Lok Sabha Question No. 1027 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-13
Subject: Agriculture Infrastructure Gap
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Kani K. Navas

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARFMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No-1027

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 th  DECEMBER, 2022

## AGRICULTURE INFRASTRUCTURE GAP

1027.  SHRI  K. NAVASKANI:

Will  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers Welfare क ृ षि एवं षकसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  to  bridge  the  Agriculture Infrastructure  Gap  by  empowering  agriculture  and  villages  and  boosting  private investment;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (c)        the  efforts  made/being  made  by  the  Government  to  upgrade  the  agriculture sector?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

क ृ षि एवं षकसान कल्याण मंत्री

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (c): Yes  Sir.  In  order  to  bridge  the  Agriculture  Infrastructure  gap  by empowering agriculture and villages and boosting private investment, the Government of India launched a Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under 'Agriculture  Infrastructure  Fund'.  The  Agriculture  Infrastructure  Fund  (AIF)  is  a medium-long  term  debt  financing  facility  through  interest  subvention  and  credit guarantee  support  on  loans  for  investment  in  viable  projects  for  post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets. Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores to the eligible beneficiaries include  farmers,  FPOs,  PACS,  Marketing  Cooperative  Societies,  SHGs,  Joint Liability  Groups  (JLG),  Multipurpose  Cooperative  Societies,  Agri-entrepreneurs, Body  sponsored  Public-Private Partnership  Projects  for  creation  of  post-harvest  management  infrastructures  like Supply  chain  services  including  e-marketing  platforms,  Warehouses,  Silos,  Pack houses,  Assaying  units,  Sorting  &  grading  units,  Cold  chains,  Logistics  facilities,

Start-ups, and Central/State agency  or Local Primary processing centres, Ripening Chambers etc.

Community  farming  assets  eligible  under  Agri  Infra  Fund  includes:  Organic inputs  production,  Bio  stimulant  production  units,  Infrastructure  for  smart  and precision agriculture, Projects identified for providing supply chain infrastructure for clusters of crops including export clusters, Projects promoted by Central/State/Local Governments or their agencies under PPP for building community farming assets or post-harvest management projects

Since the inception of the scheme in Aug 2020, loan amounting to Rs. 13681 Crores  have  been  sanctioned  for  18321  projects.  These  sanctioned  projects  have mobilized  an  investment  of  Rs.  27184  crores  in  agriculture  sector.  Major  projects sanctioned  under  AIF  include  8118  warehouses,  2817  primary  processing  units, 1936 custom hiring centres, 948 sorting & grading units, 704 cold store projects, 163 assaying units  and  around  3651  other  kinds  of  post-harvest  management projects and community farming assets.

Government is spreading awareness about AIF Schemes by way of sensitising Bankers  and  other  stakeholders  through  conducting  various  events,  seminars, workshops  at various levels to accelerate agriculture infrastructure financing throughout the nook and corner of the country.

Apart  from  AIF,  the  Government  has  also  implemented  the  following  schemes  for bringing improvements in the Infrastructure Facilities in the Agriculture:

- (i) Agricultural  Marketing  Infrastructure  (AMI) ,  a  sub-scheme  of  Integrated Scheme  for  Agricultural  Marketing  (ISAM)  under  which  assistance  is provided for construction/ renovation of godowns/ warehouses in the rural areas  in  the  States  to  enhance  the  storage  capacity  for  agriculture produce. AMI is demand driven scheme in which subsidy is provided at the rate  of  25%  and  33.33%  on  capital  cost  of  the  project  based  on  the category of eligible beneficiary. Assistance under this scheme is available to Individuals, Farmers, Group of farmers/growers, Agri-preneurs, Registered  Farmer  Produce  Organizations  (FPOs),  Cooperatives,  and state agencies etc. The scheme is demand driven.

Since  01.04.2001  and  up  to  31.10.2022,  a  total  of  42079  storage infrastructure  projects  (Godowns),  with  storage  capacity  of  738.34  Lakh MT for beneficiaries including farmers have been assisted under AMI subscheme in the country.

- (ii) National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme , a virtual platform integrating physical wholesale mandis/ markets of different States/ Union Territories (UTs) to facilitate online trading of agriculture and horticulture commodities to enable farmers to realize better remunerative prices for their produce.

As on 30 th  November, 2022, 1260 mandis of 22 States and 03 Union Territories  (UTs)  have  been  integrated  with  e-NAM  platform.  More  than 1.74  crore  farmers  &  2.3  Lakh  traders  have  been  registered  on  e-NAM platform. The agricultural produce trade with a value of Rs 2.34 lakh crore have been recorded on e-NAM platform.

- (iii) Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of  Horticulture  (MIDH) under which  financial  assistance  for  setting  up  of  Post-Harvest  Management Infrastructure  including  cold  storage,  cold  room  facilities  for  horticultural produce @ 35% of the project cost in general areas and 50% in case of hilly  and  scheduled areas per beneficiary is available. The component is demand/  entrepreneur  driven  through  commercial  ventures  for  which Government assistance is credit linked and back ended.
- (iv) Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) ,  a  Centrally Sponsored Scheme under which the funds are released to the State Governments as Grantsin-Aid on the basis of projects in Agriculture & allied sectors approved in the  State  Level  Sanctioning  Committee  Meeting  (SLSC)  headed  by  the Chief Secretary of the concerned State, which is the empowered body to approve  projects  under  the  scheme.  In  this  scheme  Sates  has  flexibility and  autonomy  in  the process  of selection, planning, approval  and execution projects in agriculture and allied sectors as per their priorities. RKVY  is  primarily  a  project  oriented  scheme,  the  benefit  of  which  is available to all sections of the farming community.

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