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1.1
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Economic reform process has provided a boost to the efforts of the State towards rapid industrialisation. In terms of new investments, Gujarat is amongst the top States in the country. The State has so far attracted major investments in sectors like Chemical and Petro Chemicals, Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Dyes & Chemicals, etc. Investment in agro industrial sector, however, has remained at less than the national average (in percentage terms), despite the State having several advantages such as seven agro climatic zones, with wide variation in soil type, water availability and climate, abundant natural resources suitable for a variety of commercial crops like oil seeds, cotton seeds, spices and cereals. The State has very high level of production and productivity in several agri and horticulture crops in the country. The State has an established network of market yards besides industrial peace, responsive farming community and above all, its unique geographical location, proximity to national and international markets through its fairly well developed ports, airports and roads. |
| 1.2 |
Gujarat stands fourth in the country in terms of per capita agricultural out put. The State Government has also identified Agro and Food Processing Industries as one of the Thrust Industries in the new Industrial Policy 1995-2000. However, substantial investments have not come to this sector. Further, actual implementation of such projects has been poor, and less than in States like Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab. |
| 1.3 |
Despite excellent potential for growth, a critical constraint in development of agro and food processing industry, is the lack of supply chain infrastructure across the entire food chain. While Gujarat possesses competitive advantages in several crops like castor, cotton and horticultural crops such as bananas, mangoes, this advantage is often frittered away due to lack of farmer education in adopting best practices and understanding needs of focussed end users. Numerous middlemen add to wastages from the farm to the consumer, retail, processor or exporter. This leads to 30-35% wastages from the farm gate to the final consumer leading to price trade-up. Farmers realise a mere 25-30% of the final consumer price as opposed to 65-70% in well developed agricultural markets. |
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