Bhubaneswar, May 29 (IANS) Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra on Friday wrote to the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan, urging the establishment of a national mega food park in the undivided Koraput region, comprising Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts of Odisha.

In his letter, Patra drew the attention of the Union Minister towards the immense untapped food-processing, tribal livelihood, and agro-industrial potential of the undivided Koraput region of the state.

He added that this region represents one of India’s most extraordinary yet underleveraged agricultural and civilisational landscapes — home to nationally recognised millet ecosystems, tribal agriculture traditions, GI-tagged products, organic farming potential, indigenous food systems, and globally emerging products such as Koraput Coffee and Koraput Kalajeera Rice.

“Yet despite these extraordinary strengths, the region still lacks a large integrated food-processing and value-addition ecosystem capable of transforming agricultural excellence into sustainable prosperity, rural industrialisation, export-linked growth, and tribal economic empowerment,” Patra said.

Highlighting the vision of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the BJD MP also added that tribal agriculture, millet cultivation, indigenous food systems, women-led rural enterprises, and farmer-centric value addition must become instruments of long-term economic transformation and social empowerment in Odisha’s aspirational regions.

The region today possesses the credibility, institutional ecosystem, farmer participation, and agricultural identity necessary to evolve into a nationally significant millet and tribal agro-processing hub.

Patra also highlighted the growing global recognition of Koraput Coffee, and the GI status accorded to Koraput Kalajeera Rice, saying that these developments have opened up significant economic opportunities for farmers in the region.

The Rajya Sabha MP also added that without integrated food-processing infrastructure, cold-chain systems, value-addition facilities, branding support, export-oriented packaging ecosystems, testing and certification infrastructure, and farmer-linked processing industries, the region risks remaining confined to primary production while the real economic value continues to migrate elsewhere.

He urged the Union Ministry to consider establishing a National Millet, Tribal Agro-Processing and GI Products Mega Food Park for the undivided Koraput region under the PM Kisan Sampada Yojana framework, along with a dedicated Koraput Coffee Processing, Branding and Export Centre within the proposed mega food park ecosystem.

Patra also sought the establishment of a Kalajeera Rice value-addition, packaging and export facility, integrated food-testing, certification, packaging, branding and export infrastructure for tribal and GI-tagged products, integration of women self-help groups, Farmer Producer Organisations and tribal producer collectives into the proposed processing ecosystem, and expansion of cold-chain, warehousing and agro-logistics infrastructure across the undivided Koraput region.

–IANS

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