Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said that Strengthening of backward and forward linkages will help in controlling the food wastage, which is estimated at over 40,000 crore rupees, and also aid in curbing inflation.She was speaking in Mumbai after inaugurating the 'FICCI Foodworld India 2014' conference. She said that the food wastage plays a very important role in inflation. Because of wastage, market availability declines and that directly leads to inflation. The Minister opined that the food processing industry could play a very important role here. Badal called upon the industry to educate farmers about the latest farm technologies and good practices so that they can produce more and get better value from the land. On the occasion, the Minister also released an annual report on Indian food processing industry titled 'Keeping pace with evolving consumer needs'.