Processing of Horticultural Crops

Categorization of different processing units

Categorization of different processing units
The categorization of different processing units in the country indicate that 70% of the total units comprised of home/cottage/small scale sectors having capacity to process up to 250 tonnes/annum, while 30% of the units consisted of large scale sector with a capacity to process about 30 tonnes/hr. However, large scale sector contribute 70% of the total production of processed products in India. Region wise distribution of units in country is comprised of Western 41%, South 28%, North 22% and about 9% in Eastern region. With respect to public and private sectors, about 95% of the total units fall under the private sector and only 0f 5% in different states in India up to the year 2008 (5166 units) is given in Table 1.3. Major products which are prepared in these units includes pulps, juices, concentrates, dried and processed vegetables, pickle, chutney, alcoholic and non-alcholic beverages. The proportion of different products accounts for fruit juices and pulp (27%), ready to serve (RTS) beverages (13%), pickles (12%), jams and jellies (10%), synthetic syrup (8%), squashes (4%), tomato products (4%), canned products (4%) and other products (18%).

During 2007, India exported 9.53 lakh tonnes of processed foods (Table-1.4) comprising of mango pulp, juices, concentrates, dried and processed vegetables, pickle and chutney, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages worth Rs 2,757.74 crores (APEDA 2007). As such export value of processed products was higher then that of export value of fresh fruits and vegetables (2411.7 crores) during the same year. Thus there is a good scope for processing of fruit and vegetables in to different products to reduce wastage and earn foreign exchange.

Table 1.3 State-wise categorization of FPO licensed fruit & vegetable processing units in India.

Sr.no	State	Large Scale	Small Scale		Cottage Scale	Home Scale B	Re-labeler	Total
			B	A
1	Andhra Pradesh	117	19	18	44	54	44	296
2	Arunachal Pradesh	-	-	-	1	1	-	2
3	Assam	7	3	2	7	26	1	46
4	Bihar	6	6	3	7	14	7	43
5	Chandigarh	1	1	3	1	3	1	10
6	Chhattisgarh	1	-	2	-	2	1	6
7	Delhi	6	10	11	36	56	90	209
8	Goa	1	2	2	11	22	4	42
9	Gujarat	77	36	27	63	51	51	305
10	Haryana	19	12	29	43	38	25	166
11	Himachal Pradesh	15	13	21	31	29	7	116
12	Jammu & Kashmir	4	6	12	27	21	7	77
13	Jharkhand	1	5	7	5	6	4	28
14	Karnataka	68	41	36	53	58	72	328
15	Kerala	21	38	42	112	174	58	445
16	Madhya Pradesh	20	13	9	34	30	7	113
17	Maharashtra	123	75	73	236	382	159	1048
18	Manipur	3	3	-	8	1	1	16
19	Meghalaya	-	1	2	4	3	-	10
20	Mizoram	1	1	-	-	1	-	3
21	Nagaland	2	1	1	-	2	-	6
22	Orissa	5	1	-	5	7	2	20
23	Punjab	24	18	32	65	73	18	230
24	Rajasthan	5	12	12	26	43	8	106
25	Sikkim	1	-	-	1	2	-	4
26	Tamil Nadu	113	25	17	109	204	76	544
27	Tripura	3	1	-	-	2	1	7
28	Uttar Pradesh	31	25	46	129	212	42	485
29	Uttaranchal	17	12	9	29	56	6	129
30	West Bengal	23	20	23	69	128	45	308
31	Andaman Nicobar Island	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
32	Dadar & Nagar Haweli	1	1	1	1	3	-	7
33	Pondicherry	1	-	-	1	7	-	9
34	Grand Total	717	401	441	1159	1711	737	5166

Table 1.4: Export status of processed products in India

S.No.	Item	2006-07
		Quantity (,000 MT)	Value (Rs. Crores)
1.	Dried and preserved vegetables	125.7	429.94
2.	Mango Pulp	166.8	509.69
3.	Pickle & Chutney	158.5	250.62
4.	Alcoholic & Non-alcoholic beverages	59.6	338.56
5.	Other processed fruits & vegetables	311.8	754.46
6.	Miscellaneous prepared products	130.8	474.47
	Total	953.2	2757.74

Objectives of fruit and vegetable processing

1. To reduce wastage and losses: Fruit and vegetable industry is the backbone of horticulture industry as it takes care of all possible waste that occurs in spite of improvement in the distribution and marketing of fresh produce.
2. To handle glut: Produce during glut season utilized for making different processed products, thus fruit processing helps in reducing wastage and handling excess produce during glut season.
3. To stabilize farm prices and income: It stabilizes farm price by utilizing the excess produce in value addition to provide additional income to the farmers.
4. To utilize marketable surplus: Processing utilizes marketable surplus as well as cull and deformed produce, to ensure remunerative returns to the growers.
5. To generate employment: Processing of fruits and vegetables being a labour intensive helps to generate both direct and indirect employment for the masses.
6. To add variety to the diet: Value addition/processing make the food more attractive and palatable.
7. To ensure nutritional security.
8. To earn foreign exchange through export of processed fruit and vegetable products.

Major constraints in expansion of food industry

1. Variation in fresh produce quality involving frequent changes in production schedules.
2. Low productivity and high cost of raw material: Low production percent area in our country in comparison to horticulturally advanced countries is one of the major factors leading to high cost of raw material (Table-1.5).
3. Lower quality of raw material (low in soluble solids) in our country leads to requirement of comparatively more raw material for production of equivalent quantity of finished products, thus resulting in higher cost of production (Table 1.5).
4. Non availability of cost effective technologies for processing and packaging of fresh and processed products.
5. Lack of infrastructure for post harvest management, cool chain and cold storages.
6. Non-availability of trained man-power.
7. Low domestic demand of processed fruit and vegetable products due to high cost.
8. Irregular in supply and non-uniform quality of processed products due to variation in raw material quality and use of batch processes.
9. High cost of packaging material, higher taxes and excise duties.
10. Low capacity utilization in food industries.
11. Financial and fiscal constraints.
12. Infra-structural constraints in processing.
13. Inadequate farmer-processor linkage; leading to dependence on intermediataries.
14. Lack of strategies for market promotion.
15. Lack of strategies for utilization of processing industries waste (pomace, peel, core, stones/seed) for value addition.
16. Lack of R&D in food processing sector and its linkage with the food industry.

Fruit/vegetable	Productivity, tones/ha
	India	Abroad
Apple	8	30
Pine apple	10	80
Cauliflower	8	25
Onion	10	30
Potato	12	70
Tomato	15	60
Finished products
Orange juice concentrate (650B)	14	10 (Brazil)
Pineapple juice concentrate (65.140B)	16	8 (Philippines, Hawaii)
Tomato Paste (200B)	7	4 (Italy)

Table 1.5: Comparison of productivity (tonnes/ha) of import fruits and quantity of raw material required to prepare finished processed product (tonnes/ha) India and Abroad

Prospects for growth of processing industry
In spite of large number of constraints, the prospects for growth of processing industry are very high due to following factors:

1. Increased urbanization.
2. Changing life style and food habits.
3. Increase in purchasing power of the population.
4. Change in consumption pattern.
5. Increased awareness of population about health promoting foods.
6. Increased demand for functional foods, organic foods, convenience foods and diet foods.
7. Expansion of organized food retail.
8. Increase in population of working women having less time for spending in the kitchen. Thus need for processed convenience foods.

Government Initiatives
In order to reduce post harvest losses and expand the food processing industry, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, government of India, has taken the following initiatives to provide a policy support for the industry.

• Formulation of the National Food Processing Policy
• Complete de-licensing, excluding for alcoholic beverages
• Food processing sector declared as Priority Sector for lending in 1999.
• 100% FDI on automatic route
• Excise duty waived on fruits and vegetables processing from 2000–01
• Income tax holiday for fruits and vegetables processing from 2004–05
• Customs duty reduced on freezer van from 20% to 10% from 2005–06
• Enactment of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which includes all acts and rules pertaining to food such as Fruit Products order (FPO), Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954.