NEW DELHI: India has the volume to support food security of many other countries, but the full potential of the food processing sector has not been tapped yet, food processing minister Chirag Paswan said on Friday, while emphasising the need to take this sector deeper into the rural India.Paswan said that in the food processing industry, India has volume, but now there is a need to focus on value addition. He said there are key challenges, including making farmers financially strong, which can happen only when they have holding capacity to sell their produce when they get a good price. The minister said this can happen when the shelf life of farm produce is enhanced by value addition. He added that there is a need to set up more food processing units close to agriculture production hubs. He also highlighted the need to address wastage, particularly of perishable products.He said several interventions, which govt has taken in the past decade, will help India to position itself as a global food basket. On India’s growth story, Paswan said a decade of structural reforms under PM Modi have strengthened the country’s economic resilience. Paswan said even amid global uncertainties, India remains the fastest-growing major economy. He added the country’s next leap will be powered not merely by scale, but by value creation particularly in agriculture and allied sectors. “Our agriculture sector is shifting from subsistence to value creation,” he said, underscoring the renewed focus on animal husbandry, fisheries, and food processing.On India-US deal, Paswansaid the interests of farmers will never be compromised. The assurance came as the Opposition raised questions over the deal, calling it ‘anti-farmer.” “India is one of the fastest-growing economies. That means we are doing something right. Our policies are often challenged, but we are allaying every fear.”
