‘Food technologists have great scope’

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti says Rs. 44,000 crore worth grain lost

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti giving away gold medal and a certificate to S. Nancy Jennifer, B. Tech student of Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology, in Thanjavur on Friday.K. Singaravadivel, centre, Director, IICPT, is at the centre.— PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM

About Rs. 44,000 crore worth crops and food grains are lost annually for want of proper processing and safe storage facilities. Crop processing technology offers enormous scope for preventing that loss, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said here on Friday.

Addressing the graduation ceremony at the Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT), the Sadhvi said the nation must prevent that loss to ensure a better livelihood for millions of people. “For that to happen, we need more crop and food technologists,” she said.

Stating that around 5,300 food technologists, including 2,300 postgraduates, were passing out every year at present, the Union Minister said there was enough demand for more than one lakh graduates to stem the pilferage and loss of foodgrains and crop that was bleeding the rural economy.

Such a large number of graduates would propel India into a pre-eminent position at the global level in the food grains production sphere.

Realising this, the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries was spending Rs. 1,440 crore on institutions involved in dissipating food and crop processing technology, she said.

Urging the graduates to “show their mettle to improve the food and crop processing technological field,” the Union Minister assured them that the Centre was fully behind them if they chose to become entrepreneurs providing jobs for others.

“The Centre under Narendra Modi is encouraging entrepreneurs to establish food parks across the nation with the help and assistance of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The youth must come forward to utilise the opportunity,” she said.

The Union Minister said India had moved up from a starved nation to one that had adequate food security. But steps must be taken to ensure that the food was not lost. That would be a real tribute to the cherished dreams of Mahatma Gandhi who stressed on the need for rural uplift at the heart of national development, she said.

Thanjavur Collector N. Subbaiyan, Director of Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Ram Rajasekaran; Director of IICPT K. Singaravadivel, Deputy Secretary of Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries, G.D. Sharma, and Controller of Examinations at Annamalai University A. Raghupathy spoke.