Gujarat Plans Big Push For Agri Sector With New Business Policy

Sharing details about the proposed policy with The Secretariat, Anju Sharma, the Additional Chief Secretary of Gujarat’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department,  highlighted that the new policy will promote organic and natural farming. It will also focus on aspects like value addition, food processing units, cold storage, industrial units, and infrastructure assistance. Additionally, the policy aims to tackle challenges related to marketing, consumer preferences, international trade, global trade dynamics, drone technology, and the extensive use of artificial intelligence.

Gujarat’s Agriculture Department had last introduced a Comprehensive Agriculture Business Policy was back in 2016, which expired in 2021. Since then, there has been no new policy. This gap can be attributed to the fact that the state government had already identified agri-food processing as a thrust sector under the Atmanirbhar Gujarat Yojna launched in 2022.

Gujarat has emerged as a major contributor to India’s agricultural exports with its agricultural produce as well as processed food products being exported globally. During the last Vibrant Summit, the agriculture sector conducted more than 25 B2B and B2G meetings, which witnessed participation of agro-food processing industry players and agri-machinery manufacturing companies. The new policy takes into account the outcomes of these meetings.

An official from the department mentioned that Gujarat has the right infrastructure in place for developing a thriving agro-food processing ecosystem. The state’s transportation network, variety of agricultural products, and supportive infrastructure makes it ideal for industrial development in this sector. To take this potential further, the new policy aims to encourage inter-sector collaboration across sectors. The state plans to work in sync with central institutions to give agribusiness a significant push.

Under the 2016 policy, a subsidy of 25% was offered on the cost of setting up or upgrading food processing units. Subsidies were also given for projects related to cold chain, food irradiation, packaging facilities, food parks, and primary processing and storage centers. The policy also included provisions for a 50% subsidy on the total cost of cold storage, cargo complexes, MSME units, and quality certifications like ISI and FSSAI. The policy even provided 50% incentives on skill training program costs, a 50% stamp duty refund on land sale, lease, or transfer, and an improvement plan for APMC operations with special focus on terminal-based markets, commodity spot marketing, and private market yards. All of these measures would continue under the new policy.