Govt to hold 3-day festival to promote organic foods

New Delhi, Feb 13 () The government will organise an organic food festival for women entrepreneurs from February 21-23 here to promote the segment which is projected to expand nearly three-fold to Rs 75,000 crore in market size in the next five years, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Thursday.

The three-day festival will be organised jointly by Food Processing and Women & Child Development ministries at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in the national capital. The theme of this festival is 'Unleasing India's Organic Market Potential'.

"We are organising an organic food festival in Delhi where more than 150 women entrepreneurs, over 40 self help groups and two co-operatives from all over the country will be participating," Badal told reporters here.

The minister said the festival would provide a platform for these women entrepreneurs to exhibit their organic produce as well as for consumers to buy products.

The government will be investing around Rs 3 crore to organise this festival, she said, adding that the entry would be free for public. As many as 10 states and industry chambers helped in reaching out to these 150 entrepreneurs.

Badal said such festival would be organised regularly across various states.

Talking the about potential in this sector, the minister said the organic market is estimated to reach Rs 75,000 crore by 2025 from Rs 27,000 crore currently.

Food Processing Secretary Pushpa Subrahmanyam highlighted that India is ranked number one in organic producers and 9th in area under cultivation for organic products.

The country produced around 1.7 million tonnes of certified organic products in 2017-18. It exported organic products worth USD 515 million in the same year.

To boost organic products and women entrepreneurship, the two ministries had signed an MoU to help them get connected with government's financial schemes.

The overall effort is targeted towards strengthening 'organic' branding for India by enhancing direct linkage of local producers with buyers as well as boosting processing potential of organic output.

During the festival, training programmes will be organised for women entrepreneurs in the area of packaging, storage, marketing, innovations on renewable energy, food safety regulations and organic certifications. MJH

RUJ