India News | Huge Potential to Invest in Harvesting, Storage of Agri-produce in West Bengal: Official
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A huge scope exists for entrepreneurs to invest in harvesting, storage, transport and processing of agricultural produce in West Bengal, an official said on Wednesday.
Kolkata, Mar 6 (PTI) A huge scope exists for entrepreneurs to invest in harvesting, storage, transport and processing of agricultural produce in West Bengal, an official said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a session organised by MCCI here, food processing industries and horticulture department additional chief secretary Subrata Gupta said West Bengal is among the top producing states in vegetables and fruits.
The state had also exported vegetables worth Rs 5,700 crore and fruits worth Rs 5,500 crore.
However, he said that problems faced by entrepreneurs in the food processing sector are poor CIBIL (credit) scores and a lack of balance sheet to avail loans from banks.
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Nearly one-sixth of the production goes to waste as appropriate technology is not used to preserve them, Gupta said.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) general manager Partha Mandal said that out of 900-odd farmers producer organisations (FPOs) in West Bengal, 400 are under the apex refinancing body.
He said an open network for digital commerce (ONDC) helps small producers onboard their products on e-commerce platforms.
He also said high air freight rates are an obstacle for exporters in the horticulture sector.
The Nabard official also stressed on the need for farm registration as it is now mandatory for exporters willing to ship out their products to the European Union countries.
He also urged the state government to set up laboratories for testing products.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)