Punjab Government’s premier cooperative, Markfed (Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation), is all set to enter the global honey market by setting up a honey processing plant in the State.
Markfed, as a part of State Government’s endeavour to promote agriculture diversification program in the State, will establish its ultramodern Honey Processing Unit at village Chuharwali in Jalandhar. The move would not only provide price stabilisation, but would also prevent exploitation of bee-keepers due to fluctuating market trends.
The decision was taken after the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal mooted the proposal, and had held a series of meetings for boosting honey production in Punjab to supplement the farmers’ earnings, who were on the verge of economic disaster due to dwindling returns from the traditional agriculture.
“In compliance with the Chief Minister’s directions, Markfed has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) to set up a Honey Processing Unit at village Chuharwali where construction of modern canneries was already under way, with a total outlay of Rs15.50 crores,” a spokesperson of the company said. He said that the DPR was submitted to the Agriculture and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) with a request for the grant-in-aid for the project.
