The Non Banking Financial Institution for food processing and Mission Green will be rolled out soon, said Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India at the CII’S National Post Harvest and Logistics Summit 2018, in association with Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Agriculture, and National Center for Cold Chain Development (NCCD). The Non Banking Financial Institution would not only lend to the food processing sector but provide other services such as capacity building, risk assessment, sensitising banks, research and development which would give impetus for the sector to enable it to grow at a much faster pace. Mission Green, which focuses on Tomato, Onion and Potato would rolled out as a pilot in identified clusters initially, mentioned the Minister, urging the private sector to collaborate on this.

Dr. Ashok Dalwai , Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority,  Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Government of India and Chairman, Doubling Farmers Income,  stated that in the last four years the emphasis has been to introduce reforms for liberalisation of the agriculture sector to transform it into a private sector enterprise. He mentioned that there was need for greater collaboration between different Ministries to build a robust agriculture supply chain. While the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Food Processing industries are already working together, he felt that there was a need to bring the Ministry of Transport to enable multi modal transport.

Mr. P K Swain, Joint Secretary (Marketing)-Cum – Agriculture Marketing, Advisor to the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare  urged for a greater partnership of the private sector with the farmer producer organisations.

Mr. P Ravichandran, Chairman, CII Task Force on Post Harvest & Logistics and President, Danfoss Industries Private Limited outlined the CII Post Harvest & Logistic Charter. He mentioned that it started with the aim to reduce food losses and now the focus was around innovation and capacity building and handholding of start ups. CII’s Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (CII FACE) has carried out a study on ease of doing business for setting up cold storages, and pilot studies on fisheries in Andhra Pradesh and up gradation of rural Haats to GrAMS is going to start soon.

The other dignitaries present during the summit were Dr. M. Ariz Ahmmed, Managing Director, National Horticulture Board; Mr. T. Nand Kumar, Ex-Chairman, NDDB; Mr. Parag Gupta, Joint secretary, Ministry of Food processing Industries,  Mr. Pawanexh Kohli, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Advisor, National Centre for Cold Chain Development; and Dr. DS Gangwar, Additional secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

The Summit saw felicitation of winners of the 3rd CII Cold Chain Awards. The Award has been initiated by CII in partnership with National Center on Cold Chain Development. The award aims to recognize organizations for pre-eminence and outstanding contributions in the field of cold chain management including warehouse, logistics, Supply chain Management and policy systems and to raise awareness with regard to sustainable success and competitiveness through best practices.

In the category of Outstanding Performance Best Practices in Cold Chain, the winners are Dodla Dairy Limited (Large Segment), Crystal Logistics Cool Chain Ltd. (Medium Segment), Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd (Small Segment) ; Significant achievement for Best Practices in Cold Storage to Global Entrade;  Outstanding Performance Packhouse to  Desai Fruits & Vegetables Pvt Ltd ; Outstanding Performance Ripening chamber to Keventer Agro Limited ;  outstanding Performance Integrated supply chain Solution (Large segment) to Gopaljee Dairy Foods Pvt Ltd and (Medium Segment) to Pagro Frozen Foods Pvt Ltd; Significant achievement  for Integrated Supply chain Solution to Ahmedabad District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd;  Outstanding Performance  Innovation to Serap India Pvt. Ltd; Letter of Appreciation for Packhouse to SMV Exports; and Letter of Appreciation  for Integrated Supply Chain Solution to Nufarm Frozens Pvt Ltd and H N Agri Serve Pvt Ltd.

The jury for the CII Cold Chain Awards were Dr. Ashok Dalwai, Chief executive Officer, National Rainfed area Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Mr. Pawanexh Kohli, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Advisor, National Centre for Cold Chain Development, Dr. Harsev Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Diary, Mr. S. K. Sharma, Managing Director, Global Agri, Mr. B. Thiagarajan, Joint Managing Director, Blue Star. The assessors of the award were leaders from Cold-chain Industry and practicing managers from the Indian organisations with relevant technical expertise, competence, experience and exposure to global Cold Chain standards and practices.

The summit saw participation of over 200 delegates from Government organizations like the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Food Processing, National Horticulture Board, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, National Centre for Cold Chain Development, NIFTEM, various embassies and private sector.

25 September 2018

New Delhi