Officials Push Soya, Tomato Processing Units in Adilabad
Tomato farmers in the region have frequently reported losses due to price fluctuations and crop damage caused by adverse weather conditions. Farmers have been demanding cold storage facilities to preserve produce and sell it when market prices improve.
Adilabad: District authorities are planning to promote food processing industries based on locally grown crops in the proposed industrial park at Adilabad to generate employment, with land acquisition for the project expected to begin soon.
Officials said crops such as soya, tomato, redgram, Bengal gram and jowar, which are widely cultivated in the district, offer significant scope for establishing food processing units.
Soya is cultivated on about 65,000 acres during the kharif season in Adilabad district, while vegetables are grown on around 8,000 acres, with tomato being the major crop. Redgram is cultivated on about 50,000 acres, Bengal gram on 40,000 acres and jowar on nearly one lakh acres during the rabi season.
District agriculture officer Sridhar Swamy said soya is the second largest crop after cotton in the district during the kharif season.
Officials said food processing units such as soya oil extraction plants, dal processing units and tomato-based processing facilities could be viable in the proposed industrial park. Byproducts such as soya cake and processed items like tomato sauce and soya-based products also have market demand.
Boath MLA Anil Jadhav of the BRS said an ethanol factory based on jowar may also be established in the industrial park proposed in Bheempur mandal.
Sources said some private industrialists have shown interest in setting up tomato and soya-based food processing units in the park due to the large-scale cultivation of these crops in the erstwhile Adilabad district.
Tomato farmers in the region have frequently reported losses due to price fluctuations and crop damage caused by adverse weather conditions. Farmers have been demanding cold storage facilities to preserve produce and sell it when market prices improve.
Tomato cultivation is concentrated in mandals including Ichoda, Boath, Neredigonda, Gudihathnoor, Indravelli, Utnoor, Adilabad, Jainad and Bela in Adilabad district, as well as in parts of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.
Officials said land has been identified for the industrial park near the Korata-Chanaka barrage. Revenue authorities are currently identifying suitable land while excluding areas under cultivation, roads and existing structures.
A drone survey is expected to be conducted as part of the land assessment process, and the available land will be measured on the ground by the end of the month.
After compiling details of landholders and lands under cultivation, the revenue department is expected to issue a notification for land acquisition.
Collector Rajarshi Shah, who is monitoring the project, has directed officials to complete the land acquisition process by the first week of April.
Officials noted that Adilabad earlier had three soya-based factories, but two have closed, leaving only one currently operational. They said there is market demand for products such as soya chips, paneer and other processed soya items.
