Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 16: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) gathered together senior government functionaries and officials, experts, and industry leaders from food processing, agriculture and allied sectors at the 8th Agro& Food Processing Summit 2023 on Friday. The event was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Dr KB Kathiria, Anand Agriculture University, along with other dignitaries present, Shri B K Singhal, CGM NABARD Gujarat, Shri MK Kureshi, OSD (GM) GAICL Government of Gujarat, Sh. Dhaval Raval, Chairman, Food Processing Committee, ASSOCHAMGujarat, and Sh. Kunj Shah, Chairman, Renewable Energy Committee, ASSOCHAM Gujarat.

The 8th Agro& Food Processing Summit 2023 was aimed at bringing together all the stakeholders on one platform to discuss ways to strengthen the food processing sector. In an attempt to reshape the industry, the Summit had a special focus on investment, technology, infrastructure, finance, and skill development.

Summit also aimed to promote millet and Millets based food products and to support SHGs, Rural Women Entrepreneurs.

Dr KB Kathiria, Vice Chancellor of Anand Agriculture University, thanked ASSOCHAM for inviting and congratulating all the awardees; they elaborated on the role of the university in the Agro& Food Processing sector, production, harvest, post-harvest and processing; he said that about quality of products, Bio45 type varieties. Then he focused on millets products with high nutrientvarities; apart from that, he added universities also linking industry stakeholders for product processing.

“The Summit is also aimed at discussing value addition strategies for MSMEs by taking agricultural produce to the next level in collaboration with the big industry, demonstrating best practices on value addition in agriculture, showcasing emerging technologies for dairy, agro& food processing industry, discussing the issues and challenges related to food safety and standards regulations. I am confident that the Summit will be a very fruitful one,” he said.

Shri. M K Kureshi, OSD(GM) GAICL, Government of Gujarat, inform about PMFME schemes and Organic certifications for export and other GAICL schemes.

Shri. B K Singhal, CGM NABARD Gujarat, congratulate ASSOCHAM for organising this summit and said that Indian society is primarily agrarian; after 75 years of independence, only 48% population is involved in agriculture and contributes only 18%, the per capita income of farmers comes down. NABARD is implementing lots of schemes to grow up Indian food processing sector.

The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion on “Standards and Certifications for Enhancing Food Safety and Quality” and a technical session focused on “Infrastructure, Skill Development, Technology, Finance, and Entrepreneurship”. Senior government officials, academicians, bankers, and industry experts participated in the panel discussions.

The 8th Agro& Food Processing Summit 2023 was also aimed at bringing awareness of various state and central schemes in the food processing sector for MSMEs, discussing ways to minimise wastage in the food processing chain by developing robust infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of agro and food produce, encouraging and promoting women entrepreneurs and startups in the space, working out a roadmap to address the skill gap in the sector, and accelerating digital transformation & Industry 4.0 adoption in the industry for making it globally competitive.

During the event, various stalls were present by SGH’s Groups, Organic Food Industry, Millets Based food producers etc.

Financial institutes like SIDBI, SBI, UCO Bank, and Punjab National Bank also participated in this event to showcase their schemes for the grown-up Indian Agro& Food Processing Sector; some Self Help groups participated and make live counters for Millets products.

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