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Informist, Wednesday, Aug 28, 2024

 

--Cabinet OKs expansion of agri infra fund 

 

NEW DELHI – The Union Cabinet today approved the expansion of the scope of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to make it more attractive, impactful and inclusive. The Cabinet approved the expansion of the scope of eligible projects under the fund by including the construction of community farming assets and integrated processing projects, an official release said.

 

The fund, which has a total corpus of 1 trln rupees, will be used to create infrastructure covered under viable projects for building community farming assets. "This move is expected to facilitate the development of viable projects that will enhance community farming capabilities, thereby improving productivity and sustainability in the sector," the release said. 

 

Integrated primary and secondary processing projects will also be included in the list of eligible activities under the fund. However, standalone secondary projects will not be eligible under the fund and will be covered under schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the release said.

 

The expansion of scope will also allow the use of the scheme for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) – a scheme for installing solar pumps – by farmers, farmer producer organisations, cooperatives and panchayats, the release said.

 

The Cabinet also approved extending the fund's credit guarantee coverage of farmer producers' organisations through the NABSanrakshan Trustee Company Pvt Ltd, in addition to the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. The expansion of credit guarantee options is intended to enhance the creditworthiness of farmer producers' organisations and encourage them to invest in agricultural infrastructure projects.

 

The government has sanctioned 475.75 bln rupees for 74,508 projects under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund so far.

 

The infrastructure fund has been instrumental in supporting the creation of 6,623 warehouses, 688 cold stores and 21 silos projects, which led to an additional storage capacity of about 50 mln tn in the country. This includes 46.5 mln tn of dry storage and 3.5 mln tn of cold storage capacity.  End

 

Reported by Pallavi Singhal

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

 

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