UP okays food processing projects of Rs 200 crore

To link the agricultural sector directly with the market, the Uttar Pradesh government has cleared 14 food processing projects totalling more than Rs 200 crore.

The approved private projects encompass an array of farm segments including vegetables, horticulture, dairy, poultry etc.

These projects will be developed in major industrial and commercial hubs of Varanasi, Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bareilly, Ayodhya, Rampur etc.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said food processing holds immense potential for augmenting the farm income and generating large-scale employment opportunities.

He has directed officials to create awareness about the subsidies being provided under the Uttar Pradesh Food Processing Industry Policy 2023 so that more enterprises could be established.

The Yogi Adityanath is dexterously promoting food processing so that farmers receive better prices due to an enriched agricultural value chain.

The state has received food processing proposals pertaining to namkeen and sweets production; frozen vegetable processing; culinary herbs; milk powder, desi ghee, paneer, and whey powder production; spice units; ready-to-cook products (pre-mix dalia and khichdi); poultry feed units etc.

The approved processing units will procure raw materials from local farmers and livestock producers.

The investors are also mandated to submit a list of 100 farmers or dairy producers from whom raw materials will be purchased to qualify for the incentives.

The Yogi government envisions establishing 75,000 new food processing units in Uttar Pradesh, which currently has a network of roughly 65,000 food processing units across 75 districts.

With rising global demand, countries such as the US, Bangladesh, the UAE and Vietnam are increasingly importing Indian processed food items.

UP's agri economy has leaped three-folds in the last eight years. Compared to UP agricultural sector’s Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of Rs 2 trillion in the financial year 2016-17, the corresponding GSVA jumped to Rs 7 trillion in 2024-25.

The Yogi government is targetting to propel the UP agriculture and allied activities to contribute $1 trillion to the state's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) by 2047.