Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Indian Food Industry


     India is a land of lands. Not only is the primary occupation agriculture here but also due to various culture diversification, there are a variety of foods to be found here. And now with the ever increasing use of technology, India has become one of the leading exporters in food and food materials.
India‘s level of processing food material is also quite high considering how backwards it was not so long ago.  The level of processing fruits and vegetables has increased upto 6%, around 38% for milk, 22% for meat and around 9% for poultry products.

    The operation, ‘white flood’ was implemented in 1950s and 1960s. This execution met with a phenomenal success rate. Today, India is amongst the top 3 producers of milk and milk products.  The total dairy industry in India is expected to soar upto 83 million US $ by 2015. The major and perhaps the  most vital contribution comes from the processed milk and milk products which fetches nearly 75%in value terms and 25% in volume terms.

    The major contribution comes from the unorganized sector in the form of milk products such as sweets, home-made ghee (clarified butter), yogurt, curd, butter milk and sweet butter milk (lassi), etc.

    The Beer and wine industry is one of the most upcoming sectors in the Indian food industry. The consumption of beer is growing annually at a rough estimate of 7%. India is witnessing a high growth in the same sector at the rate of 30%. The total market size of beer and wine industry is expected to grow upto US $ 5 billion by 2015, with a major contribution coming from India alone.
In the current thriving scenario, India needs to establish an incorporated supply chain which should include warehousing, cold chain and transport from farm gates to the food plates for strong backward and forward integrations.

    The public-private partnerships should be allowed and encouraged in the joint infrastructure project sectors, R&D capacity, sharing of information and international branding, etc.  A standard transfer is required in the production system from supply driven towards market demanding driven production.  It will require a collective endeavor by all stakeholders which includes R&D organizations, extensions, market players and the government machinery and infrastructure.
    Transfer of technology, capacity building and upgradation of skills, strong links are necessary to be re-built to transfer the technology that has been developed in isolation at various public and private sectors to identify research organizations to their respective targeted beneficiaries.