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LECTURE 34 Role of Agricultural Infrastructure

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11 views3 pages

LECTURE 34 Role of Agricultural Infrastructure

Uploaded by

Varshini Shalom
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Role of Agricultural Infrastructure

Introduction
The agriculture sector is of strategic importance to India’s economy. The increased demand
for higher value agricultural products in the last decade created an opportunity for the sector
to grow while increasing farm income in rural areas.

However, this potential growth did not materialize due to a number of factors, such as

(i) outdated technologies and management at the farm level,


(ii) limited availability of infrastructure connectivity,
(iii) limited capacity and inefficient management of marketing infrastructure, and
(iv) weak links among traders and/or processors and farmers.

Infrastructure plays a vital role in agriculture at every single step like for the supply of input,
sowing of crops and for the post-harvest management. Planned investment in agriculture
infrastructure sector is important to enhance the productivity and to reduce the post-harvest
losses this will also result in capacity building and higher income generation. In India post-
harvest losses are relatively higher because of gap of basic agriculture infrastructures like
storage houses, pack houses, absence of proper supply chain etc.

In view of above, Government of India has formulated a Central Sector Scheme of financing
facility under ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’ which was launched by Hon’ble Prime
Minister of India on 9th August 2020 for creating required pre and post-harvest
management infrastructures in the agriculture sector. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund aims at
providing a medium/long term debt financing facility till 2025-2026 through 3% interest
subvention and credit guarantee support on loans for creation of post-harvest management
infrastructure and community farming assets.

Community farming assets eligible under Agri Infra Fund includes:

(i) Organic inputs production


(ii) Bio stimulant production units
(iii) Infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture.
(iv) Projects identified for providing supply chain infrastructure for clusters of crops
including export clusters.
(v) Projects promoted by Central/State/Local Governments or their agencies under
PPP for building community farming assets or post-harvest management
projects.

In addition to the aforementioned community farming assets, farmer communities such


as PACS, FPOs, SHGs, JLGs, Multipurpose Co-op societies, Marketing Co-op societies
and their federations are also eligible to get the benefit under Agri Infra Fund for
creation of following post-harvest management infrastructures:

(i) Supply chain services including e-marketing platforms


(ii) Warehouses
(iii) Silos
(iv) Pack houses
(v) Assaying units
(vi) Sorting &grading units
(vii) Cold chains
(viii) Logistics facilities
(ix) Primary processing centres
(x) Ripening Chambers.

Since the inception of the scheme in Aug 2020, loan amounting to Rs. 6182 Cores have been
sanctioned for 8630 Projects across the country. Out of which Rs 77.9 Crores for 210
projects has been sanctioned in the state of Odisha.

The Government has been assisting the state Governments for bringing improvements in the
Infrastructure Facilities in the Agriculture Sector through implementing various schemes as
per details given below:

i. In order to promote scientific storage facilities in rural areas of the country, the
Government is already implementing Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI)
which is a sub-scheme under the Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing
(ISAM). AMI scheme is a demand driven with back ended credit linked subsidy
scheme in which rate of subsidy provided is @ 25% and 33.33% based on the
category of eligible beneficiary. Assistance under the sub-scheme is available to
Individual, Group of farmers/growers, Registered Farmer Produce Organizations
(FPOs) etc.

ii. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) under which financial
assistance for setting up of Post-Harvest Management Infrastructure including cold
storage, cold room facilities for horticultural produce @ 35% of the project cost in
general areas and 50% in case of hilly and scheduled areas per beneficiary is
available. The component is demand/ entrepreneur driven through commercial
ventures for which Government assistance is credit linked and back ended.

iii. Government of India has launched National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) Scheme
on 14th April, 2016 with the objective of creating online transparent competitive
bidding system to facilitate farmers with remunerative prices for their produce.So
far, 1000 mandis of 18 States and 3 UTs have been integrated with e-NAM platform.

iv. Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) is being implemented w.e.f


April,2014.The scheme aims at ‘reaching the un-reached’ by bringing to the small
and marginal farmers in the core and giving the benefits of farm mechanization, by
Promoting ‘Custom Hiring Centers’ , creating hubs for hi-tech & high value farm
equipment, distribution of various agricultural equipment, creating awareness among
stakeholders through demonstration and capacity building activities, and ensuring
performance- testing and certification at designated testing centers located all over
the country.
v. Under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY),the funds are released to the State
Governments as Grants-in-Aid on the basis of projects in Agriculture & allied
sectors approved in the State Level Sanctioning Committee Meeting (SLSC) headed
by the Chief Secretary of the concerned State, which is the empowered body to
approve projects under the scheme.

vi. Government is promoting certified organic production under the Mission Organic
Value Chain Development for NE Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. The
scheme provide end to end support to organic farmers from organic production to
certification and marketing including post harvest management support like
processing, packaging, storage etc. Need based financial support for creating
infrastructure facilities like integrated processing unit, integrated pack-house, cold
store etc. are provided to States under MOVCDNER

The Central Sector Scheme (AIF) aims at providing a medium-long term debt financing
facility till 2025-2026 through 3% interest subvention and credit guarantee support on loans
for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets to
numerous beneficiaries including farmers.

An example is the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), a flagship program
launched by the Government of India to improve agricultural productivity and water use
efficiency through the development of irrigation infrastructure. By investing in the
construction of canals, reservoirs, and drip irrigation systems, PMKSY aims to enhance
water availability for farmers and reduce their dependency on rainfall. Additionally,
initiatives such as the National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) and the Agri-Export Policy
focus on improving market access and promoting agribusiness development by creating a
unified national market platform and facilitating agricultural exports. These efforts
demonstrate how strategic investments in agricultural infrastructure and supportive policies
can drive sustainable growth in the agricultural sector and benefit rural communities in
India.

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