New Delhi [India], February 10 : The Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), launched as a comprehensive initiative to modernize food processing infrastructure, has significantly contributed to the development of efficient supply chains from farm gates to retail outlets.
According to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, this flagship scheme aims to enhance the food processing sector, provide better returns to farmers, reduce agricultural wastage, and generate employment opportunities, especially in rural areas.
Under PMKSY, various infrastructure components such as cold storage and refrigerated vehicles have been supported to minimize post-harvest losses.
However, standalone cold storages are not covered under the scheme. Since its inception in 2017, numerous state-wise captive storage projects have been approved.
Specifically, under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure, a sub-scheme of PMKSY, six projects have been approved in Telangana in the past five years.
Additionally, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has taken initiatives to upgrade and modernize storage facilities.
The Government of India has approved an Action Plan to construct steel silos under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. As part of this plan, silos with a total capacity of 24.25 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) are currently under implementation nationwide. Of this, silos with a capacity of 17.75 LMT have been completed, while 6.5 LMT are in various stages of development.
Moreover, silos with a capacity of 5.5 LMT at seven locations were constructed and operationalized between 2007-09 under the circuit-based model.
Under Phase-I of the Hub & Spoke model, FCI has awarded projects for 10.125 LMT silos at 14 locations on FCI-owned land and 24.75 LMT silos at 66 locations on private land, both of which are currently in development.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been implementing PMKSY as a Central Sector Umbrella Scheme since 2016-17. This initiative aims to create post-harvest infrastructure and processing facilities to develop the food processing sector and reduce post-harvest losses.
The scheme provides credit-linked financial assistance in the form of capital subsidies through grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for establishing food processing and preservation infrastructure, including cold storage and refrigerated transport.
According to an evaluation study conducted by NABARD Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. (NABCONS) in 2020, under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure, significant reductions in wastage have been observed in Fruits & Vegetables, Dairy, and Fisheries sectors due to MoFPI interventions.
Apart from MoFPI, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) in July 2020 under the Atmanirbhar Bharat package. The AIF facilitates medium- to long-term loans by banks and financial institutions for the development of post-harvest infrastructure, such as cold storage, warehouses, and processing units, to minimize crop wastage and enhance value addition.
This information was provided by the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Ravneet Singh, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
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