Andhra Pradesh: Banana processing cluster set up in Pulivendula soon: CS
Dr. KS Jawahar Reddy, Chief Secretary to the Government reviewed the banana processing cluster to be established in Pulivendula of YSR Kadapa district on Monday at Velagapudi State Secretariat.
On this occasion, CS said that this processing cluster will be implemented under the SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) of the Central Government’s MSME Department and will be set up at a cost of 121 crores.
He said that AP Food Processing Society will act as the implementing agency and SICD (Society for Innovation and Incubation Development) will provide technical support.
He said that 1 lakh 8 thousand metric tons of banana pulp per year can be processed in various forms in the ecluster. He mentioned that 9 acres of 22 cents of land in Pulivendu has already been handed over to AP Pud Processing Society for the establishment of this unit.
In this regard, CS Mr. Jawahar Reddy ordered the officials of the State Food Sanitation Department to prepare a DPR and submit it to the CDB to take appropriate steps for the establishment of a unit.
The CS ordered that the 10 machines that are currently available for extracting fiber from banana trunks should be immediately sent to the banana growing farmers in the respective villages and steps should be taken to extract banana fiber. This will increase the awareness among the farmers who cultivate the banana crop in the state and thus the demand for the establishment of banana clusters will increase.
Mr. Chiranjeevi Chaudhary, Secretary of the State Food Processing Department, who participated in the meeting, said that banana seeds are collected from local farmers and marketed as banana powder, banana stem juice and honey dipped dry banana slices.
In the same way, after removing the banana skins, banana fiber is extracted from the pulp and used to make different types of products like paper plates and cups.
Secretary Mr. Chiranjeevi Chowdhury explained that in this way, various types of products made from banana will be sent to various pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, various local markets and malls and also exported to many states, thus benefiting the banana farmers in all ways.
In this meeting, the CEO of the State Food Processing Society Mr. L. Sridhar Reddy, Deputy CEO D. Ramesh, Pulivendula Banana Processing Unit Consultant Swapan Siddhanth, AP Food Processing GIS Consultant Likita Reddy and others participated.
