Provision of Storage Facilities to Farmers

Provision of Storage Facilities to Farmers

In order to improve storage facilities, Government is implementing Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI), a sub-scheme of the Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) under which assistance is provided for the construction/ renovation of godowns/ warehouses in the rural areas in the States to enhance the storage capacity for agriculture produce. Under the scheme, Government provides subsidy at the rate of 25% and 33.33% on capital cost of the project based on the category of eligible beneficiary. Assistance is available to Individuals, Farmers, Group of farmers/growers, Agri-preneurs, Registered Farmer Produce Organizations (FPOs), Cooperatives, and state agencies etc. The scheme is demand driven.

Since inception of scheme i.e. from 01.04.2001 and up to 30.06.2024, a total of 48,512 storage infrastructure projects (Godowns), with storage capacity of 93.99 Million MT have been sanctioned under the scheme and subsidy of Rs. 4,734.73 crore has been released. The State-wise progress of Storage Infrastructure is at Annexure-I.

Further, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme was launched in July 2020 with an objective to mobilize a medium – long-term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through incentives and financial support in order to improve agriculture infrastructure in the country.  Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore is provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores. Under the AIF Scheme, a total number of 13353 warehouses have been set up with the sanction of Rs 11258 cr by Banks and other lending institutions as on 18.07.2024.  As per guidelines, the AIF Scheme has not earmarked special allocation for setting up storage facilities. As per the Impact Assessment study by Agro Economic Research (AER), Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), the average storage capacity is 7000 MT per storage project.

As informed by the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, as on 01.07.2024, Covered Storage Capacity available with FCI and State agencies for storage of Central Pool foodgrain stock is 837.68 Lakh MT against stored stock of 604.02 LMT. The details are annexed as Annexure-II.

                                                                                                                                   ANNEXURE-I

Progress of Storage Infrastructure assisted under AMI as on 30.06.2024

(Since inception i.e. 01.04.2001)

State-wise Progress of Storage Infrastructure as on 30.06.2024

S. No.

State

No. of Projects Sanctioned

Capacity Sanctioned (MT)

Subsidy Released

(Rs. in lakh)

1

Andhra Pradesh

1543

6122043

31758.85

2

Arunachal Pradesh

1

945

6.30

3

Assam

367

1135319

7183.19

4

Bihar

1234

1111749

5373.90

5

Chhattisgarh

1396

2287472

8914.09

6

Goa

1

299

0.94

7

Gujarat

12376

5992142

35442.91

8

Haryana

2307

7679871

44422.19

9

Himachal Pradesh

88

30826

180.77

10

Jammu & Kashmir

17

98027

801.45

11

Jharkhand

243

223327

959.84

12

Karnataka

5062

4490366

21616.63

13

Kerala

207

113742

637.95

14

Madhya Pradesh

8324

28484839

168412.14

15

Maharashtra

4071

8096142

35109.50

16

Meghalaya

17

26012

253.41

17

Mizoram

4

705

6.45

18

Nagaland

36

26887

354.38

19

Odisha

717

1069718

4393.69

20

Punjab

1819

7056792

25231.94

21

Rajasthan    

1873

3764757

14920.65

22

Tamilnadu

1233

1486554

5378.94

23

Telangana

1330

6017717

31999.69

24

Tripura

5

28764

296.61

25

Uttar Pradesh

1294

6036950

20324.60

26

Uttarakhand

321

879331

3971.02

27

West Bengal

2626

1737343

5521.11

 

Total 

48512

93998641

473473.15

 

ANNEXURE-II

 

The requirement of Storage capacity in FCI depends upon the level of procurement, requirement of buffer norms and PDS operations for Rice and Wheat mainly. FCI continuously assesses and monitors the storage capacity and based on the storage gap assessment, storage capacities are created/hired through the following schemes:-

Effective measures being taken to increase storage facilities for developing efficient storage system are as under:

Further, silo capacity of 111.125 LMT in PPP mode is proposed under Hub & Spoke model to be implemented in 3 phases. In phase –I tender for 10.125 LMT at 14 locations on FCI own land has been awarded and 24.75 LMT at 66 locations on private land have been awarded.

ANNEXURE-III

Central Sector Scheme (from 2017-18 to 2024-25)

(Status as on 01.07.2024)

Year

Zone (North East/other than NE)

State

S. No.

Locations

Capacity

(MT)

Status

FY

2017-18

 NE

Nagaland

1

Kohima

4590

Completed

Arunachal Pradesh

2

Bomdila

3340

FY

2018-19

Manipur

3

Thoubal

2500

4

Imphal East

10000

5

Bishnupur

4600

FY

2019-20

Manipur

6

Churachandpur

2500

FY

2021-22

Assam

7

Jonai (Dhemaji)

20000

FY

2022-23

Manipur

8

Tamenglong

4730

Arunachal Pradesh

9

Aalo

1670

Meghalaya

10

Baghmara

2500

FY

2023-24

Arunachal Pradesh

11

Roing

1120

FY

2018-19

Other than NE

Kerala

12

West Hill

10000

13

Angadipuram

5000

Himachal pradesh

14

Kangra

3340

FY

2022-23

Himachal pradesh

15

Palampur

2240

FY

2023-24

Himachal pradesh

16

Recongpeo

640

Total

78770

 

This information was given by the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Visitor Counter : 279