Lok Sabha Question No. 5132 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-24
Subject: Strengthening Cooperative
Ministry: COOPERATION
Asked by: Shri Vishnu Datt Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5132 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  MARCH, 2026

## Strengthening Cooperative

## 5132.  Shri Vishnu Datt Sharma:

Will the Minister of COOPERATION ( सहकारिता मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is promoting cooperative-based storage, warehousing and post harvest infrastructure nationwide to reduce crop losses and strengthen farmer incomes through cooperative institutions;
- (b)  whether  cooperative  societies  in  the  districts  of  Katni,  Panna  and  Chhatarpur  in  the Khajuraho Lok Sabha region have received support for establishment of warehouses, cold storage or grain storage facilities, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the number of cooperative societies strengthened, storage facilities created and farmers benefiting from such infrastructure locally;
- (d) the reasons if cooperative storage infrastructure remains inadequate in these districts; and
- (e) the steps proposed to expand cooperative-based storage and marketing infrastructure so that  farmers  of  this  agriculture-dependent  region  receive  improved  price  realisation  and reduced post-harvest losses?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH)

- (a): In order to address the shortage of storage capacity for food grains in the country and creation of decentralised scientific grain storage infrastructure, the Government, on 31st May, 2023, has approved the 'World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector', which has been rolled out as a Pilot Project. The Plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure including godowns,  custom  hiring  centers,  processing  units,  Fair  Price  Shops,  etc.  at  PACS/  other cooperative societies level through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as,  Agriculture Infrastructure Fund  (AIF),  Agricultural  Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM), Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), etc.

Committees have been constituted at State (State Cooperative Development Committee (SCDC) headed  by  State  Chief  Secretary  and  District  levels  (District  Cooperative  Development Committees (DCDC) headed by District Collector to monitor its implementation and ensure its seamless integration with the existing State policies/ programmes at the State level and District level.

Decentralized storage at the village/PACS level is expected to significantly reduce post-harvest losses by enabling scientific storage closer to farms and minimizing handling. Localized storage also  lowers  transportation  distances  and  associated  costs  by  reducing  repeated  long-haul movements  to  distant  warehouses  or  mandis.  Collectively,  these  measures  improve  price realization for farmers, enhance supply-chain efficiency, and strengthen food security outcomes.

(b): As per information received from the State of Madhya Pradesh, since the State, including the  Districts  of  Katni,  Panna  and  Chhatarpur,  has  adequate  storage  infrastructure,  hence  no godowns have been constructed in the State under the Plan.

(c) to (d): Does not arise.

(e): The Plan is being implemented across the country at the locations where there is storage requirement so that the farmers of those regions receive improved price realization and reduced post-harvest  losses. Agencies such as Food Corporation of India  (FCI),  National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) and State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) have identified 378 districts/ location across the country as per their storage requirement which constitutes a total storage  gap  of  46.92  LMT  and  States/UTs  concerned  have  been  requested  for  further identification of land in PACS and other Cooperative Societies. So far, under the Grain Storage Plan,  560  cooperative  societies  have  been  identified  and  construction  of  godowns  has  been completed in 120 cooperative societies across the country creating a total storage capacity of 72,702 MT.

Financial  support  is  provided  to  the  participating  cooperative  societies  through  various  GOI schemes converged with the Plan. Under the AIF Scheme the benefit of interest subvention is given to the PACS against the loan taken for construction of godowns and under AMI Scheme 33% subsidy is given for the construction of foodgrain storage. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has extended the credit guarantee under AIF Scheme from 2+5 to 2+8 years for PACS and also made the following amendments under the AMI scheme:

- Margin money requirement has been reduced from 20% to 10%.
- The construction  cost  has  been  revised  from  ₹3000-3500/MT  to  ₹7000/MT  for  plain areas and from ₹4000/MT to ₹8000/MT for northeastern states.
- The  subsidy  has  been  increased  for  PACS  from  25%  to  33.33%  (from  ₹875/MT  to ₹2333/MT for plain areas and from ₹1333.33/MT to ₹2666/MT for northeastern states).
- For PACS, a provision has been made to provide an additional subsidy of 1/3 (one third) of  the  total  admissible  subsidy  for  ancillary  infrastructure  such  as  internal  roads, weighbridges, boundary walls, etc.

The Plan also utilizes NABARD's special refinance scheme to significantly reduce the financial burden on participating cooperatives. When combined with the 3% interest subvention available under the AIF, the effective loan interest rate for PACS is reduced to 1% under World's Largest Grain Storage Plan.

Further, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has also agreed to provide uniform hiring assurance for 9 years to PACS/ other cooperative societies godowns under the Plan.

In order to broaden implementation capacity and scale, the Plan has been expanded beyond PACS to  include  all  Cooperative  Societies,  Cooperative  Federations,  and  Multi-State  Cooperative Societies (MSCS).

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