Lok Sabha Question No. 3563 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-08
Subject: Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Tejpratap Singh,Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3563

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 8 TH   AUGUST, 2017

## SMALL FARMERS AGRI-BUSINESS CONSORTIUM

3563.     SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has set up Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) in various States and if so, the details thereof including functions performed by SFAC;
- (b) the  details  of  projects/schemes  being  implemented,  funds  sanctioned  and  physical achievements/progress made so far under the SFAC, State-wise;
- (c) whether the SFAC has not been able to make much impact on the agriculture sector and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government has reviewed the functioning of SFAC to make it more effective; and
- (e) if so, the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी (SHRI  PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a): Yes,  Madam.  The  Government  established  Small  Farmers'  Agri-Business  Consortium (SFAC) as a Society in 1994 to facilitate agri-business ventures by catalyzing private investment through Venture Capital Assistance (VCA)  Scheme  in  close association with financial institutions.    The  setting  up  of  State  level  SFAC  as  counterpart  agency  of  Central  SFAC  for agribusiness projects was part of the Scheme. The Scheme envisaged a corpus contribution from Central SFAC of Rs. 50.00 lakh to each State which establishes a State Level SFAC.   So far, 21 States have received funds for Central SFAC for setting up of State SFAC as per details given in Annexure-I.

The role of State SFACs is to aggressively promote agribusiness project development in their respective States. The main functions of SFAC are:

- (i)      Promotion of development of small agribusiness through VCA scheme;
- (ii)     Helping  formation  and  growth  of  Farmer  Producer  Organizations  (FPOs)  /  Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs);

- (iii)      Improving  availability  of  working  capital  and  development  of  business  activities  of FPOs/FPCs through Equity Grant and Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme;
- (iv)     Implementation of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)  Electronic Trading platform.

(b): At present, SFAC is implementing the following schemes:

## 1.  Agri-Business  Development  (ABD)  through  Venture  Capital  Assistance  (VCA)  and Project Development Facility (PDF).

The Scheme aims to facilitate the promotion of agri-business projects establishing backward linkages  with  farmers,  providing  assured  market  to  their  produce,  thereby  generating employment and enhancing farmers' income. SFAC partnership with various PSU banks has so  far  helped  support  1674  projects  across  the  country,  investing  a  total  of  Rs.  495.36 Crores in venture and helping to leverage Rs. 5950.76 Crores in total project investment. This has created 81396 direct employment and linked approximately 1.53 lakhs Farmers to these units. A statement on State-wise sanction of VCA is given in Annexure-II.

.

## 2.  Equity Grant and Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Farmer Producer Companies:

The scheme has two components as given below:

(a)  A grant of upto Rs. 10.00 lakh to each registered Farmer Producer Company is given to match the member equity raised by the institution. This enhances the equity base of the FPC and  enable  it  to  approach  financial  institutions  for  raising  working  capital.    SFAC  has  been sanctioned Equity  Grant  to  127  Farmer  Producer  Companies  amounting  to  Rs.7.04  Crore  to enable them to leverage working capital from financial institutions. A statement on state-wise progress is given in Annexure-III.

(b)  Credit  Guarantee  Fund  (CGF)  has  been  set  up  in  SFAC  with  a  corpus  of  Rs.  100.00 Crores. The CGF will offer a cover of 85% to loans extended by banks to Farmer Producer Companies  without  collateral,  upto  a  maximum  of  Rs.  1.00  Crore.    Under  the  Scheme,  21 projects  in  five  states  have  been  sanctioned  credit  guarantee  of  Rs.  9.31  Crore  till  date. State-wise details are as below:

| State           | Total           | Total                          | Total   |
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------------------|---------|
| State           | No. of Projects | cover Sanctioned (Rs. In lakh) |         |
| Kerala          | 1               | 63.75                          |         |
| Rajasthan       | 2               | 39.10                          |         |
| Madhya Pradesh  | 7               | 382.36                         |         |
| Maharashtra     | 1               | 38.25                          |         |
| Tamil Nadu      | 9               | 365.30                         |         |
| T To ot ta al l | 21              | 931.26                         |         |

## Price Stabilisation Fund:

SFAC  is  one  of  the  Central  Procurement  Agencies  for  pulses  and  oilseeds  under  Price Stabilisation Fund of Department of Consumer Affairs .

(c): SFAC has made substantial impact in the agriculture sector. SFAC has emerged as a developmental Institution with its core aim and objective focused on increased production and productivity, value addition, provision of efficient linkages between producers and consumers. This has resulted in enhancing the yields and incomes of farmers/producers groups as well as created jobs in the rural areas .

(d) & (e): The Government has reviewed the functioning of SFAC from time to time. Based on the review the annual action plans are formulated and associated budgets are released .

Details of State SFACs and Funds Released

| Sr.No.   | State SFAC        |   Amount Released as corpus (Rs. in lakh) |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Arunachal Pradesh |                                        50 |
| 2.       | Assam             |                                        50 |
| 3.       | Himachal Pradesh  |                                        50 |
| 4.       | Jharkhand         |                                        25 |
| 5.       | Kerala            |                                        50 |
| 6.       | Karnataka         |                                        25 |
| 7.       | Madhya Pradesh    |                                        50 |
| 8.       | Maharashtra       |                                        50 |
| 9.       | Meghalaya         |                                        50 |
| 10.      | Manipur           |                                        50 |
| 11.      | Mizoram           |                                        50 |
| 12.      | Nagaland          |                                        50 |
| 13.      | Punjab            |                                        50 |
| 14.      | Sikkim            |                                        50 |
| 15.      | Tamil Nadu        |                                        50 |
| 16.      | Tripura           |                                        50 |
| 17.      | Uttar Pradesh     |                                        25 |
| 18.      | Uttaranchal       |                                        25 |
| 19.      | Rajasthan         |                                        25 |
| 20       | Bihar             |                                        25 |
| 21.      | Gujarat           |                                        50 |
|          | Total             |                                       900 |

Annexure-I

## Annexure-II

## Details of Statewise release of funds under Venture Capital Assistance (VCA)

| Sr.No.   | State             | Total           | Total                       |
|----------|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------------------|
| Sr.No.   | State             | No. of projects | Fund released (Rs. in lakh) |
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh    | 21              | 705.74                      |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh | 4               | 294.39                      |
| 3.       | Assam             | 24              | 965.78                      |
| 4.       | Bihar             | 4               | 131.90                      |
| 5.       | Gujarat           | 204             | 6817.14                     |
| 6.       | Goa               | 1               | 54.33                       |
| 7.       | Haryana           | 73              | 2630.30                     |
| 8.       | Himachal Pradesh  | 63              | 2275.39                     |
| 9.       | Jammu &Kashmir    | 42              | 1689.15                     |
| 10.      | Karnataka         | 161             | 3864.21                     |
| 11.      | Kerala            | 40              | 663.88                      |
| 12.      | Madhya Pradesh    | 77              | 1956.10                     |
| 13.      | Maharashtra       | 324             | 8240.15                     |
| 14.      | Manipur           | 11              | 203.21                      |
| 15.      | Meghalaya         | 3               | 99.55                       |
| 16.      | Nagaland          | 9               | 188.85                      |
| 17.      | Orissa            | 2               | 12.05                       |
| 18.      | Punjab            | 29              | 872.45                      |
| 19.      | Rajasthan         | 146             | 4164.01                     |
| 20       | Tamil Nadu        | 83              | 2603.39                     |
| 21.      | Uttar Pradesh     | 201             | 6604.59                     |
| 22.      | Uttarakhand       | 35              | 1791.32                     |
| 23.      | West Bengal       | 7               | 238.62                      |
| 24.      | Mizoram           | 1               | 155.43                      |
| 25.      | Chhattisgarh      | 97              | 1829.62                     |
| 26.      | Tripura           | 3               | 185.84                      |
| 27.      | Jharkhand         | 2               | 82.01                       |
| 28.      | Telangana         | 7               | 216.92                      |
|          | Total             | 1674            | 49536.32                    |

Details of Assistance under Equity Grant

| Sr.No.   | State           | Total        | Total                                |
|----------|-----------------|--------------|--------------------------------------|
| Sr.No.   | State           | No. of Cases | Amount of Equity Grant (Rs. in lakh) |
| 1.       | ANDHRAPRADESH   | 1            | 1.40                                 |
| 2.       | BIHAR           | 1            | 2.57                                 |
| 3.       | GUJARAT         | 5            | 34.96                                |
| 4.       | HARYANA         | 4            | 25.52                                |
| 5.       | KARNATAKA       | 1            | 4.93                                 |
| 6.       | KERALA          | 1            | 6.85                                 |
| 7.       | MADHYAPRADESH   | 36           | 140.93                               |
| 8.       | MANIPUR         | 1            | 5.66                                 |
| 9.       | MAHARASHTRA     | 14           | 88.15                                |
| 10.      | RAJASTHAN       | 3            | 21.95                                |
| 11.      | TAMILNADU       | 23           | 163.65                               |
| 12.      | TELANGANA       | 3            | 12.01                                |
| 13.      | UTTAR PRADESH   | 13           | 86.33                                |
| 14.      | UTTARAKHAND     | 1            | 10.00                                |
| 15.      | WEST BENGAL     | 20           | 99.94                                |
|          | T TO OT TA AL L | 1 12 27 7    | 7 70 04 4. .8 86 6                   |

********

Annexure-III