Activities - RCCI - Rajasthan Chamber Of Commerce & Industry - Rajasthan

Agro-processing in Rajasthan

The time is ripe for another revolution in the state of Rajasthan, as we look at agriculture and agro-processing from a global perspective. The state has to look beyond the production aspects to provide a boost to issues of marketing, processing, value addition in commodities like food grains, oil seeds, fruits, vegetables, floriculture, spices, medicinal plant produce, dairy and meat products, since the demand pattern of agricultural commodities for the domestic and international market will shift as a result of increasing incomes, faster urbanization and quality consciousness in the wake of globalisation.
Though Rajasthan is yet to make its mark as one of the front runners in the development of the food processing industry , it has an age-old tradition in this sector, in the form of cottage industries agro-based products. The Mehandi of pali, Aam-Papad of Banswara, maithi of Nagaur- Jodhpur and Rose products of Pushkar are recognized all over the country , and even outside.
The Agro sector is relatively a new sector and development of this sector is comparatively a recent phenomenon. This sector forms a substantial part of industries in state as about 10,000 unit are working in small scale and tiny sector and 74 have come up in medium and large scale sector

The agro and food processing sector offers scope for development of several industries such as solvent extraction, oleo- resins, kin now/ orange juice, malt extracts, floriculture and a host of other items. Besides these items like mushrooms, tomato processing, other processing industries based on mango, ber, pomegranate and other vegetable like onion, potato, garlic. Industries based on herbal and medicinal plants, sheep, goat, buffalo meat processing, poultry and poultry products and non edible oil processing industries have bright export prospects. The state government on its parts, is alive to the needs of this sector with regard to training, technology upgradation, improvement in infrastructural facility and a progressing Government policy with these measures, along with support from central government and the coordinated efforts of various institutions working in the filed of agro and food products. It is expected that these industries with come to occupy their due place in the agro industrial development of Rajasthan.

Agro Products include

Development of agro-industries is also needed to check migration of the people from rural areas to urban areas. With the establishment of agro-industries, employment opportunities are made locally available and this brings about a check on the mass exodus from rural to urban areas. Agro-industries, thus, preserve the village where lives a deep rooted and closely knit society, which has a more definite image than the amorphous urban conglomerate.
From above, it may be observed that agro-industries can play an important role in economic development. Their development thus smoothens economic development bringing about all round prosperity and improvement in the standard of living in rural areas.