Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel on Wednesday visited the Mega Food Park set up in K.R. Pet taluk in Mandya district and interacted with the farmers on the importance of food processing and how they can make best use of the facilities for improving their income.
The Minister said the food processing facilities that are coming up in mega food parks will largely benefit farmers whose produce such as fruits and vegetables are procured by the units, thereby making them financially supportable.
Perishable products like fruits and flowers are in need of cold storages which can keep them fresh and facilitate farmers in marketing. The food processing units are key so that the farmers are benefited from what they produce in their fields.
The Karnataka Government is also mulling over setting up mini food parks for making farming sustainable.
Calling upon the people behind the functioning of mega food parks to be proactive, Mr. Patel said they must strive to get an international market for the farmers’ produce. The farmers are empowered if they get market linkages and the parks can play a decisive role in this direction, he added.
Assistant Commissioner Shivananda Murthy, Tahsilar M..V Roopa, Food Park officials and others were present.
Visits KRS
Mr. Patil also visited the KRS reservoir and inspected phase 1 and phase 2 of restoration work at the dam site. He discussed the works with the dam engineers. The Minister was accompanied by Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports K.C. Narayana Gowda, S.A. Ramdas, MLA, Deputy Commissioner S. Aswathi, Managing Director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Jayaprakash, Chief Engineer Vijayakumar and others.
