(a) the number of cold storage units sanctioned under the Integrated Cold Chain Project in the country along with those proposed to be set up in the current year and the next two years in the country including Maharashtra; and
(b) whether the existing cold chain units would meet the requirement of handling capacity of milk and dairy products, fruits, vegetables, fish, marine products and cereals and if so, the details thereof?
(a): Ministry of Food Processing Industries is presently assisting 236 integrated cold chain projects including 50 projects in Maharashtra under the central sector Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure in the country. Of this, 103 integrated cold chain projects including 22 projects in Maharashtra have recently been sanctioned in March/April, 2017 against the Expression of Interest (EOI) issued on 31.08.2016.
(b): Operationalization of 236 cold chain projects envisages creation of a cold chain capacity of 7.68 lakh MT of Cold Storage/Controlled Atmosphere/Deep Freezer Storage, 215 MT/Hr of Individual Quick Freeze, 110.49 lakh Litre Per Day of Milk Processing/Storage and 1400 nos. of Reefer Vehicles. Out of this, Ministry has so far created a capacity of 3.98 lakh metric tonnes of cold storage, 104.39 metric tonnes per hour of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF), 39.83 lakh litres per day of Milk processing/ storage and 591 reefer vans. A study was undertaken by National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in 2015 on All India Cold-Chain Infrastructure Capacity (Assessment of Status & Gap) to assess the requirement for cold chain infrastructure in the country. The study has made the following gap analysis of cold chain infrastructure:
Type of Infrastructure Infrastructure Requirement (A) Infrastructure created (B) All India Gap
(A-B)
Pack-house 70,080 nos. 249 nos. 69,831 nos.
Cold Storage (Bulk) 34,164,411 MT 31,823,700 MT 32,76,962 MT
Cold Storage (Hub) 9,36,251 MT
Reefer Vehicles 61826 nos. 9000 nos. 52826 nos.
Ripening Chamber 9131 nos. 812 nos. 8319 nos.
Thus, there is a gap of 3.28 Million Metric Ton of cold storage requirement. The study was primarily based on requirement of fruits & vegetables and has excluded the requirement for milk, meat, marine and processed products.