March 3, 2021
The government has now implemented the ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) programme under which the agriculture ministry has finalised 135 district-specific unique products for 728 districts across the country, identifying each of them with certain agricultural, horticultural, animal, poultry, milk or marine products.
So this will make starting a business in food products easier as will give you a look at the farm/animal/marine product-specific map with insights into the speciality of that district and the support which you may get from the government as a food processing entrepreneur.
Though there are some familiar names of district-product combo in the list such as oranges of Nagpur, grapes of Sangli, litchis of Muzaffarpur, the comprehensive list dedicates 60% of total 728 districts to fruits (226 districts), vegetables (107) and spices (105). In contrast, food grains such as paddy (40), pulses (16) and wheat (5) found place in quite a small number of districts across the country even as they are produced widely. The list of products has been finalised after taking inputs from the states and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), focusing on existing clusters and availability of raw materials.