By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 19, 2020: THE Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Mr Narendra Singh Tomar, in the presence of Mr Rameswar Teli, MoS, FPI virtually inaugurated the capacity building component of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises scheme (PM-FME Scheme) and launched the GIS One District One Product (ODOP) digital map of India.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Tomar said, “Our Honorable Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi ji's resolve is to make India self-reliant. The way forward is in local - local manufacturing, local market, and local supply chain. Under the PM-FME scheme, capacity building is an important component. The scheme envisages imparting training to food processing entrepreneurs, various groups, viz., SHGs/FPOs/Co-operatives, workers, and other stakeholders associated with the implementation of the scheme”. 

He congratulated the officials of the Ministry and all those involved in the planning and monitoring of the successful implementation of the scheme and observed the day as the beginning of a new initiative to encourage the micro-entrepreneurs.

Mr Teli in his keynote address said, “The training of Master Trainers aims to benefit nearly 8 Lakhs beneficiaries from micro-enterprises including members of Farmer Producer Organizations, Self-Help Groups, Cooperatives, Tribal communities, and others. The digital ODOP map provides detailed information about ODOP product to all stakeholders”.

Under the capacity building component of the PM-FME scheme, training of the Master Trainers would be delivered through online mode, classroom lecture and demonstration, and self-paced online learning material. NIFTEM and IIFPT are playing a key role by providing training and research support to selected enterprises/groups/clusters in partnership with State Level Technical Institutions. The Master Trainers will train the District Level Trainers, who will train the beneficiaries. The current training is based on Fruits and Vegetable processing & EDP. For this purpose, subject experts from various national level reputed institutions are holding various sessions. The assessment and certification of the training program under the capacity building will be provided by FICSI. The capacity building component was launched yesterday.

 Under the PM-FME scheme, states have identified the food products of districts, keeping in view the availability of existing clusters and raw materials. The GIS ODOP digital map of India provides details of ODOP products of all the states and facilitate the stakeholders. The digital map also has indicators for tribal, SC, ST, and aspirational districts. It will enable stakeholders to make concerted efforts for its value chain development.