Lok Sabha Question No. 1039 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-08
Subject: Cold Storage
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Balak Nath, Sumedhanand Saraswati

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1039

## TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 08 TH FEBRUARY, 2022

## COLD STORAGE

1039.  SHRI BALAK NATH: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  financial  assistance  being  provided  by  the  Government  for setting up of cold storage facilities in rural areas;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  scheme  for  providing  storage facilities and setting up food processing parks in the areas where huge amount of agricultural produce is being destroyed;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (d) Government  has  formulated  various  schemes  for  providing  financial assistance  for  establishment  of  cold  storage  facilities,  storage  facilities  and  food processing parks in the country including rural areas as follows:

Department  of  Agriculture  &  Farmers  Welfare  is  implementing  Mission  for Integrated  Development of Horticulture (MIDH) under which financial assistance is provided  for  various  horticulture  activities  including  setting  up  of  cold  storages through State  Governments.  The component is demand/ entrepreneur-driven from among entrepreneurs, private companies, cooperatives, farmers groups etc through commercial ventures for which assistance at the rate of 35% of admissible project cost  in  general  areas  and  50%  in  hilly  and  scheduled  area  is  available  as  credit linked back ended subsidy.

Besides,  National  Horticulture  Board  (NHB)  is  implementing  a  scheme namely  'Capital  Investment  Subsidy  for  Construction/Expansion  /Modernization  of Cold Storages and Storages for Horticulture Products'. It is a demand/entrepreneur driven under which credit linked back-ended subsidy at the rate of 35% of the capital cost of the project in general areas and 50% in case of North East, hilly & scheduled areas  for  construction/expansion/modernization  of  cold  storage  and  controlled atmosphere  (CA)  storage  of  capacity  above  5000  MT  and  up  to  10000  MT  is available. In case of North Eastern States, the units with capacity above 1000 MT are also eligible for assistance.

Further,  Ministry  of  Food  Processing  Industries  (MOFPI)  is  implementing  a Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure as one of the components of Pradhan MantriKisanSampadaYojana with the objective of reducing  post-harvest  losses  of  horticulture  and  non-horticulture  produce  and providing  remunerative  price  to  farmers  for  their  produce.  Under  the  scheme, Ministry provides financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid at the rate of 35% for  general  areas and 50% for North East and Himalayan States, ITDP areas and Islands  for  storage  and  transport  infrastructure  and  at  the  rate  of  50%  and  75% respectively for value addition and processing infrastructure subject to a maximum grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 crore per project for setting up integrated cold chain projects including  irradiation  facility.  Standalone  cold  storages  are  not  covered  under  the Scheme.

Department  of Agriculture and  Farmer's  Welfare  is also implementing Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI), a sub-scheme of Integrated Scheme for Agricultural  Marketing  (ISAM)  across  the  country.  AMI  is  demand  driven,  credit linked, back ended subsidy scheme. Under the scheme, subsidy at the rate of 25% for  plain  areas  and  33.33%  for  NER,  hilly  area  is  available  for  beneficiaries  viz, Farmers, Individuals, Farmers, Group of farmers/growers, Agri-preneurs, Registered

Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Cooperatives, and state agencies etc. for development  of  Agricultural  Marketing  Infrastructure  Projects  including  storage infrastructure.

Depending  on  requirement  in  specific  areas  and  for  modernization  of  the storage facilities, the Government has been implementing the following schemes for construction of Warehouse/godowns including silos in the country:

- i. Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme: Under this Scheme, which was formulated in 2008, storage capacity is created by private parties, Central Warehousing  Corporation (CWC)  and  State Government  Agencies  for guaranteed hiring by FCI.
- ii. Central  Sector  Scheme:  This  scheme  is  implemented  in  the  North  Eastern States  along  with  Himachal  Pradesh,  Jharkhand  and  Kerala.  Funds  are released by the Government to FCI and also directly to the State Governments for construction of godowns.
- iii.  Construction of steel silos: In addition to conventional godowns, construction of  steel  silos  has  been  undertaken  from  2016  for  modernizing  the  storage infrastructure and improving shelf life of stored foodgrains.

With a view to reduce wastage of agricultural produce in various parts of the country  and  enhance  processing  levels,  Ministry  of  Food  Processing  Industries  is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme (MFPS) for providing modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market. The Scheme is implemented in a cluster based approach which includes creation of infrastructure for  primary  processing  and  storage  near  the  farm  gate  at  Primary  Processing Centers  (PPCs),  Collection  Centres  (CCs)  and  common  facilities  and  enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre.  The scheme provides for a capital grant @50% of the eligible project cost in general areas and @75% in difficult and hilly areas  i.e.  North  East  Region  including  J&K,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Uttarakhand  and ITDP notified areas of the States subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 Crore per project.

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