Lok Sabha Question No. 630 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-06
Subject: Prices of Agricultural Products
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Pushpendra Singh Chandel

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 630

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2024

## PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

630. SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL:

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

(a) whether the Government has taken any special measures to check the prices of agricultural products in the country alongwith  promoting agriculture-related exports;

- (b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) whether any special measures have been taken by the Government for food storage and processing and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी

(SHRI ARJUN MUNDA)

(a) & (b): The  Department  of Agriculture  and  Farmers  Welfare  (DA&FW) implements  the  Marketing  Research  and  Information  Network,  sub  scheme  of Integrated  Scheme for Agricultural  Marketing (ISAM), since  2000, to  link  important Agricultural Produce  Markets spread all over the country  and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards and Directorates spread over the country and collect, collate and disseminate  the  mandi  prices  &  arrival  data.  The  National  Agriculture  Market (eNAM),  launched  on  14.04.2016,  is  a  pan-India  electronic  trading  portal  that networks  the  existing  Agriculture  Produce  Market  Committee  (APMC)  mandis  to create  a  unified  national  market  for  agricultural  commodities.  The  e-NAM  aims  to remove information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promote real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply. Further, the Market Intelligence Units  of  the  Department makes  regular  visit  to  agricultural  markets  to  send  price reports.

The Government has taken several steps at the State and District levels to promote exports. State specific Action Plans have been prepared and State Level Monitoring  Committees  (SLMCs),  Nodal  Agencies  for  agricultural  exports  and Cluster  Level  Committees  have  been  formed  in  a  number  of  States.  Country  and product-specific  action  plans  have  also  been  formulated  to  promote  exports.  The Government  is  also  utilizing  the  District  as  Export  Hub  Initiative  to  achieve  the objectives  of  Agriculture  Export  Policy.  Under  the  District  as  Export  Hub  initiative, products  including  agricultural  and  processed  food  products  with  export  potential have been identified in all 733 districts across the country. State Export Strategy has been prepared in 28 States/UTs.

The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a statutory organisation under the administrative control of Department of Commerce, has the mandate to promote exports of agricultural and processed food products.  APEDA  has  been  providing  assistance  to  the  exporters  under  various components  of  its  Export  Promotion  Scheme.  The  Department  of  Commerce provides  financial  assistance  to  promote  exports,  including  exports  of  agricultural products  through  Market  Access  Initiatives  (MAI)  Scheme,  and  Export  Promotion Schemes of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Commodity Boards: Tea Board, Coffee Board, Spices Board etc.

Further,  a  Farmer  Connect  Portal  has  been  developed  for  providing  a platform for farmers, and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives for interacting with exporters. Buyer-Seller Meets (BSMs) have been organized in the clusters  to  provide  export-market  linkages.  Regular  interactions,  through  video conferences,  have  been  held  with  the  Indian  Missions  abroad,  to  assess  and  tap export  opportunities.  Country  specific  BSMs,  through  Indian  Missions,  have  also been held.

(c): The  Government  has  undertaken  the  following  measures  for  food  storage and processing. Food Corporation of India (FCI) continuously assesses and monitors the storage capacity and based on the storage gap assessment, storage capacities are  created/hired  through  the  following  schemes:  1)  Construction  of  Silos  under Public  Private  Partnership  (PPP)  mode  2)  Private  Entrepreneurs  Guarantee  (PEG) Scheme  3)  Central  Sector  Scheme  (CSS),  4)  hiring  of  godown  from  Central Warehousing  Corporation  (CWC)  /  State  Warehousing  Corporations  (SWCs)/State Agencies  and  5)  hiring  of  godown  through  Private  Warehousing  Scheme  (PWS). Various  steps  have  been  taken  for  updating  logistics  and  storage  systems  using scientific  methods  at  Central  Warehousing  Corporation  (CWC).  The  Warehouse Management System software for online transactions is implemented to monitor the logistics and storage system on a pan India basis.

Financing facility under Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF): financial assistance  is  being  provided  for  post-harvest  management  infrastructure  including warehouse  and  cold  chains.  National  Horticulture  Board  (NHB)  is  implementing  a scheme, namely 'Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction/Expansion/Modernization of Cold Storages and Storage of Horticulture Products'. Further, under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), financial assistance is provided for creating of cold storage capacity up to 5000 MT.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been implementing Central Sector umbrella scheme- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) since 2017-18 with the aim to augment preservation and processing capacity so as to reduce  post-harvest  losses,  create  employment,  and  enhance  value  addition  & increase exports of processed foods.  Under PMKSY, financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid  is being  provided  to  the  eligible entities for establishing  food processing  projects  through  its  component  schemes  namely,  Mega  Food  Park (MFP)Scheme, Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure(Cold Chain), Scheme for creation of Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters(APC), Scheme for Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities(CEFPPC),  Operation Greens (OG), Scheme for Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages(CBFL). As on 02.02.2024, 940 projects have been approved  under  these  Schemes  leading  to  creation  of  256.32  Lakh  Metric  Tonnes (LMT)  per  annum  processing  capacity  and  37.60  Lakh  Metric  Tonnes(LMT)  per annum of preservation capacity.

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