Centre wants to usher in an Evergreen Revolution: Minister

‘Ensuring food security is top priority for government'

Union Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs K.V. Thomas has said that the Central government is committed to ensuring food security in the country. He was inaugurating the first Indo-U.S. International Conference on Polymers for Packaging Applications at Mahatma Gandhi University on Saturday.

Mr. Thomas said that the government has set the goal of ushering in an “Evergreen Revolution”, which would bring in enhanced value for agricultural commodities and produce to farmers, and ensure an increase in rural incomes and provide food security to the people of the country. The will be done by increasing several fold the levels of food processing, exports of packaged food products to other countries, preventing post-harvest losses of grains, fruits and vegetables, and ensuring proper distribution of food to the needy through the public distribution system.

These efforts have to take place in a multi-disciplinary manner, ensuring the sustainability of agricultural systems, and keeping in mind that food has not only be accessible to the public but also safe and free from contamination.

Packing plays an important role in this effort, he said.Elaborating on the importance of packaging, he said, packaging of foods, be it grains or for processed food on the retail shelves or for export markets, should not only be of the highest quality but also ensure that we do not increase our reliance on conventional plastics, and take up valuable space for disposal of materials that are non-degradable and sometimes toxic to the environment. The same holds true for packaging of consumer goods.

Mr. Thomas said the conference will be useful for scientific exchange among researchers from all over the world.

This also includes developing fresh partnerships cutting across organisations, States, countries, boundaries of which now increasingly appear to be artificial as far as scientific exchange and research collaboration are concerned.

The true value of the conference will appear in the cross cutting ideas that will be shared and developed and strong collaborative research partnerships that will evolve from this gathering of brilliant minds, for addressing the great challenges faced by the world today, including food security, energy independence, sustainable development and environmental stewardship.

He promised approval for a proposal for establishing an Advanced Centre for Agro-based Polymeric Materials that is intended to develop bio-degradable packaging applications. Submitted by the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of Mahatma Gandhi University, the project has been estimated to cost Rs. 23.9 crore.

Vice-Chancellor Rajan Gurukkal presided over the function. K.P. Sandeep of the North Carolina State University; Sajid Alavi of the Kansas State University; Sabu Thomas, Director, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; and Nandakumar Kalarikkal, Joint Director, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology spoke.