Punjab to have third mega food park at Phagwara

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5

After Fazilka and Ludhiana, Punjab will have third mega food park at Phagwara. It will be operational by October this year. Being set up with an investment of around Rs 125 crore, the upcoming facility will further give impetus to the food processing sector in the state. Once fully operational, all three parks will play a pivotal role in increasing farmers’ income and promoting crop diversification.

Currently, the state has a food park in Fazilka which is operational and set up by International Mega Food Park Ltd with an investment of around Rs 140 crore. The second park — set up by Punjab Agro Industries Corporation in Ludhiana with an investment of Rs 120 crore — is partially operational. These facilities will not only attract investment in the food processing sector but also benefit farmers of the northern region.

“The upcoming food park is in construction phase and is expected to be commissioned by October this year. It will promote the food processing industry by creating high quality processing infrastructure and will facilitate the creation of efficient supply chain and direct procurement from farmers, resulting in better realisation to farmers,” said Bhavdeep Sardana, CEO, Sukhjit Starch & Chemicals Ltd. 

He said the company was also setting up a maize-processing facility with a daily grinding capacity of 600 tonnes per day,  entailing an additional investment of over Rs 150 crore in the mega food park. It will create huge demand of maize  and will not only improve the eco-agricultural system of the state but will also supplement the state’s efforts in crop diversification by breaking wheat-paddy cycle. 

Besides basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, power, a mega food park boasts of various infrastructure facilities such as cold store, deep freezers, steam generating units, sorting, grading, cleaning yards, silos, dry storage facilities, captive power plant, water treatment plant and laboratories. 

The food park, being set up by Punjab Agro Industries at Ludhiana, has already attracted investment of around Rs 130 crore by corporates such as Godrej Tyson, Meat Masters and Iscon Balaji. Sources said besides these three players, two more players have committed to invest around Rs 50 crore at Ludhiana Food Park. The players are in ready-to-eat category and confectionery.

The processing of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural produce is critical for Punjab because to its growing share in the agriculture production basket and recurrent price fluctuation affecting farmers’ income.