India's first agri-food cluster

New Delhi, Dec 6 (UNI) India's first agri-food cluster, which will house an agri-food biotech park, is coming up at Mohali, Punjab.

To be set up with Canadian help over 150 acre, the cluster will be built within two years from now, says Mr M K Bhan, Secretary Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

Two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in this regard were signed last evening by the Department of Biotechnology with the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food of Canada and the National Research Council (NRC).

Canadian experts from the NRC and other institutions will provide technical support and consultancy towards the designing of the cluster and will be on its advisory board as well.

The cluster, part of the 350 acre 'Knowledge City' promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year, will also consist of a National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) and a Bioprocess Unit (BPU).

Both NABI and BPU, to be located in the Park, will be autonomous institutions under the Department of Biotechnology.

The park will be set up through public-private enterprise and house agri or food start-up companies containing common facalities.

NABI will work on innovative food processes and products keeping in view the current and future markets both within the country and outside.

It will be a centre purely dedicated to translation. It will also be involved in training world class human resource in food science and technology as well as nutritional science.

The BPU will link the R&D system with a miniature production facility to serve as an incubator for start-up companies.

It will not only facilitate the scale-up and process optimisation of new technologies developed by NABI or acquired through inlicensing from other sources but also services, consultancies and support to start-up companies.

All the institutions in the cluster-- NABI, BPU and Park-- will share a common vision and have a common technical board and a common CEO.

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