Farmers of Gangapur and Khultabad in Maharashtra have been working on setting up eight food processing units with each comprising 250 farmers.

Prashant Bumb, member of legislative assembly (MLA) from the region, explains, “We are coming up with eight food processing companies among 250 farmers. Talks are going on with six to seven companies to procure good quality seeds. Within the coming six months we will try to acquire about  1,000 ha land for proper and organised cultivation.”

Apart from procuring land, Bumb and his associates are faced with the issue of lack of awareness on food processing among the farmers. He stated, “Lack of awareness was a hindrance. But now we are trying to create awareness through workshops so that farmers can be equipped with knowledge to start working on their own.”

Among his plans for the future, Bumb envisions to initiate a food processing unit for tomato as Aurangabad district is known for producing the commodity in abundance. Tomatoes will be processed to manufacture tomato sauce and sell it to leading players in the segment. The units will also process chillies, ginger and other vegetables. 

Training the farmers is going to be a challenge in this regard. Bumb said, “We are trying to get established players like Maggi within three years to provide basic training to the farmers so that the tomatoes can be acquired from the farm and processed output through the processing units can reach the consumer market.”

Bumb informed that talks were on to open branch of Horticulture Training Centre (HTC), Talegaon- Dabhade, in Aurangabad for training the farmers.

He concluded on an optimistic note, “This initiative will not just create business to the farmers but it can actually create food security. A farmer while working on field need not worry about how to get his produce sold. There will be companies to buy their produce.”