UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS SIMPLIFIED:

Food Processing

* Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients into food, or of food into other forms (ie. food processing may denote direct manufacturing of food or value addition on existing food).

* Food processing typically takes harvested crops or butchered animal products and uses these to produce long shelf-life food products.

# There are two types of processes in the food processing industry :

Manufacturing: Raw materials → Food.

Value Addition: Increase shelf life and value of manufactured food.

# We can divide the products in the food processing industry into two:

Primary (Eg: Fruits and Vegetables).

Secondary or Value Added (Jams and Squashes)


# Significance of food processing industries

*  India is a land famous for food production. More than 50% of Indian population work in Agriculture related activities. If there are good food processing industries in India, raw materials like grains or meat can be converted into food for domestic and foreign consumption.

* Food processing units acts as a link between agriculture and industries.

* Food processing industries can absorb a major share of workers from the agriculture sector, who face disguised unemployment. It can lead to better productivity and GDP growth.

* Food processing prevents food wastage and helps in attaining food security.

* Processed food requires less space for storage.

* Processed food can be exported. This may help us in getting foreign exchange reserves.

# Scope of India in the food processing industry

* India’s position as a major food producer: 

India ranks 1st in the production of – milk, ginger, banana, guava, papaya, mango etc.

It ranks 2nd in the production of rice, wheat, potato, sugarcane, cashew nut, tea etc.

It is among the top 5 countries in the production of coffee, tobacco, spices, seeds etc. With such a huge raw material base, we can easily become the leading supplier of food items in the world.

* Resource advantage of India: 

Different soil types and different climate types for the cultivation of diverse food crops, long coastal line suitable for fishing, a huge resource of domestic animals etc.

* Increasing employment: 
Expected to create more than 10 lakh new jobs.

* Curbing Migration:

 Provides employment in rural areas, hence reduces migration from rural to urban. Resolves issues of urbanization.

* Curbing food inflation: 
Removes issues of wastage or middle man. Curbs food inflation. Indirect relief on non-food inflation too.

* Crop Diversification: 
Because of long shelf life, farmers can diversify their products.

* The demand potential:
 Expected to reach 250b$ turnout by 2015 and 350b$ by 2020. Youth population, middle class, rising income, nuclear families, media penetration etc cited as positive factors.

* Government initiatives to boost food processing:
 Various government initiatives like attracting FDI, reduction in excise duties etc have boosted food processing.

* The future driver of Indian growth: 
Food processing corresponds to around 10% of GDP in the agriculture-manufacturing sector. It has potential for more.

For 3/2/21 the Hindu