New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS): With an aim to provide modern infrastructure facilities for food processing industries along the value chain from farm to the market, as many as 21 projects worth Rs 416.59 crore were inaugurated during the 'Food Processing Week' from September 6 till 12 as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Union Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the projects that will ensure value addition, longer shelf life for farm produce, better price realisation for farmers, an excellent storage facility, and an alternate market for farmers in the region.

These projects will also provide direct and indirect employment to about 7,500 persons and benefit about 32,000 farmers. Of the Rs 416.59 crore, the Ministry has already approved a grant-in-aid of Rs 104.21 crore for these projects, a release said here on Monday.

During the pandemic, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, launched the PM Formlisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) scheme for micro and unorganised entrepreneurs in the food processing sector. Under the PMFME scheme, seed capital was released to the members of self-help groups in various states.

"During the 'Food Processing Week', 4,709 members of Self Help Groups across the country were provided financial assistance amounting to over Rs 13.41 crore as seed capital," the release said.

The Ministry also carried out an awareness campaign on processed food products on social media throughout the last week, the sole purpose of which was to eradicate the misconceptions related to processed food among the common people. Social media posts, in the form of infographics and videos, were widely shared, the release added.