The Government has various schemes to strengthen cold storage and warehousing infrastructure facilities in the country, including Maharashtra.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure as one of the components of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana with the objective of arresting post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce and providing remunerative price to farmers for their produce. Under the scheme, 67 projects have been sanctioned for Maharashtra, out of which 33 have been completed and 34 are under implementation. A total amount of Rs.481.64 crore has been sanctioned for these projects, out of which Rs.277.11 crores has been released.

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for development of Horticulture in the country including Maharashtra under which financial assistance is available, inter-alia, for setting up of Post-Harvest management (PHM) infrastructure including cold storage. An amount of Rs.2123.50 lakh has been approved for 21 cold storages in Maharashtra since inception of MIDH (2014 - 15).

Food Corporation of India (FCI) has a total capacity of 4,51,703 MT for the storage of central pool stock of foodgrains for distribution under public Distribution System in North Maharashtra (as on 28.06.2019).

This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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MM