Food Parks Initiative

FAO/AGS Presentation on the basic concepts in ‘Food Parks Initiative’ for discussion, Strategy with Rome- Based Food Agencies Organisation”

The Food Parks concept Concentrated agro-industrial estate or zone/cluster, mainly

focused on value addition/agro-processing services of food products

Support agri-business development (in food commodities) especially small and medium enterprises (similar to industrial parks)

Based on the concept of Private-Public Partnerships: Shared investments, Shared common services/facilities efficient provision of services Creation of economies of scale in service provision Improved access to technical support and information and management

services Access to infrastructure Improved agri-business linkages between & within value-chains

Components of the food park hub

Agro-processing/value addition units or centre

Agri-business service centre – e.g. consortiums of trainers, technical experts such as engineers, designers, auditors, accountants, legal advisers, food technologists, information services

Agri-input suppliers e.g. packaging materials, waste disposal services

Components of the food park hub

Common services; –warehouses, cold stores, quality control labs, transport services

Retailer linkages hub (marketing linkages)

Technology incubation/ demonstration centre

Coordination Hub: effective communication and information flow ‘one stop shop’

Mallapuram Food Park:Common Facility

Mallapuram Food Park, India

Features of the food park

Provide opportunity for diagonal linkages. i.e. there may be opportunities for recycling wastes and/or using rejected products from one processing stream as raw material for the next. E.g. using byproducts or rejects from a vegetable packing unit for animal feed production

Provide strong incentives for agricultural commercialization through market oriented production for small and medium scale primary production – e.g. support systems such as contract farming, warehouse receipts, etc

Support agro-industrial development by enhancing access to raw materials and marketing facilities and other support services

Support enhanced competitiveness for the chain actors through improved efficiency and reduced operational costs

Features of the food park

Provide effective network between primary producers, markets/ traders/retailers, agro-processing – strengthen agribusiness linkages between the chain actors

Support synergy for agro-processing units to work together. I.e. it is easy to organize common services such as warehouse, cold storage facilities, transport, quality control services, waste management, etc, as a pool (horizontal linkages economies of scale

Requisites for an effective food park

Access to support services such as technical information, laboratories, packaging material, legal services, engineering/maintenance services

Incentives to investments

Access to financial facilities

Requisites for an effective food park

Access to production catchment area to supply raw material need for consistent qualities and quality organised production

Established market demand; domestic/regional/export

Access to physical infrastructure; roads/rail, telecommunications, electricity, water, etc

Role of public sector

Facilitate public-private partnerships Support policy strategies/incentives to encourage private

investments, e.g. tax exemptions, custom/duties procedures and requirements

Support capacity building in agribusiness linkages and entrepreneurship

Facilitate the coordination hub i.e. between chain actors and service providers, investors, etc

Support SME institutional strengthening (primary producers coops/commodity groups, traders associations, agro-processor, etc)

Subsidisation(?) Infant sector protection(?)

The KENYAN Park concept Food Park co-operative model – Support to food processing co-operatives – i.e. registered

with approved business plans with set targets and having governance structure including a board and management in place.

Italian-Kenyan partnership including entrepreneurship training

Re-structuring of support services in food processing co-operatives

Technology incubation/demonstration facility/centre Mentoring by the more established agri-business firms Facilitative roles from the Departments of Agriculture; and

Trade and Industry

Potentials

Opportunity for an effective integration of small scale producers, traders and processors into the formal markets

Compliments other government initiatives such as land reform, BEE

Could provide a useful model to the sub-region

Challenges

High requirements for financial resources and incentives to investors

Food Park co-operative model needs further conceptualization

Coordination

Areas of possible technical support from FAO/UNIDO

Technical support to conduct a feasibility study to establish the potential/profiles of the Food Park and the constituting agribusiness units (agro-processing/ value-addition )

Technical support in the design of a food park Policy and institutional strengthening to support food

park concept Support to development of strategies for agricultural

commercialisation / agro-industrial development Capacity building and integration of value chain

development strategies Capacity building in quality/hygiene control Good

Agricultural Practices (GAP) & Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)

THANK YOU