Many of the farm products especially animal based, horticultural and also some of the traditional
food crop products are amenable for processing into food and other end products. Promoting
food processing could strengthen the link between agriculture and industry and help in
generating farm income and employment as also in reducing wastage of agricultural products. A
strong database is required for pursuing a policy towards this end. As currently the data available
is inadequate and is based mostly on insights, this study is an attempt to initiate the process of
estimating the extent of processing agricultural food products in India based on methods that are
deliberated, transparent and available for further debate and development.