Government is implementing various schemes under which financial assistance is available for setting up of cold storage for perishable horticultural produce throughout the country.

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 on the basis of Annual Action Plan (AAP) received from States/UTs. AAPs are prepared by the States/UTs based on their requirement, capacity and availability of resources. 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 10000 MT is available. In case of North East region, the units with capacity above 1000 MT are also eligible for assistance.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) implements 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, 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 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.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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