(a) the details of financial assistance provided by the Government for setting up of cold storage facilities in rural areas;
(b) whether the Government has planned to set up food processing parks along with storage facilities in those areas in which agricultural produces are getting wasted in huge amounts; and
(c) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 309 DUE FOR REPLY ON 10TH DECEMBER, 2019.
(a): The Government is implementing various schemes under which financial assistance is provided for setting up of cold storages throughout the country including rural areas. These cold storages are setup for bulk storages of crops both in urban and rural areas. However, no separate data for cold storages in urban and rural areas is centrally maintained by this Department.
Schemes under which financial assistance is provided for setting up of cold storages in the country are given below:
i) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH):
Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) under which financial assistance is provided for various activities including setting up of cold storages. 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% (for general areas) and 50% (for hilly and scheduled areas) of capital cost of the project for both public and private sector enterprises. During last five years and current year (up to 31.10.2019), 1104 cold storages with capacity of 4.82 million tonnes have been approved with financial assistance of Rs. 1810.90 crore under MIDH.
ii) Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY):
Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure as one of the component of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana with the objective of reducing post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce and providing remunerative price to farmers for their produce.
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Under the scheme, Ministry provides financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid at the rate 35% for general areas and 50% for North East States, 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 of Rs.10 crore per project for setting up Integrated Cold Chain projects including Irradiation facility. Standalone cold storages are not covered under the Scheme.
During last five years and current year (upto 31.10.2019), 208 cold chain projects with cold storage capacity of 5.30 lakh MT have been approved with financial assistance of Rs. 1655.21 crore under PMKSY.
The year wise and State wise details of cold storages and cold chain projects approved under MIDH and MoFPI Schemes are at Annexure – I.
(b) & (c): With a view to reduce wastage of agricultural produce in various parts of the country and enhance processing levels, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme (MFPS) for providing modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market. The Scheme is implemented in a cluster based approach which includes creation of infrastructure for primary processing and storage near the farm gate at Primary Processing Centers (PPCs), Collection Centres (CCs) and common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre. The scheme provides for a capital grant @50% of the eligible project cost in general areas and @75% in difficult and hilly areas i.e. North East Region including Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and ITDP notified areas of the States subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 Crore per project. The execution, ownership and management of the Mega Food Park is
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undertaken by Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) registered under the Companies Act. This scheme is a component of the new Central Sector Umbrella Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).
The Ministry of Food Processing has accorded final approval to 38 Mega Food Park Projects and 2 Mega Food Park projects have been accorded in-principle approval under the scheme which are under various stages of implementation. Presently, a total of 17 Mega Food Park projects at Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh),Tumkur (Karnataka), Fazilka (Punjab), Nalbari (Assam), Khargone (Madhya Pradesh), Murshidabad (West Bengal), Rayagada (Odisha), Satara (Maharashtra), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Surat (Gujarat), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Una(HP), West Godavari(Andhra Pradesh), West Tripura(Tripura) and Nizamabad (Telangana) have been made operational. These Mega Food Parks have facilities of cold storage and deep freezer also. The State/UT-wise details of the capacities of Cold Storage & Deep Freezer setup/being setup in the Mega Food Parks under the Mega Food Park scheme are at Annexure-II.