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