Harsimrat Kaur Badal interview: 'Healthy and packaged food have to go hand in hand'

THE FOOD PROCESSING department was under the agriculture ministry until Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it a separate ministry, and appointed Harsimrat Kaur Badal as its head. Almost five years later, she is happy with the progress made in infrastructure building, and has a lot of plans in the pipeline.

Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

Why hive off food processing into a different ministry?

India is one of the largest producers of food in the world. We are number one in the production of milk, and number two in fruits, vegetables, cereals, poultry and meat. So, we have a huge raw material base. But, we process only 10 per cent of what we produce. As a result, we have high wastage.

This is because there is not enough infrastructure for storage, preservation and processing. We have been working for the past five years to boost this sector.

What are your immediate expectations from infrastructure building?

It is one of the highest generators of employment. The mega food park and cold chain schemes employ a large number of women. Furthermore, the more [the food] processed, the more it will be preserved, and the more will be the availability. This means inflation stays in check. Cold storage and preservation will ensure year-long availability. So, it is a good idea for consumers as well.

The Central government aims to double farmers' income by 2022. What is your ministry's role?

By how much can [a farmer] increase his production? There is a limit to that. But when he starts value adding... a kilo of potatoes sells for Rs 2, but a packet of chips sells for Rs 50. So, he has to go for value addition.

The Gram Samridhi Yojana is a major project (that will boost the unorganised food processing sector). It is going to be implemented by this ministry, but is yet to be approved by the cabinet. [It will take about a year] to distribute the Rs 3,000 crore to small farmers [covered in the scheme]. The benefits of distributing that is going to go to another minister, but for two years I have worked on and created this scheme. It will be first tried out in four states—Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

With the mega food parks coming up, it is clear that jobs are being created. Each park will create at least 5,000 to 10,000 jobs. It will impact at least two lakh farmers directly and indirectly.

Can you tell us about a scheme that is already operational?

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana was sanctioned in 2017, and three more schemes were added to it, for the backward-forward linkages, so that even a group of small farmers could put up its own cold storage, do its own washing, cleaning and grading, and have its own small processing unit.

Any policy changes by this government?

We created a Rs 2,000 crore fund in NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) to provide cheaper credit to the food processing sector, as regular banks consider it risky and do not give them money.

When you took charge, was there a market for processed and packaged food in India?

When infrastructure started coming up, we realised markets were needed. That was when I asked for 100 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail of food produced and manufactured in India, which the government agreed to. That is when the likes of Amazon and eight or nine other companies came in. When I took over in 2014, the FDI was $500 million; we are close to a billion [dollars] now.

Which farm produce needs to be processed the most?

Under Operation Greens, 500 million has been given for TOP—tomatoes, onions and potatoes—because these are used in every Indian household, and the farmers growing these have been under maximum distress. When there is a glut, we partner with NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited), which buys [the excess] at the market rate and sends it to the closest consuming place. This is a new scheme.

What is your biggest challenge?

The problem is the dissemination of the schemes to the farmers. If [all] the state governments are not proactive, a handful of states where the governments are proactive take advantage of all these amazing schemes.

On my part, I have made it possible for them to apply online, but it might not be easy for all farmers. The idea is that they can apply from anywhere, all the monitoring is done online, and they do not have to come here and grease the palms of babus.

Which states are most proactive?

The most proactive state is Maharashtra. [Sharad] Pawarji had been heading this ministry (agriculture) for ten years. In those years, he managed to set up the systems well. There are good consulters, good ways of disseminating the information, the government is more proactive, and it is more demand driven. Andhra Pradesh [and] Gujarat [are also] very good.

How about Punjab, the agrarian state you come from?

Not a single minister from there has come and asked me for anything. They are there just to delay and stall projects for political reasons.

In a country where people prefer to cook and eat, what will be the future of packaged food?

Packaged food is going to play an important role in a country like ours, where 50 to 60 per cent women are still anaemic, and produce anaemic children. The way to address this is to give them fortified food. Healthy food and packaged food will have to go hand in hand.