Karnataka is an agriculturally strong state with a large number of crops in which it has national leadership while in other crops as well it has a sufficiently large base to support industrial processing. The presence of rich climatic and soil conditions make Karnataka a major agricultural belt. Some of the leading crops produced in the state include Coffee, Sunflower, Coarse Cereals, Tomato, Onion, Watermelon, Cucumber, Chilies, Capsicum, pomegranates, Grapes, and Sapota. Karnataka is the largest producer of coffee and cocoa in the country.

Karnataka has a wide range of climatic zones:

• North Eastern Transition Zone District: Bidar & Gulbarga
• North Eastern Dry Zone District: Gulbarga, Yadgir & Raichur
• Northern Dry Zone District: Koppal, Gadag, Dharwad, Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Bellary, Davangere & Raichur
• Central Dry Zone District: Chitradurga, Davangere, Tumkur, Chickmagalur & Hassan
• Eastern Dry Zone District: Bangalore Rural, Ramanagar, Bangalore Urban, Kolar, Chikkaballpur & Tumkur
• Southern Dry Zone District: Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Mandya, Tumkur & Hassan
• Southern Transition Zone District: Hassan, Chickmagalur, Shimoga, Mysore & Davanagere
• Northern Transition Zone- District: Belgaum, Dharwad, Haveri & Gadag
• Hilly Zone District: U.Kannada, Belgaum, Dharwad, Haveri, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Kodagu & Hassan
• Coastal Zone District: Udupi, D. Kannada & U.Kannada

A major strength of Karnataka’s food processing industry lies in the following:

• Cereals & Nutri-cereals - Maize & Rice, Finger millet (Ragi), Sorghum & other small millets
• Pulses - Pigeon pea & Gram
• Fruits - Sapota, Grapes, Pomegranate, Mango, Papaya, Custard Apple & Pineapple
• Vegetables - Ginger, Capsicum, Chilies-vegetable, Cucumber, Watermelon, Onion, Tomato, Pumpkin, Beans, Carrot & Musk melon
• Spices - Pepper, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Turmeric & Chillies (spices)
• Oilseeds - Groundnut, Soyabean, Safflower & Sunflower
• Commercial crop - Coffee & Sugarcane
• Livestock - Sheep & Pig population

Food Grains: Key production highlights (2015-16)

Total production of 99.69 lakh* tonnes of food grains

• Nutri-cereals – 57 lakh* tonnes
• Maize – 33 lakh* tonnes
• Rice – 27 lakh* tonnes

Horticulture products: Key production highlights (2015-16)

Total production of 195.7 Lakh* tonnes of horticulture products

• Fruits – 70.24 lakh* tonnes
• Vegetables – 78.05 lakh* tonnes
• Plantation – 40.41 lakh* tonnes
• Spices – 3.88 lakh* tonnes

Fisheries: Key production highlights (2015-16)

Total production of 5.8 lakh* tonnes of Fishes

• 320 km long coastline, about 27,000 sq. km of continental shelf area
• About 8,000 hectares of brackish water area

Total production of 47,660 Lakh* of Eggs• Medicinal crops

• Poultry population of 833 lakhs* with 547 lakh* broilers and 286 lakh* layers housed in 5,903 broiler farms and 445 layer farms.
• Ranks 3rd in poultry meat production with 87,117 tonnes of meat

Total production of 1.9 Lakh* tonnes of meat products

• 95.83 lakhs* of sheep and 47.96 lakhs* of goat

The State is one of the major producers of a variety of horticulture crops. Fruits such as Sapota, Grapes, Pomegranate, Watermelon, Mango, Jackfruit, Papaya, Lime/ Lemon, Orange, Banana, Guava, etc Vegetables such as Onion (including Bengaluru Rose Onion), Potatoes, Gherkins, Capsicum, Green Chilly, Tomato, Cucumber, Carrot, Beans, etc Plantation & Spice Crops such as Coffee, Arecanut, Tamarind, Coconut, Vanilla, Black Pepper, Cloves, Cardamom, Dry Chilly, Turmeric, Cashewnut, Ginger, Garlic, etc. Flowers such as Rose, Jasmine, Gerbera, Carnation, Anthurium, Orchids, Lillies, Chrysanthemum, Tuberose, Crossandra, Aster, Marigold, etc., are grown in the State.

The 10 major production clusters of Karnataka are given below:

Production Cluster of the State:-

Companies have placed technical resources to provide extension, postharvest management, and marketing support to farmers. The farmers in the project area are being trained on Good Agricultural Practices including postharvest management. The production of foundation seeds and certified seeds have been taken up in some projects. The direct marketing channel has not only reduced the involvement of intermediaries but by timely marketing also yielding remunerative prices for farm produce. There is a significant increase in quality production and productivity as well as a reduction in post-harvest losses in the project area, leading to higher price realization and net income.

Agricultural markets in Karnataka:

• 155 main market yards
• 353 submarket yards
• 24 poultry institutions
• 23 District Agriculture Training Centres
• 4 Agri Export Zones
• 24 poultry institutions

Karnataka has the following marketing facilities in the state:

• Under PPP-IHD, many proposals were received for the Banana value chain development, of which Sanjeevani Agro Phale V Phule Kharidi-Vikri Sahkari Sanstha Maryadit (Sanjeevani) in Belagavi district and Farm Folks in Mysore district have made a remarkable impact in spot-free Banana production for export and processing
• The companies have developed an effective monitoring system through their skilled on farm managers and a system for on-farm grading, packing, and sorting
• The use of skirting bags and foam sheets have made a remarkable change in the production technology
• Kadamba Marketing Souhrada Sahakari is working with 2000 farmers covering 1300 acres in Sirsi Taluk for Black pepper and other spices.
• The Green Valley Organic Spices Ltd is working with 500 farmers covering 1500 acres in the Siddapura taluk of Uttar Kannada District. Both the projects have setup the integrated pack houses and spice processing centers.
• The companies have also intervened in adopting organic certification and Fair-Trade Certification, thus enhancing the value of the commodity in the international market. The farmers associated have realized the 100% income increase by associating with these Projects.

Karnataka has about 54,905 agro-processing units10 with an investment of INR 4429 crores (USD 651 million) lakhs as of 2015. There are 80+ food processing companies in the food parks in Karnataka.

Some prominent food processing companies are:

Processing clusters planned by Government of Karnataka:

• Sea Food Park near Mangaluru which is in the conceptualization stage
• Rice Technology Park at Karatagi in Koppal district, over 315-acre land
• Maize Technology Park in Haveri district, over 60-acre land
• Spice Technology Park in Haveri district, over 100-acre land
• Favorich Infra Pvt Ltd., Mandya - 120 acres - Mega Food Park supported by GOI

Geographical Indication of Agricultural Processing in Karnataka:

The below Figures shows the statistics and Map representation of Processing Clusters in Karnataka:

• In December 2019, the New South Parallel Runway (NSPR) at Kempegowda International Airport became operational. This will enable the airport to handle around 35 million passengers per year. The airport became the first in the country to operate independent parallel runways, enabling aircraft to land and take off simultaneously on both runways
• As of February 2020, the state has 32 operational, 52 notified SEZs, and 63 formally approved SEZs. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board has developed 141 industrial areas spread across the state. The state plans to develop and upgrade eight clusters around Bengaluru with an investment of US$ 348.4 million in the coming years
• As of August 2020, the state had an installed power generation capacity of 29,854.51 megawatts (MW). Of this, central utilities, private utilities, and state utilities contributed 4,012.45 MW, 17,041.58 MW, and 8,800.49 MW, respectively
• Karnataka has emerged as the information technology (IT) hub of India. The state is India’s largest software exporter, with electronics and computer software export reaching US$ 77.9 billion in 2018 19 and US$ 42.5 million during 2019 20 (till November 2019)
• Karnataka is the first state which came out with an aerospace policy in the country. Karnataka Aerospace Policy has identified an investment potential of US$ 12.5 billion in this sector during 2013-23 and plans to develop aerospace clusters in different regions of the state