India invests in cold chain and processing to cut ag waste
On Tuesday, the government unveiled Sampada, a scheme to improve the processing of agricultural and marine produce by developing clusters which they hope will cut agriculture waste. The program will receive state funding of 60 billion rupees over five years, and will play the leading role in developing the food-processing sector. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the minister of food-processing industries, said Sampada will be launched "very soon" but did not give a date.
India is already the world's second largest producer of fruit and vegetables, but only 2.2% of these are processed. At present, cold stores exist in only a few states, and over 80% are used for potatoes only.
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source: asia.nikkei.com
