International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Arul Murugan R, Nirmala Devi M and G Yamini

abstract
Food processing sector is the transformation of raw agricultural products into food, or one form of food into other forms. Food processing comprises many forms of processing foods starting from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industrial methods of food processing and it is used to make convenience foods. The Indian Food and Beverage Industry is evolving as a high-profit sector and contributes about 3% of India's GDP with value of two-third of total retail market in India. The projected revenue in the food and beverage business segment is estimated to show a CAGR growth rate of 14.2 percent from the year 2020 to 2024. A total of 160 key informants were selected from each start up food processing industry in two districts namely Trichy and Krishnagiri district and all the two districts, the Key Informants was asked collectively to list the constraints faced by the food processing industry through participatory method. The RBQ value for the availability of raw material connection between production and processing is 84.67 which implies that lack of inferior quality production with RBQ value of 75.33. The difficulty in dispatching and follow up the production constraint with RBQ value of 72.67, procedural delay was ranked first among the financial constraint with RBQ of 76.67 and the challenges in identifying the specific market for the produce was ranked first among the marketing constraint with RBQ value of 77.33. These are the major constraints among the respondents. The implementation of green business practices - from production to packaging and supply chain management - is a critical solution to addressing current food industry issues. The Policy would seek to create a favorable environment for agripreneurs to establish Food Processing sectors through fiscal initiatives/interventions such as rationalization of tax structures on fresh foods, processed foods, and machinery used in the production of processed foods. Also, to encourage the establishment of agro-processing facilities close to agricultural production and sorting facilities to reduce waste and improve product quality and shelf life.