In an effort to reshape the country’s food processing industry, Indian government officials have approved plans to build 15 mega food parks within the next month. To put into perspective just how big these parks will be, officials claim they will be able to employ over 10,000 workers. Of course this is all speculative until the construction process is complete, but India has really gaining momentum since their announcement of plans to change their food processing and manufacturing industry.
One of the hubs announced will be developed in Odisha’s Malipada city. City officials have been trying to get the green light to go ahead with the construction of a food processing center here but were shot down by opponents. However, now the city officials have agreed that it’s a prime destination for setting up a processing center; therefore, receiving the go ahead to start construction. While they believe it will take several years before it’s fully operational, plans are in place to get started working on it now.
It’s important to note that there are two major food processing hubs in India that are currently operational. One of them is located in Andhra Pradesh , while the other one is located in Herbal Park. These hubs have already created thousands of jobs and are busy streamlining the food manufacturing and shipping process, which is exactly what India’s government officials wanted. With that said, it’s still only two hubs out of a total of 15. If they expect to throw up another 13 in such a short period of time, something is going to have to change.
There are a couple logistical problems faced by India’s government, one of which is the relationship between food suppliers and the processing hubs. In order for these hubs to work as they should, they need unique relationships developed between them and certain food suppliers; otherwise, they won’t have the food products they need to create or process their own products. If a hub fails to create these valuable relationships, they will find themselves with less products to create.
Another major factor that’s keeping the food hubs from being rolled out in a timely manner is the issue of land. As you can expect, it takes a lot of land to construct a processing facility capable of housing 10,000 workers. Depending on the exact specifications, it can take up over 60 square acres of land at the minimum. Trying to acquire this much land in certain areas is a difficult task to say the least.