Lok Sabha Question No. 3422 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-12
Subject: Food and Cereal Wastage
Ministry: FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
Asked by: Md Abu Taher Khan

## GOVERMENTOF INDIA MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3422

ANSWERED ON 12 TH  MARCH, 2026

## FOOD AND CEREAL WASTAGE

## 3422. MD ABU TAHER KHAN:

Will the Minister of FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  assessed  the  extent  of  food  and  cereal  wastage  across  the country, particularly at the stages of procurement, storage, transportation and processing, during the last five years and if so, the details thereof, year and commodity-wise;
- (b) whether inadequate storage infrastructure, lack  of modern processing  facilities and postharvest losses are key contributors to such wastage and if so, the steps taken by the Ministry to  address  these  gaps  through  food  processing  units,  cold  chains  and  value-addition initiatives; and
- (c) whether the Government proposes to introduce or expand schemes to reduce food and cereal wastage  by  promoting  modern  food  processing  technologies,  decentralised  storage  and farmer-level processing units and if so, the details and timelines thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SHRI RAVNEET SINGH)

- (a) The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) estimates post-harvest losses from time to time for various agri-produces in the country through commissioning of studies based on primary surveys. Two studies were commissioned by the Ministry through (i) Indian Council of Agriculture  Research  (ICAR)  -Central  Institute  of  Post-Harvest  Engineering  &  Technology (CIPHET), 2015 with reference year 2012-14 and (ii) NABARD Consultancy Service Pvt. Ltd (NABCONS), 2022 with reference year 2020-22. The available studies on post-harvest losses are periodic in nature and do not provide year-wise estimates.

As per the latest study conducted by NABCONS, commodity wise estimate of post-harvest losses of various crops covered under the category cereals are as below:

|                 | Crops                         |   Paddy |   Wheat |   Maize |   Bajra |   Sorghum |
|-----------------|-------------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|-----------|
| Farm Operations | Harvesting                    |    1.42 |    1.44 |   0.9   |    0.97 |      1.55 |
| Farm Operations | Collection                    |    0.42 |    0.33 |   0.37  |    0.29 |      0.33 |
| Farm Operations | Threshing                     |    0.97 |    1.05 |   1.2   |    1.13 |      1.8  |
| Farm Operations | Winnowing /cleaning           |    0.4  |    0.34 |   0.19  |    0.16 |      0.35 |
| Farm Operations | Drying                        |    0.33 |    0.05 |   0.16  |    0.22 |      0.1  |
| Farm Operations | Packaging                     |    0.13 |    0.01 |   0.11  |    0.25 |      0.25 |
| Farm Operations | Storage                       |    0.4  |    0.29 |   0.17  |    0.31 |      0.23 |
| Farm Operations | Transport                     |    0.1  |    0.1  |   0.12  |    0.26 |      0.13 |
| Farm Operations | Total loss in farm operations |    4.16 |    3.61 |   3.22  |    3.59 |      4.75 |
|                 | Godown                        |    0.06 |    0.02 |   0.003 |    0.13 |      0.05 |
|                 | Wholesalers                   |    0.23 |    0.13 |   0.29  |    0.12 |      0.76 |
|                 | Retailers                     |    0.03 |    0.05 |   0.14  |    0.07 |      0.16 |
|                 | Processing Unit               |    0.16 |    0.28 |   0.09  |    0.13 |      0.02 |
|                 | Transport                     |    0.12 |    0.08 |   0.14  |    0.32 |      0.19 |

|                      | Total Loss in Market level   |   0.61 |   0.56 |   0.67 |   0.78 |   1.17 |
|----------------------|------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Overall total losses | Overall total losses         |   4.77 |   4.17 |   3.89 |   4.37 |   5.92 |

Source: NABCONS Study 2022

(b)  As per the assessment reports available, inadequate storage infrastructure and lack of modern processing facilities are some of the key factors contributing to post-harvest losses of agricultural produce. To address these issues, MoFPI  supports the creation and expansion of the processing/preservation  capacity  through  implementation  of  various  schemes  for  the  overall development of food processing sector, including creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlets, to reduce post-harvest losses and to increase the level of processing. The schemes being implemented by MoFPI are as follows:

MoFPI is implementing a Central Sector Umbrella Scheme- PMKSY since 2016-17 to create post-harvest infrastructure and processing capacity. The component schemes under PMKSY are (i) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, (ii) Creation of Infrastructure for Agro-Processing  Clusters,  (iii)  Creation  /  Expansion  of  Food  Processing  &  Preservation Capacities  (iv)  Operation  Greens  (v)  Food  Safety  and  Quality    Assurance  -  Food  Testing Laboratories (FTL) (vi) Human   Resource & Institutions- Research & Development  (vii) Mega Food Parks (the component has been discontinued with effect from 01.04.2021 with provision for  committed  liabilities  only)  and  (viii)  Creation  of  Backward  and  Forward  Linkages  (the component has been discontinued from 1st April 2021). MoFPI provides credit linked financial assistance (capital subsidy) in the form of grants-in-aid to the eligible applicants as per the scheme guidelines and  as on December 2025, 1607 projects have been approved under PMKSY out of which 1196 projects have been completed.

MoFPI  is  implementing  the  PLISFPI  for  the  period  FY  2021-22  to  FY  2026-27  with  an approved  outlay  of  ₹10,900  crore,  to  support  the  creation  of  global  food  manufacturing champions,  commensurate  with  India's  natural  resource  endowment,  and  to  support  Indian brands of food products in international markets. By 31 st December, 2025, 169 applications have been approved under the scheme, with beneficiaries reporting investments of ₹9,207 crore and incentives disbursed amounting to ₹2,162.55 crore.

Furthermore,  to  provide  comprehensive  support  for  establishing  or  upgrading  micro  food processing enterprises assistance is provided through PMFME scheme. As of 31st December 2025, 4,04,062 applications have been sent to banks and 1,72,707 loans have been sanctioned with term loan amount of Rs. 14.19 thousand crores. Seed Capital support has been sanctioned for 3,74,819 women  SHG  members  amounting  to  Rs.  1277.45  Crore.    Additionally,  the  programme  has successfully trained 693 Master Trainers, 1,312 District Level Trainers, and 1,36,723 beneficiaries across 36 States and Union Territories.

With creation of food processing infrastructure under the above schemes, the demand for farm produce, which is raw material for food processing industries, increases leading to better prices to farmers  including  MSMEs  and  increasing  farm  gate  profitability.  The  above  scheme  has significantly contributed at micro level (farmers and cold chain owners) by increasing income through better price realization, value addition and wastage reduction etc. across the country.

(c) So far, no such proposal has been introduced by the MoFPI. The Ministry, however, keeps reviewing various policy interventions and schemes from time to time for the overall development of the food processing sector.

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