The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has emerged as the prime agency for the rural industrialisation in the country.
It is a sign of the Government’s trust that KVIC was made the nodal agency to implement the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), according to Gulam Hussain, Director of Agro Based Food Processing Industry (ABFPI), KVIC.
He was addressing a KVIC zonal level workshop on ‘Agro Based Food Processing Industry’ organised here on Thursday, in which Government officials, entrepreneurs and technical personnel from the four southern States participated.
“Around 40 per cent of the national PMEGP target comprises ABFPI projects. Technical officers and field staff must conduct awareness programmes and focus on the sector,” he said.
Tremendous potential exists for the sector as 60 per cent of the nation’s population depended on agriculture. Creating employment through micro industries would also reduce unemployment, he said.
Diverse activities
M.T. Wakode, KVIC Director, Madurai Division, said that from the earlier period of confining only to textile, KVIC had now diversified to different sectors such as food.
The workshop should discuss the difficulties in implementing various schemes. The recommendations arising out of the workshop should be taken to the notice of policy makers. KN. Subramanian, Lead District Manager, said that credit had become an important component of Government schemes, thereby making the role of banks vital.
Technical session
A technical session that followed the inauguration comprised presentations by officials from various fields. A presentation on ‘Processing of rice and rice based products’ was given by P. Pillayar, Chief Technical Officer of Tamil Nadu Food Grain Marketing Officer.
Presentations on ‘FPO Licensing and various grant schemes’ by Uma Maheswari, Inspecting Officer, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, and on ‘Agmark Licensing’ by R. Mohanasundaram, Senior Marketing Officer, AGMARK, were also given.
R.P. Asokan, Development Officer – PMEGP and A.P. Modak, Assistant Director, KVIC, spoke.
