be the second unit of NIFTEM after the first unit at Sonepat, Haryana, which was inaugurated in 2012.Along with other issues, it was decided that a high-level meeting would be held soon at Patna between the union ministry of food processing and state industries department. A food processing conclave will also be organized at Patna in the presence of top industrialists of the sector.Discussions were also held on setting up agro processing clusters in Bihar under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY). “Farmers in Bihar can benefit from the agro processing clusters scheme of the union food processing ministry under PMKSY. The establishment of food processing units will also generate employment opportunities on a large scale,” Shahnawaz said.The industry minister claimed that 10 acres of land would be required for setting up agro processing clusters and the target would be to set up at least five food processing units costing Rs 25 crore or more. According to the scheme, in each agro processing cluster, the state government and the Centre will jointly provide all the facilities like road, water, electricity, drainage, warehouse, cold storage, tetra pack, sorting and grading.Agro processing cluster scheme will bring prosperity to the homes of the farmers in the country and will create employment opportunities for the youth of the state,” Shahnawaz said.On this occasion, the Union Food Processing Minister said, “I will fulfill the responsibility given to me by Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking special interest to develop the food processing industry in Bihar.” He said that food processing has its importance throughout the country. “The Department of Agriculture takes initiatives to produce food grains and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries to save it from wastage. Mega Food Parks are working across the country for the farmers to get a fair price for the agricultural produce and solve the unemployment problem, and soon there are plans to set up Mini Food Parks. There is large-scale production of many food items, including Makhana, Litchi, Banana, Maize in North Bihar. Still, people have very little knowledge about the food processing industry. That is why we plan to open a university in North Bihar.”National Institute of Food Technological Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) will conduct courses from Technocrat to Entrepreneur. There will be studies of BTech, MTech, MBA, and Ph.D. in Food Processing Technology. It will be of great help to the youth making a career in the field of entrepreneurship and technology.The research will be done on developing new food products in the proposed institute. Apart from this, advanced technology for food processing will also be developed here. Due to which agricultural and vegetable products can be converted into quality food at a low cost.
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