Webinar on Prime Minister’s Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises held

A webinar on the Prime Minister’s Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (PM FME) was organized by the Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) of Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni. The webinar was organized for the promotion and publicity of the scheme among the stakeholders. Dr Parvinder Kaushal, UHF Vice-Chancellor was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Ramesh Verma, Joint Director, Department of Industries, Dr. SK Mishra, GM, NABARD and Dr. KD Sharma, Professor FST were the Guest Speakers on the occasion.
 
Dr. Anju K Dhiman, Professor and Head, Department of FST, welcomed the Chief Guest and the participants. She apprised the participants about the activities of the department and the various food processing and value addition technologies developed by the university. Dr PK Mahajan, Director Extension Education and Nodal Officer of the PFME scheme at the university gave an overview of the topic of the webinar and extension education initiatives carried out by the university during the COVID lockdown period.   
 
Addressing the gathering, Chief Guest Dr. Parvinder Kaushal urged scientists and researchers to play a leading role in the dissemination of technology and information for the success of the PM FPE Scheme. He said that the scheme will make the country self-reliant in all spheres- from manufacturing to supplying and will help to reduce dependence on imports and boost exports. Dr. Kaushal said that the scheme will promote the PM’s vision of ‘Vocal for local with Global Outreach’. 
 
The PM FME scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme under Aatam Nirbhar Bharat Scheme and aims to make the nation self-reliant with more focus on local manufacturers and service providers. Micro Food Enterprise (MFE) has been designed to address the challenges faced by the micro-enterprises and to tap the potential of groups and cooperatives in supporting the up-gradation and formalization of these enterprises. Dr Kaushal added that food processing enterprises are mainly in the unorganized sector. There are about 25 lakh food processing enterprises that are unregistered and out of these more than 65% of units are located in the rural areas. 
 
Three technical sessions were held during the webinar. Ramesh Verma, Joint Director, Department of Industries gave a detailed introduction to PM FME scheme. Dr. SK Mishra, GM, NABARD (HP) also gave a presentation on the formation of FPOs and the funding support. Dr. Mishra also talked about the role and schemes of NABARD. The third presentation on Processing of Fruits and Vegetables for Micro Food Enterprises was delivered by Dr. KD Sharma, Professor, Department of FST, UHF. The event was coordinated by Dr. Rakesh Sharma while Dr. Uday Sharma delivered the vote of thanks. Besides the statutory officers, scientists and students, entrepreneurs and members of different Self Help Groups also attended the webinars. 

The scheme was launched to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector. The PM FME scheme aims at providing financial, technical and business support for up-gradation of existing micro food processing enterprises. It also adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefit of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products. The states would identify food products for a district keeping in view the existing clusters and availability of raw material.