“You have to think about the scale. We keep saying small, small, but the time for small things have long passed in this world… In fact you have to bear in mind that the future of the industry is on it’s scale,” Rupala said in the summit organised by ASSOCHAM.
Small is passe’. Think about scale, is what Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Parshottam Rupala said while talking about the need for industries to scale up for future growth, while speaking at the inaugural function of 11th International Food Processing; Agribusiness; Dairy Summit cum Exhibition organised on Thursday.
“You have to think about the scale. We keep saying small, small, but the time for small things have long passed in this world… In fact you have to bear in mind that the future of the industry is on it’s scale,” Rupala said in the summit organised by ASSOCHAM.
“If I can give you an instance of a local industry, then in diamond (sector), there were a lot of units in many villages in our region (Saurashtra). They used to start by keeping 10 polishing machines. They used to run very nicely. But today the diamond units that are employing 5000 or 10000 people are running well. This (stress of larger scale) is a by-product of a progressing world and globalisation. If you make five kilograms of very good quality chutney, it will not work. You have to produce in quantity that will fit containers,” Rupala told a gathering largely consisting of MSME players operating in the food, agribusiness and dairy sectors.
Rupala told the gathering that 80 per cent of the farmers in India have small land holdings and are restricted to growing traditional crops, “Increase the scale of whatever product. Get together. Five farmers cannot do anything, but if 100 farmers, get together then they will have 100 acres of land parcel and they will be able to deliver,” he said.
Talking about how changes have to be brought in to the agribusiness sector that will help improve the earnings of farmers in the country, Rupala said, “How many years will we spend in implementing a good idea. We have to implement it in whichever manner possible… We have to impose certain things saying this is compulsory. Taking a small pox vaccine is not a happy experience for anyone. But it has to be taken. We cannot say that we will wait till 7-8 people in our family gets it (the disease). It cannot happen like that.”
The minister also said that the agribusiness sector could also tap business offered by organising of events. “In our country, events and Utsavs are the biggest functions… In a single year, such events that cater to 25 crore people, take place. We should think about catering to such events,” Rupala said. He said the food processing sector should initially concentrate on the domestic market.
Talking about the recent trend to buy organic food, the minister said, “Sikkim has been declared an organic state. Now we are encouraging all the states lying in the Himalayan range to take the same route. In our state, the state government is considering to promote Dang in the same direction. People want to have organic food.”
Earlier, speaking at the event, Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Gujarat said that the state government was considering to declare Dangs as an organic district along with neighbouring areas like Dharampur, Kaprada and Vansda.
