Food Processing Sector Can Be A Game Changer, Says Conrad K Sangma

Food Processing Sector Can Be A Game Changer, Says Conrad K Sangma

Shillong: Pitching for entrepreneurship skills and utilization of available resources of the State, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma underlined the need for a collective push by stakeholders involved in various sectors to push up the employment rate. The Chief Minister was speaking at the one-day workshop on food processing in Meghalaya organized by the Directorate of Food Processing .

In the course of his speech, Conrad K Sangma initially touched on the food processing sector which has failed to take off in spite of the raw materials in the State. He said this sector can be a game changer. “Food processing units simply come to display their machines. Banks fell there is no penetration in the rural areas, entrepreneurs and farmers fell that there is absence of profitability but in reality there is a lot of economic scope in this sector,” said Conrad K Sangma.

“Look at the figures of annual production – pineapple (1.23 metric tonnes) ginger (66 metric tonnes), oranges (54 metric tonnes). If there is value addition to these products, the whole economy of the State can be transformed,” said Sangma.

State Agriculture Production Commissioner KN Kumar informed that there has been a large investment in the field of agriculture and horticulture in the past one decade but rued the fact that there is an absence of markets.

“We now have a problem of plenty because of the problems of surplus”, stated Kumar who suggested a systematic flow of public investment in marketing and other value addition technologies. He also stated that if the problems of surplus starts occurring, it will lead to farmer distress because the surplus goes wasted.

Also Read: MEGHALAYA NEWS

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