Lok Sabha Question No. 360 (STARRED), answered on 2025-03-25
Subject: Cold Storages and Warehouses in Bihar
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Abhay Kumar Sinha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 360

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 TH  MARCH, 2025

## COLD STORAGES AND WAERHOUSES IN BIHAR

- *360. SHRI ABHAY KUMAR SINHA:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष और िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  implement  any  special  scheme  for increasing the number of cold storages and warehouses in Bihar and if so, the details thereof; (b) the  number of new cold storages and warehouses setup in Bihar during the last five years and the number of such cold storage and warehouses proposed to be set up, district-wise including in Aurangabad district; (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  expand  the  cold  storage  network  to provide access to storage facilities to farmers with small and medium landholdings, if so, the details thereof; and the new policies being implemented by the Government to improve the storage
- (d) facilities for fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products in Bihar?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष और िकसान क̵  याण मंũी (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN)

(a) to (d):

A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  360  FOR  25 TH   MARCH,  2025  REGARDING COLD STORAGES AND WAREHOUSES IN BIHAR.

(a) to (d): Government  is  implementing  various  schemes  under  which  financial assistance  is  available  for  setting  up  of  cold  storage  for  perishable  horticultural produce throughout the country including Bihar.

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 Construction/Expansion/ Modernization  of  cold  storages  of  capacity  up  to  5000  MT  in  the  country  including Bihar  on  the  basis  of  Annual  Action  Plan  (AAP)  received  from  States/UTs.  The component  of  Cold  Storage  is  demand/entrepreneur  driven  for  which  Government assistance in the form of credit linked back ended subsidy is available at the rate of 35%  of  the  project  cost  in  general  areas  and  50%  of  the  project  cost  in  hilly  and scheduled areas through respective State Horticulture Missions.

Under  the  scheme,  assistance  is  available  to  individuals,  Groups  of  farmers/ growers/  consumers, Partnership/ Proprietary firms, Self Help Groups  (SHGs), Farmers  Producer  Organization  (FPOs),  Companies,  Corporations,  Cooperatives, Cooperative Marketing Federations, Local bodies, Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) & Marketing Boards and State Governments.

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'.  Under  the  scheme,  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 20000 MT is available.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is also implementing a Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain, Food Processing and Preservation Infrastructure as one of the components of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) 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, Integrated Tribal Development Programme (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.  10.00  crore  per  project  for  setting  up  of integrated  cold  chain  projects  including  irradiation  facility.  Standalone  cold  storages are not covered under the Scheme.

All  the  above  schemes  are  demand/entrepreneur  driven  through  commercial ventures for which government assistance is in the form of credit linked back ended subsidy/grant-in-aid  and  is  provided  based  on  the  proposals  received  from  the States/entrepreneur.

Further, to strengthen agriculture infrastructure in the country, Government has launched  Agriculture  Infrastructure  Funds  (AIF)  of  Rs.  1.00  lakh  crore.  Under  AIF, there  is  provision  for  collateral  free  term  loan  upto  Rs.  2.00  crore  and  interest subvention of 3% on the term loan availed for creation  of post-harvest infrastructure including establishment of cold storages.

For creation of Agricultural Marketing infrastructure including Scientific Storage (including Cold storages) ,  promoted by private entrepreneurs, cooperatives & State Agencies, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India is implementing 'Agricultural  Marketing  Infrastructure  (AMI)'  sub-scheme  of  Integrated  Scheme  for Agricultural  Marketing  (ISAM)  across  the  country  ( including  Bihar) through  its attached office Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI).

AMI  is  a  capital  investment,  open  ended,  Demand  driven  and  credit  linked scheme wherein back ended subsidy @ 25% and 33.33% is available based on the eligible category  of  beneficiary. Assistance  is  available to  Individuals,  Farmers including farmers with Small and medium landholdings , Group of farmers/growers, Agri-pruners,  Registered  Farmer  Produce  Organizations  (FPOs),  Cooperatives,  and state agencies etc for creation of Agricultural Marketing infrastructure. Further, Under the  AMI  Scheme Stand-alone standardised  cold  storage  units  for  storage  of  fruits  & vegetables, as per standards promoted by NCCD up to 1000 MTs is allowed as per the MIDH cost norms for all the eligible beneficiaries across the country including the State of Bihar.

Further, Food Corporation of India (FCI) stores food grains (mainly wheat & rice) after procurement for Public Distribution System (PDS) and to maintain buffer stock.

The  requirement  of  Storage  capacity  in  FCI  depends  upon  the  level  of procurement,  requirement  of  buffer  norms  and  Public  Distribution  System  (PDS) operations for  Rice  and  Wheat  mainly.  FCI  continuously  assesses  and  monitors  the storage  capacity  and  based  on  the  storage  gap  assessment,  storage  capacities  are arranged  by  way  of  construction  of  godowns,  hiring  of  godowns  through  following schemes:

1.  Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme
2.  Central Sector Scheme (CSS)
3.  Construction of SILO's under PPP mode
4.  Hiring of  godown  from  Central  Warehousing Corporation (CWG)/  State Warehousing Corporation (SWGs)/ State Agencies
5.  Hiring of godown through Private Warehousing Scheme (PWS)
6.  Creation of godowns under Asset Monetization

The time-limit set for the construction of the godowns under various schemes is as per the Contract.

As  per  information  received  from  State  Horticulture  Mission,  Government  of Bihar a total 13 numbers of Cold Storages have been established in the State during last five years.

Similarly,  as  per  information  received  from  Marketing  Division  and  Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) 127 number of warehouses have been created in the Bihar during last five years.

The District wise details are at Annexure - I.

## Annexure - I

## District Wise Details of Warehouses and Cold Storage set up in Bihar during last 5 years

| S. No.   | Name of District   |   Number of Warehouses | Number of Cold Storage   |
|----------|--------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1        | Araria             |                     13 |                          |
| 2        | Arwal              |                      0 |                          |
| 3        | Aurangabad         |                      0 |                          |
| 4        | Banka              |                      0 |                          |
| 5        | Begusarai          |                     11 | 4                        |
| 6        | Bhagalpur          |                      4 |                          |
| 7        | Bhojpur            |                      0 |                          |
| 8        | Buxar              |                      1 |                          |
| 9        | Darbhanga          |                      5 |                          |
| 10       | East champaran     |                      0 | 1                        |
| 11       | Gaya               |                      0 |                          |
| 12       | Gopalganj          |                      1 |                          |
| 13       | Jamui              |                      1 |                          |
| 14       | Jehanabad          |                      0 |                          |
| 15       | Kaimur             |                      0 |                          |
| 16       | Katihar            |                      7 | 1                        |
| 17       | Khagaria           |                      9 |                          |
| 18       | Kishanganj         |                      1 |                          |
| 19       | Lakhisarai         |                      0 |                          |
| 20       | Madhepura          |                      1 | 1                        |
| 21       | Madhubani          |                      0 |                          |
| 22       | Munger             |                      0 |                          |
| 23       | Muzaffarpur        |                      6 |                          |
| 24       | Nalanda            |                      0 |                          |
| 25       | Nawada             |                      1 |                          |
| 26       | Patna              |                      0 | 1                        |
| 27       | Purnia             |                     55 | 1                        |
| 28       | Rohtas             |                      1 |                          |
| 29       | Saharsa            |                      0 |                          |
| 30       | Samastipur         |                      4 | 3                        |
| 31       | Sheohar            |                      0 |                          |
| 32       | Saran              |                      1 |                          |
| 33       | Shekhpura          |                      0 |                          |
| 34       | Sitamarhi          |                      1 |                          |
| 35       | Siwan              |                      1 |                          |
| 36       | Supaul             |                      0 |                          |
| 37       | Vaishali           |                      2 |                          |
| 38       | West Champaran     |                      1 | 1                        |
|          | Total              |                    127 | 13                       |

*****