The Centre’s financial support in the two MFPs in Alapuzha and Palakkad is Rs 50 crore each. (PTI)

Kerala is betting high on food processing infrastructure by investing in two mega food parks (MFPs) to the tune of Rs 250 crore. The Centre’s financial support in the two MFPs in Alapuzha and Palakkad is Rs 50 crore each. “Each MFP would leverage an additional investment of about Rs 250 crore in 25 to 30 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs 450 to Rs 500 crore annually,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal, union minister of food processing industries said, laying the foundation stone for the Palakkad park with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Badal pointed out that the farmers would be able to double their income harnessing the Centre’s Rs 6,000-crore Kisan Sampada Yojana for production and marketing of value-added farm products. “The modern infrastructure for food processing created at the two MFPs will be useful to the farmers, growers, processors and consumers, not only in Palakkad and Alappuzha but also the people of their adjoining districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kochi and Kollam,” she said.

The two parks are envisaged to create 10,000 jobs and benefit at least about 50,000 farmers. The Kerala government’s two industrial infrastructure arms KSIDC and KINFRA have initiated the implementation the two mega-parks at Alapuzha and Palakkad, drawing on the central assistance for through MFP scheme. Both Parks will have common administrative building for office. “Those who set up an industrial unit will not encounter any kind of roadblock in Kerala,” assured Vijayan. “The present traditional methods in farm sector value-addition would move way to modern techniques,” he said.

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KSIDC is setting up the MFP at Alappuzha on 68.18 acre, investing Rs 129.15 crore. At Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this Mega Food Park, KSIDC has charted out facilities like cold storage of 3,000 MT capacity, deep freeze unit of 3,000 MT, de-boning and canning unit of 50 tonnes per day, warehouse of 1,000 MT and other food processing facilities.