QUESTION 5
GS3
10 marks
What are the reasons for poor acceptance of cost-effective small processing unit? How the food processing unit will be helpful to uplift the socio-economic status of poor farmers?
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Explain why cheap small processing units have low uptake and how they can lift poor farmers.
What + HowAnswer exactly what the question asks.
Demand-wise check
- 1Poor acceptance: lack of awareness and training, credit access, erratic power, small marketable surplus, weak market links and branding, FSSAI compliance burden, seasonal raw material≈35 words
- 2Benefits: value addition and higher prices, cut post-harvest losses, local jobs for women and youth, off-season income, less distress sale≈35 words
- 3Enablers: FPOs, cluster approach (ODOP), PMFME, cold chain, credit≈35 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Reasons for low uptakeBenefits for poor farmersEnabling measuresConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Writing only on large food parks
- Explaining poor acceptance but skipping how units raise poor farmers' income
Draw this
- Flow: raw produce → micro-unit → branding → market
Value addition
- SchemePM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (2020): ₹10,000 crore, 35% credit-linked subsidy up to ₹10 lakh per unit.Ministry of Food Processing Industries
- DataPost-harvest losses estimated at about ₹1.53 lakh crore a year.NABCONS study, 2022
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 7 minutes, then get it checked.