It has been the endeavor of the Government to promote food processing industry in the country to reduce wastage of agricultural produce and minimize post- harvest losses. The objective of Scheme of Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries is to provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities from the farm gate to the market in order to arrest post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce. Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided in the form of grant-in-aid of maximum Rs10 crore per project for setting up of integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities. The Integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure can be set up by individuals, groups of entrepreneurs, cooperative societies, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), NGOs, Central/State PSUs, etc. The scheme is primarily private sector driven and proposals under this scheme are invited through Expression of Interest (EOI).

 In addition, the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare also is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for holistic development of Horticulture which provides assistance for creation of post harvest management infrastructure including setting up of staging cold room and cold storage for perishable horticulture produce in rural areas. This infrastructure can use alternate technology such as solar PV panels or solar thermal system and phase change material for saving energy under add on technology component of MIDH. The unit cost of staging cold room is Rs.15.00 Iakh/unit of 30 MT capacity and cold storage can be setup with unit cost of Rs. 8000 - 10000/MT. The unit cost of alternate technology is Rs. 35.00 lakh/project.

The component is demand/ entrepreneur-driven from among entrepreneurs, private companies, cooperatives, farmers groups etc through commercial ventures for which assistance @ 35% of admissible project cost in general areas and @ 50% in hilly and schedule area is available as credit linked and back ended subsidy.

           

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SBS/AK/AC

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