Wednesday 9 September 2009

Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Ltd.


Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Ltd. (PFHPL)” is the first Mega Food Park in the country which is being established in Hardwar in the state of Uttarakhand under the able guidance of Yogrishi Swami Ramdevji and Acharya Balkrishnaji. The foundation stone for the first of the 10 mega food parks being set up by the government to boost the country's food processing industry was laid on Feb 25 by Central Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai.The new park will span 95 acres of land around the Padartha village on Luxor road where a couple of factories linked to the food processing industry will initially come up.It is a first step taken the Patanjali Yogpeeth of Hardwar towards empowerment of agro economy of the state. To be set up at a cost Rs 500 crore, the park will have 32 processing units to obtain value-added products of fruits and vegetables like juice, pulp, puree, candies, herbal products and pickles. Many entrepreneurs from all over the country will be associated in this mega project, sharing common infrastructure and support services. It will be a boon for the growers of these fruits and vegetables since they can give their bulk produce to feed this mega utility park. The growers will be trained how to grow Indian gooseberry (amla) and aloe Vera crops on barren lands by the training centres of the food park and Patanjali Yogpeeth will develop 100 such centres which shall also provide good quality seed and manure to farmers. While a unit for powder and extract making of herbs is being planned at a later stage, project to procure bio-diesel from jetropa and crude palm oil is also on the cards. The park is part of the Mega Food Parks Scheme launched by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries under the 11th Plan to boost the country's booming food processing industry by reducing wastage of produce at the farm level and establishing a supply chain management that will take food in processed form from the farm gate to the retail outlet. Private players may participate and avail of the facilities at this Mega Food Park by means of using the processing plants, storage facilities ( dry and cold), round the year supply of processable inputs, one stop solution for various legal, infrastructural challenges and forward linkages support. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) is created which is promoted by 11 independent entrepreneurs who are already into agri-business, food processing sector and related businesses. This Mega Food Park at Padartha, Haridwar will have a catchment’s area in the radius of 150 kilometres, covering the districts of Hardwar, Dehradun, Pauri, Tehri Garhwal, and some parts of Nainital & Uttarkashi districts in Uttarakhand and Saharanpur, Bijnor and Muzafarnagar Districts in Uttar Pradesh.