Social and Economic Impact of Agro Processing Centres at National Level

This paper has examined the impact of Agro Processing Centres (APCs), established by AICRP on Post Harvest Technology, Ludhiana from two perspectives — economic and social. On an average, the net profit per APC (based on data collected from 21 APCs in 8 states) has been estimated to be 5.24 lakh per annum, after adjusting the outliers. In monetory terms, the contribution of APC (82 Nos) per annum has been computed as 4.30 crore to the entrepreneurs (direct benefits) and 8.20 crore to the society (indirect benefits to consumers/retailers through savings resultant of enhanced recovery (in case of custom hiring), and reduction in logistic cost. Further, these APCs have generated employment for 196 thousand person-days have provided some intangible benefits such as availability of adulteration-free processed products and infrastructural development (internet facilities, bus stand, etc.) in and around APC. The labour efficiency/productivity has been found highest in the APC of Punjab, followed by Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. The high labour productivity has been found associated with better communication facilities and market linkages. Hence, the study has suggested that market network may be established for promotion of processed food in the rural and semi-urban areas to have positive implications for labour productivity in APC.