The X-factor of Gujarat Food Processing

Gujarat, tagged as the most ‘investor friendly’ state of India, tops in food processing (combining dairy, agro, poultry and fisheries) with 9.6% growth rate. Committed to offer financial support and incentives for food processing projects as part of infrastructure development or market research, the State is also home to fisheries, poultry, and agro products. Other positive aspects are skilled labour; enterprising farmers and most importantly strong networking the State has achieved across the country and abroad. ‘Cleanliness & hygiene’ is one of the most crucial aspects in food processing industry; Does Gujarat have the latest equipment, tools & accessories to attain quality standards? Are the food processing companies adopting/investing in cleaning? Suprita Anupam finds out…

The worth of packaged Indian food is expected to touch US$30bn by 2015. Gujarat has currently over 16,400 small enterprises in food processing, beverage and tobacco processing and about 30,000 food processing units which employ over a million people in the State. Amul, the largest food processing brand in the world, finds prominent place in the State.
Keen to promote the industry further, Gujarat has established Food/Agro-Export Zones and has also initiated a provision for providing support to private sector industries, apex cooperative institutions and committees for setting up of Centres of Excellence/ Specific Crop Development Institutes.
“Animal husbandry and dairy have played a vital role in the rural economy of Gujarat. Dairy farming, primarily concerned with milk production, functions on a cooperative basis and has more than a million members. Gujarat is the largest producer of milk in India. Amul milk co-operative federation products are well known all over India and is Asia’s biggest dairy. Among livestock raised are buffalo and other cattle, sheep, and goats,” observes ET.

Policy Initiatives and Financial Assistance

Amending the old APMC Act of 1963 in 2007, Gujarat’s new revised policy has included provisions for setting up private mandis, direct procurement/sale from farmers’ fields, contract farming, setting up and promoting agricultural marketing extension units, a big relief to improve and ensure the availability of raw materials to entire food processing industry. Food processing industries have been put in the list of priority sectors for bank lending – implying easier availability of credit.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ new policy inter-alia has the brought broad Schemes – Scheme of Interest Subsidy (ceiling of र25.00 lakh for MSME units and र50.00 lakh for large units), Scheme for Assistance in Core Infrastructure (for industrial parks with a ceiling of र20.00 crore), Scheme for Assistance in Setting up Common Facilities (grant ceiling of र10.00 crore), Scheme for Assistance in setting up Common Effluent Treatment Plant and Scheme for setting up Centre of Excellence.

 

The new Industrial Policy of the State aims at promoting inclusive growth and sustainable development. The economic growth and development which are envisaged for the State would also have a significant and important contribution to the agricultural sector in the State.
The focus shift is clear, “Instead of developing at the expense of agricultural growth, the development being planned foresees an overall growth on account of agriculture sector,” say ministry officials.
Under Gujarat manufacturing Industrial policy 2013, “the state provides financial assistance to attract the investment in Hi-Tech Agriculture, pre-farm gate value addition projects, food processing & infrastructure projects, research for varietal development and post-harvest management, quality certifications in entire value chain, setting up of food testing Laboratories, export of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, live plants by air and sea route, participation in International Trade Fairs will be provided. With such an elaborate intervention being planned in the value chain of agro production and processing, the state government aims at providing a significant impetus to this sector and ensure a sustained growth. Also the output from this sector would be directed to further processing.”

Infrastructure

For a food processing industry, a state-of-the-art infrastructure is a must to keep the food products healthy and hygienic within the prescribed timeframe. This needs a large number of Cold Storages, good roads and warehouses. Gujarat has got all. The State has approximately 400 cold storages with a total capacity of approximately 1270000MT. Gujarat State Warehousing Corporation and Central Warehousing Corporation together provide around 8.5 lakhs MT capacity in the state, making the necessary raw materials available throughout the year.
Further, in line with the nation’s import-export policy, the State government has earmarked Agriculture Export Zones for mangoes and vegetables value-added onions (Saurashtra) under the scheme of Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority.
Key players in the food segment of Gujarat include Amul, Vadilal, Balaji, McCain and Rasna among others.

Cleaning & hygiene concerns 

With 17 Cooperative dairy plants, 25 private dairy plants and 16044 Co-operative societies, Gujarat has a very well established dairy industry which accounts for the largest dairy products and export in the country. When it comes to the mechanised and automated cleaning methodology, very few companies or units have adopted it. “Today, if hygienic awareness is not being maintained, then a number of factors, including lack of infrastructure are responsible for it. I am saying infrastructure because cleaning & hygiene and environment are the inherent parameters while building an infrastructure. Take a look at old buildings; their design are totally unhygienic. It takes a lot of manpower, tools, chemicals and time to clean such buildings. These involve manual operation,” Dr. Rathnam points out, MD-Amul Dairy. 

“Undoubtedly, new cleaning solu
tions have brought remarkable change, but certain chemical formulations must be improved. More portable cleaning equipment which can easily get into the pump and pipeline area, and can clean the area effectively are needed. The existing small machines are not in accordance with our requirement.”
Another food processing giant, Vadilal which entered the processed foods industry to optimise utilisation of its extensive cold chain network in the 1990s, currently caters to the domestic and export markets with products such as frozen vegetables and ready to eat snacks, curries and breads. “Both food processing and pharma fields are equally sensitive to the quality of cleanliness and hygiene standards. Both need to pass through the various compliances such as FDA. Hence, from

housekeeping point of view I will say, both are similar and essentially need the required attention to keep the manufacturing license/permit continue,” says Anil Patil, Vice President -Supply Chain, Vadilal Industries Ltd. “Services offered by manufacturers are very poor, they takes more often a week or more time to make these machines work. This leaves the onlyoption ‘Buy 2-3 back up or stand up machines’ which is unnecessary from procurement point of view if good servicing could be offered within a short time.”

Also known as the ‘Sultan of Wafers’, Balaji Wafers has won accolades across the globe for quality maintenance of its manufacturing facility. ChanduBhai Virani, MD-Balaji Wafers says, “We have bought ride-on sweepers to clean the plant area. High pressure jet cleaning systems are installed at the shop floor for cleaning the machines. Deep cleaning is done once a week.”
As it appears, the big food processing companies in the State have either adopted or in process of adopting the latest cleaning and hygiene solutions, small and medium scale companies haven’t adopted or even aware of the developments made in cleaning and hygiene.

Project Opportunities

Showing the best performance among all the States, Gujarat has bagged several central projects into its pocket. Among them, one is the establishment of mega food processing park. According the Anil Group, promoter of food processing park at Paldi, “Such parks will be a one stop hub for food processing companies. They will be provided all the infrastructural facilities including the construction of enabling infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water and gas supply, collection and treatment system, storm water drainage, logistics centre, parking and weighing bridge.”

Schemes initiated