Question : Cold Storage Facilities

(a) the details of the Schemes being implemented by the Government in regard to providing cold chain/ cold storage in the country;

(b) whether there is a proposal with the Government to provide any subsidy for setting up of cold storages, if so, the details thereof especially with regard to Maharashtra and also the details about the number of cold storages to be set up in Madhya Pradesh;

(c) whether the Government has fixed any priority for food processing industries and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(d) the present status of cold storages in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and whether these cold storages are enough to meet the requirements; and

(e) if not, the efforts being made to meet the shortage of the cold storages?

Answer given by the minister

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
(SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

(a): Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Central Sector Scheme of Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure as one of the component 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, Ministry provides financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid @ 35% for general areas and @ 50% for North East States, Himalayan States, ITDP areas and Islands for storage and transport infrastructure and @ 50% and 75% respectively for addition and processing infrastructure subject to a maximum grant-in-aid of 10 crore per? project for setting up integrated cold chain projects including irradiation facility without any break from the farm gate to the consumer. 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 Components covered under the cold chain scheme are (a) Farm Level Infrastructure (FLI) (b) Distribution hub (DH) (c) Refrigerated vans/ refrigerated trucks/ insulated vans/mobile insulated tankers and (iv) Irradiation facility. To avail financial assistance under this scheme, the applicant has to set up Farm Level Infrastructure and any one or both of the components mentioned at (b) and (c) above. Considering the functional nature of the facility, irradiation component is treated as a standalone facility for the purpose of availing grant under the scheme. However, Standalone cold storage is not considered for financial assistance under the Scheme. The scheme is primarily private sector driven and proposals under this scheme are invited through Expression of Interest (EOI). Under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure, 296 cold chain projects have been approved. Out of 296, 152 cold chain projects have started their commercial operations and remaining 144 are in various stages of implementation.

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for development of Horticulture in the country. Under this Mission, assistance for development of Post-Harvest Management components including establishment of cold storages is provided. The component is demand,/ entrepreneur –driven from among entrepreneurs, private companies, cooperatives, farmer groups, etc. Under the Scheme, financial assistance is available @ 35% of admissible project cost in general areas and @ 50% in hilly and Scheduled area as credit linked back ended subsidy through respective State Horticulture Missions.

(b): Under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure, financial assistance is provided to the eligible projects which are approved as per scheme guidelines. In the state of Maharashtra, 67 projects have been approved under this scheme with a total grantin-aid of Rs. 481.64 cr. In the State of Madhya Pradesh 6 projects have been approved under this scheme with a total grant-in-aid of Rs. 43.48 cr.
(c) to (e): No state wise targets are envisaged in the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure. The scheme is primarily private sector driven and proposals under this scheme are invited through Expression of Interest (EOI). Selection of suitable proposals under this scheme is made as per the scheme guidelines, based on merit, through a stringent appraisal process as per the prefixed criteria.
Under MIDH Scheme of DAC&FW, cold storage with the capacity of 12.87 Lakh MT in Madhya Pradesh and 9.85 Lakh MT in Maharashtra have been created.

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