LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is all set to create employment opportunities through the food processing units in the villages.
This is a part of its commitment to empower the farmers and youth residing in the rural areas.
The state government has already presented its strategy to make the farmers and the youth in the villages self-reliant by linking them to the 62, 122 food processing units before the NITI Aayog.
According to the government spokesman, Uttar Pradesh's food ecosystem offers huge opportunities for investments with stimulating growth in the food retail sector.
"The government's multi-dimensional rural centric approach will not only provide employment benefits to the rural populace by connecting them directly to the food processing units, but will also drive the rural economy by installing new units in addition to the existing ones, " the spokesman said.
The diverse basket of agricultural raw material base and agro-climatic attributes of Uttar Pradesh provide the requisite platform for the state to develop a vibrant food processing industry.
Acknowledging the food processing potential in Uttar Pradesh, the government has planned a strategy to directly link the farmers to food processing units in order to enhance the agricultural trade.
The state government also made a budgetary provision of Rs 40 crore for the implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Food Processing Industry Policy, 2017.
The policy provides capital investment subsidy and interest subvention at present. Moreover, the government will also take adequate measures to equip the food processing sector with the best facilities in order to create more employment possibilities.
The government is aiming at providing jobs to over three lakh people by bringing in investment of more than Rs 20, 000 crore in the coming months in this sector.
To create better and more employment opportunities in the rural areas, on the Chief Minister's directions, the government will identify vacant and unused land of huge 'mandis' to set up food processing units at a cost of Rs five crore in the state.
The units will not only give employment to the youth in rural regions but will also successfully strengthen the agricultural sector by making the farmers self-sufficient.
In order to encourage these units, the government also exempted the mandi duty for a span of five years.
In order to increase employment and self-employment in the remote regions, the units will be set up in accordance with the area-wise agricultural production.
In the western and central Uttar Pradesh, the government is focusing on setting up maize based food processing units.
In Kushinagar and other areas of Purvanchal, the government will set up units for banana chips and potatoes respectively.