In the course of past five years, the damages and losses of foodgrains in India have come down significantly. This has been possible due to a slew of initiatives undertaken by the government, said, Union Minister of State for Food, K V Thomas.
About 5 years back, the damages and losses of foodgrains stood at around 2.5% of the total production. The current production is now about 82 million tonnes and the losses and damages have come down to the level of 0.006%, which is less than even one lakh tonnes. Besides, this reduction in wastage of foodgrains is a major achievement for the Food Corporation of India, one of the largest storing agency in the country, and looks after one of the major areas of food storage.
K V Thomas also conveyed the serious need for minimizing the wastage at all stages of food processing chain and stated that in order to minimize the wastage, there should be development of strong and vibrant food processing industry along with infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of agro-produce.
To promote the industry through developmental and policy measures, various initiatives is been taken by the Ministry of Food Processing. Also, the government under its various schemes is providing assistance to food processing industries. The assistance is in form of supporting various R&D activities and working towards human resource development to meet the growing demand for skilled manpower and promoting entrepreneurship.