(a) whether the Government is planning some schemes for doubling farmers'' income through food processing;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of such projects initiated by the Government;
(d) whether the Government has observed that a major share of vegetables and fruits produced are damaged due to lack of processing industries; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
(SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)
(a) to (c): The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing a Central Sector Scheme
PRADHAN MANTRI KISAN SAMPADA YOJANA (PMKSY) for promotion and development of Food Processing Sector. The PMKSY is a comprehensive package with the objectives, inter alia, to reduce wastage of agricultural produces and increase the level of food processing in the country that can lead to increase in demand for agricultural produces as raw material and result in better price realization of the agricultural produces by the farmers and help them increasing their income.
The various component schemes implemented under PMKSY are (i) Mega Food Parks; (ii) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure; (iii) Creation / Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities; (iv) Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters; (v) Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages; (vi) Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure and (vii) Human Resources and Institutions. The farmers, Farmer Producer Organizations, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, societies, Self Help Groups, Private Companies and State PSUs etc. are eligible to avail financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid under these schemes for setting up food processing projects in the country. Also, as announced in the budget speech of Union Budget 2018-19, MoFPI is implementing a new Central Sector Scheme for "Operation Greens" for integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) crops value chain, with an outlay of Rs.500 crore to promote Farmers Producers Organizations, agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management in addition to short term price stabilisation component to prevent crashing of prices of the TOP crops during the time of glut.
(d) & (e): As per the study, "Assessment of Quantitative Harvest and Post-Harvest Losses of Major crops and Commodities in India" by Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, in 2015, the estimated cumulative percentage of annual harvest and post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetable ranged from 4.58% to 15.88%.
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