Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’ CENTRAL SECTOR SCHEME

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund – Finance Minister announced Rs 1 lakh crore Agri Infrastructure Fund for farm-gate infrastructure for farmers. Financing facility of Rs. 1,00,000 crore will be provided for funding Agriculture Infrastructure Projects at farm-gate & aggregation points (Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, Farmers Producer Organizations, Agriculture entrepreneurs, Start-ups, etc.)- Central Sector Scheme – NHB Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’ – AIF scheme subsidy for warehouse

the Central Sector Scheme to mobilize a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects relating to postharvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through incentives and financial support

Under the scheme, Rs. One Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans to -CENTRAL SECTOR SCHEME – NHB

• Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS),
• Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs),
• Self Help Group (SHG), Farmers,
• Joint Liability Groups (JLG),
• Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs,
• Startups, Aggregation Infrastructure Providers and Central/State agency or
• Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Project

Loans will be disbursed in four years starting with sanction of Rs. 10,000 crorein the current year and Rs. 30,000 crore each in next three financial years.

Period of Scheme

The Scheme will be operational from 2020-21 to 2029-30. Disbursement in four years starting with sanction of Rs. 10,000 crore in the first year and Rs. 30,000 crore each in next three financial years

Objectives of Scheme

Tomobilize a medium – long term debt finances 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.

Eligible Projects

The scheme will facilitate setting up and modernization of key elements of the value chain including (A) Post Harvest Management Projects like:

 (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 centers

(x) Ripening Chambers

(B) Viable projects for building community farming assets including –

 (i) Organic inputs production 7

 (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.

Pattern of Financing & participating institution

• All loan to have interest subvention of 3% per annum up to a limit of rs 2 crore for a maximum period of 7 years.
• Credit guarantee coverage for a loan upto 2 crore . the fee of this coverage will be paid by the government
• In case of FPO’s the credit guarantee may be availed from the facilities created under FPO’s promotion scheme of DCA&FW
• All schedule commercial bank , scheduled co-operative banks regional rurals bank , small finance bank  non banking finance companies & natural co operative development cooperation- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

Financial Assistance 

ITEMS	COST NORMS
Integrated post harvest management project e.g pack houses , Ripening Chamber, refer Van , Retail Outlet , pre cooling unit , washing drying & weighing	Rs ,. 145.00 lakh per project
Integrated pack house with facilities for conveyer belt, sorting , grading units , washing , drying , and weighing	Rs. 50 lakh per unit with size of 9M* 18M
Pre cooling	Rs. 25 lakh per unit with capacity of 6MT
Ripening chamber	RS. 1lakh /MT
Primary processing of F&V aromatic plant & cashew	Rs.25 lakh / unit
Cold storage and controlled atmosphere  storage from 5001 to 10000 MT capacity	Rs 6800 to 9500 per MT plus component – wise cost norms for add on component

Pattern of assistance

A. For post Harvest Infrastructure

Credit kink back ended  subsidy @35%  of cost limited to Rs. 50.75 lakh per project in general areas and @50 %  upto Rs. 72.50 lakh per project in NE Region , Hilly station and schedule areas

B. For cold storage and controlled atmosphere storage

Credit link back ended   subsidy @ 35% per project in general areas & 50% per project in NE region , hilly states and scheduled areas – Agriculture Infrastructure Fund – NHB

More detail in particular units

Silos

A structure for storing  bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain (see grain elevators) or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use today: tower silos, bunker silos, and bag silos.

This method consists of storing unpackaged grain in structures built for this purpose (bins, silos).

The types of construction vary. There can be relatively simple low-capacity structures for storage of agricultural surpluses in production areas, or large complex installations for commercial or industrial storage of products.

In general, there are two categories of bulk-storage structures: low-capacity silos or bins for storage on the farm and high-capacity silos.18

Low-capacity silos for farm storage

• low-capacity metal drums (holding about 150 kg of grain) generally used to store petroleum products;
• higher-capacity  (1 to 3 tonnes) metal bins built for the express purpose of storing grain.

High-capacity silos

High-capacity silos are complex structures intended for the commercial or industrial storage of large quantities (several thousand tonnes).

Specialized builders offer various types of silos; two, in particular:

• vertical silos,
• horizontal silos.

Equipment is selected on the basis of various factors, including:

• volume of storage capacity;
• number and size of bins;
• handling capacity (receiving, cleaning, ensiling, discharging);
• performance of drying equipment and ventilation devices;
• organization of work; economic return.

Government Incentives for silos

FCI reform: Paswan  rolls out Rs 6,000  crore plan to build silos

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will have modern silos with carrying capacity of 100 lakh tonne by 2022-23, up from less than 7 lakh tonne now, food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday. The silos project will require capital investment to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore. While the move will help reduce carrying cost of grains — a staggering Rs 25,000 crore annually at last count — and reduce the storage losses, it is barely radical reform.

With a view to modernize the storage capacity in the country this Department has approved a road map/action plan for creating modern storage facility in the form of Steel Silos of capacity of 100 lakh MT in a phased manner in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode by 2020.

Under this Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) For silos overall ceiling for capacity creation will be kept at 25% of the overall target for storage capacity for the year or actual capacity sanctioned during the year whichever is lower, as illustrated in Annexure-V. The capacity created under silos and subsidy disbursal under the above 25% limit will be implemented and monitored by NABARD, HO and NCDC, HO in respect of projects sanctioned by them.

Packing house

A packing house is a facility where fruit is received and processed prior to distribution to market.

Bulk fruit (such as apples, oranges, pears, and the like) is delivered to the plant via trucks or wagons, where it is dumped into receiving bins and sorted for quality and size. In the case of citrus, ripe fruit with a greenish tint is placed in special storage rooms where ethylene gas is used to bring out the color. Obvious “culls” (fruit that is not suitable to sell for eating due to cosmetic defects) is removed and sold for juice or other uses. Fruit that is ready to be packed into crates or flats is run through a washer and then air-dried. A light coating of natural wax is applied to help the fruit retain moisture and enhance its appeal.

Integrated Post Harvest Management Projects

e.g. Pack House, Ripening Chamber, Refer Van, Retail Outlets, Pre-cooling units, Primary Processing etc

Cost Norms: Rs. 145.00 lakh per project. The add-on components of pre-cooling, pack house, grading, packing, cold room can be taken up as individual components.

Financial assistances : Credit linked back ended subsidy @ 35% of cost limited to Rs.50.75 lakh per project in general areas and @ 50% of project cost limited to Rs. 72.50 lakh per project in NE, Hilly and scheduled Areas, ensuring backward and forward linkage.

Component wise cost norms of Integrated Post Harvest Management

Pack house cost norms Rs. 4.00 lakh/unit with size of 9Mx6M & financial assistances 50% of the capital cost.

Primary Processing Centers (PPCs)

Agriculture produce would reach the Primary Processing Centers (PPCs). Thus the need for a well equipped unloading facility. This facility would ensure that all produce reaching the Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) are sent to manual sorting / grading section smoothly within minimum time and wastage. The graded, sorted washed & packed produce are stored in the warehouse. They would be loaded onto trucks at the requisite time so that they reach the Central Processing Centre (CPC) most efficiently. It is essential that wastage from loading is kept at a negligible level.

For the purpose

of safe transport of the perishable inputs, it is proposed to transport them in plastic crates. These collapsible plastic crates will keep on rotating between the Primary Processing Centers (PPCs), Central Processing Centre (CPC) and Collection Centers (CCs). To achieve an annual procurement of 20,000 MT/ year the average procurement per day will be approx. 68 MT. However procurement will not happen at constant rate round the year and procurement may reach upto 100 MT per day in peak season. Thus the requirement will increase to approx 7000 crates in the peak months of procurements to handle procurement of one day. Thus a total of 7,000 crates are planned at the Sikaria Mega Food Park (P) Ltd. with budget of Rs 25 lacs for the entire food park.

Capital subsidy of food processing

A subsidy of 25% of project cost which includes plants and machinery technique and other civil work

A subsidy upto 50% for setting up to the primary processing center PPCs  and primary collection centre the PPCS  that would be limited to Rs 2.5 crore 

Food grading & sorting

Food grading involves the inspection, assessment and sorting of various foods regarding quality, freshness, legal conformity and market value. Food grading often occurs by hand, in which foods are assessed and sorted. Machinery is also used to grade foods, and may involve sorting products by size, shape and quality.

Integrated pack house with facilities for conveyer belt, sorting, grading units, washing, drying and weighing. Rs. 25.00 lakh / unit with capacity of 6 MT. Credit linked back-ended subsidy @ 35% of the cost of project in general areas and 50% of cost in case Hilly & Scheduled areas for individual entrepreneurs

INTEGRATED POSTHARVEST MANAGEMENT under this scheme  Integrated pack house with facilities for conveyer belt, sorting, grading units, washing, drying and weighing. And the cost norm

Cost norm is Rs 50.00 lakh per unit with size of 9M * 18M and the pattern of assistance Credit linked back-ended subsidy @35% of the cost of project in general areas and 50% of cost in case Hills & scheduled areas for individual entrepreneurs