Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said the new Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in Nagpur will come as a relief to cultivators in the Vidarbha region, which has witnessed several farmer suicide incidents.
Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the food park at Mihan in Nagpur.
Patanjali Ayurved’s co-founder Ramdev and its managing director Acharya Balkrishna were present on the occasion.
Gadkari informed about initiatives taken by him for orange farmers in Vidarbha, on how to improve the fruit production and quality in the region as well as ensuring good price for the produce.
“The new park will come as a relief to farmers in Vidarbha region”, where there have been several cases of farmer suicides, said the union minister, who represents Nagpur Lok Sabha seat.
Fadnavis said, “I feel that this centre (park) will be a boon not only for this project, but all the orange-growing farmers.” The orange processing plant in the park will take all types of the fruit from farmers. At the plant, the sorting, grading and storage of the fruits will be done, and they would be processed entirely, including the skin and seeds, Fadnavis said.
Explaining why he wanted the food park to come up, Fadnavis said along with oranges, all other fruits will also be processed at the facility.
He stressed the importance of processing fruits, without which there is wastage of fruits, and the produce does not fetch a proper price.
Gadkari and Fadnavis thanked Ramdev and Balkrishna for starting the food park in Nagpur.