The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on Friday drew attention to the various schemes under which financial assistance is available for various horticulture activities including setting up of cold storage to prevent post harvest losses to fruits and vegetables in the country. This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
Under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), financial assistance is provided for various horticulture activities including construction/Expansion/ Modernization of cold storages of capacity up to 5000 MT in the country. The component 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.
“Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction/Expansion /Modernization of Cold Storages and Storages for Horticulture Products” is implemented by National Horticulture Board (NHB). 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 10000 MT is available. In case of North East region, the units with capacity above 1000 MT are also eligible for assistance, MoA&FW stated.
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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 Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana 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, the 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 of integrated cold chain projects including irradiation facility. Standalone cold storages are not covered under the Scheme.
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 up to 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.
