The Maharashtra government has agreed to develop in close cooperation from the Centre the Agro-Food Processing and Value Addition (Pilot) Programme in the state. The project will be implemented in 200 districts across the country. In Maharashtra, this project will be implemented in Nandurbar, Gadchiroli, Washim and Osmanabad. The total project envisaged by the Centre is worth Rs 3,000 crore of which Rs 1,500 crore is expected to come from states. The state government has given in-principle approval for the implementation of Agro Food Processing and Value Addition (Pilot) Programme by issuing a notification in this regard on August 20. The government will accord administrative clearance for the same after the final decision comes from the Centre. State agriculture department official said there are 22 lakh unorganised food processing units in the country's food processing sector. "These units have very low capital investment, outdated technology, or access to credit and hardly any systems to ensure food safety and hygiene and employee health and safety," added the official. ''The promotion of food processing and value addition programme will help create more jobs, increase farmers' income and farm productivity. All efforts will be made to modernize and enhance the competitiveness of the unorganised segment of the food processing industry in Nandurbar, Gadchiroli, Washim and Osmanabad,'' the officer told DNA. He informed that the programme envisages providing training to entrepreneurs in using a web-based portal. The key component of the programme is enabling the business environment for the food processing industry, strengthening capacities of support providers for food processing enterprises, enhancing food processing micro-enterprises to improve performance and competitiveness and project management, monitoring and evaluation and knowledge sharing.

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