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At a time when farmers protests have thwarted the ambitions of several corporate houses, both Indian and foreign, to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZs), a new agri-processing SEZ in Andhra Pradesh has forestalled controversy by making farmers direct stakeholders in the venture
The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) will establish the country's first ‘Kisan SEZ' at Nellore district, in Andhra Pradesh, in a novel attempt to avoid a confrontation with farmers over its planned Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The company has called the Rs 2,400 crore agriculture-based food processing SEZ ‘Kisan SEZ' as it intends to make farmers (kisan ) direct shareholders in the project. “Kisan SEZ will be India's first SEZ in which farmers cooperatives will participate as shareholders. This will not only boost industrialisation of the area but also benefit the local people in general, and farmers in particular,” says IFFCO Chairman S K Jakhar. Modern infrastructure facilities will be developed for a range of industries with the focus on food processing and agriculture-based activities, he adds. “In terms of employment and business opportunities, the SEZ is expected to generate employment for more than 10,000 persons, apart from large-scale economic development of the region.” The SEZ is expected to come up on 2,800 acres of land already in IFFCO's possession. The site is located on NH5 (the Howrah-Chennai highway) and is close to Krishnapatnam, which is being developed as a major port in south India . Besides developing the Kisan SEZ, there are plans to set up a state-of-the-art technical training institute and construction training facility in the state to provide training in agriculture and post-harvesting technologies, grain storage facilities, and to upgrade construction-related skills. IFFCO plans to adopt certain ITIs in the region and upgrade their facilities. It will also train local manpower at the institutes. The project has been given the green signal by the Indian commerce ministry. Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of notified SEZs in the country (48), most of them in the IT and IT-enabled services sectors. A total of 172 such zones had been notified until the end of November. More than 400 have received formal approval. The Centre has put a ceiling of 5,000 hectares on SEZs, and come up with a resettlement and rehabilitation policy that makes it mandatory for developers to buy most of the land directly from farmers at the market rate. A Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is also mandatory for large SEZs. Developers must also provide employment to the affected families. Source: The Financial Express, January 4, 2008
Hindu Business Line, January 3, 2008
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