Chandigarh, September 17:
Punjab Food Processing Minister Mr. O.P. Soni today released ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) report here at his official residence, which will help the state farmers and small industrialists to start their venture related with the potential products of their respective district to further boost their income and widening the reach of specific products worldwide in general.
Patting officials of the Punjab Agro Industry Corporation (PAIC) for preparing the scientific document, the minister said that the ODOP report would be of great help for the farmers engaged in allied farming activities. “Existing micro enterprises processing food products other than ODOP would also be supported, however new units seeking support under the scheme would have to process ODOP products identified for that district”, he added.
ODOP report has covered all the 22 districts of the state and scientifically identified one potential product for each district such as district Amritsar for Pickle and Murabba, Ludhiana for Bakery Products, Hoshiarpur & Fatehgarh Sahib for Jaggery, SAS Nagar, Mansa and Sri Muktsar Sahib for Milk and Milk Products, Barnala and Faridkot for Poultry/Meat/Fish and district Bathinda for honey, Patiala for Guava, Tarn Taran for Pear, Jalandhar & Moga for Potato, SBS Nagar for Peas, Ropar for Mango, Fazilka for Kinnow, Ferozepur for Chilli, Pathankot for Lichi, Kapurthala for Tomato, Gurdaspur for Cauliflower and Sangrur for Onion.
Divulging further, Mr. Manjit Singh Brar, Managing Director, PAIC said that the District Level Committees (DLCs) under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners have been constituted with General Manager, District Industries Center as its district Nodal Officer to provide secretarial support. He said that PAIC shall soon station resource persons having requisite experience in food technology in District Industrial Centres (DICs) for providing technical support to the DLC as well as to micro enterprises/ FPOs/SHGs/Cooperatives etc. He invited owners of all micro food enterprises to contact PAIC for further information and said that the ODOP report has been uploaded on the PAIC website www.punjabagro.co.in. He informed that in accordance with the timelines of the scheme, PAIC has prepared a comprehensive report on ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) and the same has been approved in the first meeting of State Level Approval Committee (SLAC), an apex body of the State Government to oversee implementation of the scheme.
Later, Mr. Soni presiding over a meeting also reviewed the status of implementation of the new centrally sponsored scheme ‘PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises’ launched on June 29, 2020.
During the meeting, Mr. Anirudh Tiwari, Additional Chief Secretary (Development & Food Processing) apprised that the scheme envisages to directly enhance competitiveness of over 6,672 new & existing micro food processing enterprises by not only providing credit-linked capital subsidy @ 35% with a maximum ceiling of Rs.10 lac per unit, but also by extending intensive hand holding support for entrepreneurship, technology and branding & marketing as well as capacity building.
Mr. Tiwari further said, it is a five year scheme starting 2020-21, adding that under the group category, Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups and Co-operatives would be supported with credit-linked capital subsidy @ 35% with maximum limit yet to be prescribed, along their entire value chain for sorting, grading, assaying, storage, common processing, packaging, marketing, processing of agri-produce and testing laboratories. Individual SHG members undertaking food processing would be given seed capital @ Rs.40,000 per member for working capital and purchase of small tools, he added.