Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s deep concern and sensitivity towards farmers is clearly visible in the decisions, policies and plans taken for the farming community. Transforming the lives of our food providers (Annadatas) is the first and foremost goal of our Prime Minister. This is the reason why agriculture and farmers remained the top priorities in the first 100 days of the third term of the NDA government. Under his leadership, the government is making unprecedented efforts for the empowerment and upliftment of the agriculture sector. We are committed to increase farmers’ income, which clearly reflects in schemes such as Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), PM AASHA.
Post-harvest losses in India are a major challenge, which threaten the production capacity of the agricultural sector and it also adversely impacts the hard work put in by lakhs of farmers. According to latest estimates, about 16-18% of the total food production is affected every year in India due to this. These losses can be attributed to various stages of agriculture such as harvesting, threshing, storage, transportation and processing. Lack of proper storage, cold chain, inadequate processing units, and lack of efficient logistics contribute to these huge losses, as a result of which the overall food security of our country gets affected. Keeping all these factors in mind, the Modi government is working with renewed enthusiasm towards strengthening this.
Under the able leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the government is making efforts to take the research of scientists from lab to land, due to which the cost of production has reduced considerably and profits have increased for farmers. The Prime Minister with a visionary approach launched the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) way back in July 2020 as a transformative initiative under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. Its objective is to increase the income of farmers and address post-harvest management issues through farm assets to reduce food wastage. These challenges have to be addressed by promoting new projects and new age technologies. Under AIF, banks provide interest subvention of 3% per annum with an interest cap of 9% and financial institutions will provide loans up to Rs 2 crore with credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises) for loans . Through this initiative, the government aims to not only increase the production to preserve quality and quantity, but also help farmers access markets more efficiently, and as a result, their income will also increase.
Due to the able leadership of the Prime Minister, the benefits of the scheme, till August 2024, the amount sanctioned under this scheme has crossed Rs 47,500 crore. Of this, more than Rs 30,000 crore has already been disbursed for various projects. Notably, 54% of the projects that were sanctioned are linked to farmers, cooperative societies, agricultural production organisations and self-help groups (SHGs), which is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision. It reflects the strong participation of farmers to provide farm-gate level infrastructure.
Prime Minister Modi is very committed towards strengthening farm gate infrastructure to solve the major problem post-harvest losses in agricultural produce. He prioritised the development of infrastructure in storage (dry and cold), transportation, etc., so that farmers can be protected from such crop loss. In terms of dry storage, in comparison to food grain production, India has an infrastructure in terms of 1,740 lakh metric tonnes storage capacity, and at present, there is a shortage of 44% in the storage capacity for the overall grain production in India, which is very concerning. Similarly, for horticulture produce, about 441.9 lakh metric tonnes of cold storage is available in India, while the cold chain capacity is only 15.72% of the production of fruits and vegetables in the country. AIF initiative has helped bridge the storage capacity gap by approximately 500 lakh metric tonnes. Contributing to saving about Rs 5,700 crore post-harvest losses for the nation. Furthermore, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the development of proper cold storage facilities has reduced the loss of horticulture products by 10%, due to which 3.5 lakh metric tonnes of produce is being secured post harvest and about Rs 1,250 crore is being saved every year. This commitment of the Prime Minister towards the agriculture sector and farmers will not only ensure economic empowerment, but also raise their standard of living.
Under the guidance of the Prime Minister, the AIF is providing new impetus to the growth and development of agricultural infrastructure. As of August 2024, as many as 74,695 agriculture infrastructure related initiatives across the country have been approved under AIF. These include 18,508 custom hiring centres, 16,238 primary processing centres, 13,702 warehouses, 3,095 sorting and grading units, 1,901 cold stores and cold chains, and 21,251 other types of infrastructure facilities. These 74,695 projects have attracted a total investment of Rs 78,702 crore in the agriculture sector since 2015, which marks a significant progress in the sector. Prime Minister Modi has not only given priority to infrastructure development, but also to the youth of this country. He has encouraged entrepreneurship among farmers, as approximately 50,000 new agricultural enterprises have been set up in the country. Due to the efforts of the government, the youth are also getting attracted towards farming. This will help in making farmers self-reliant and is an important step towards promoting innovation in the agriculture sector. These efforts have helped create more than 8,00,000 employment opportunities, and this number will only increase in the future, eventually leading to the creation of 2.5 million jobs, directly or indirectly.
The Prime Minister’s welfare policies have brought about positive changes in the working style of farmers. The creation of advanced infrastructure on farms has facilitated farmers to sell directly to a wider consumer base, thereby enhancing price realisation and increasing their overall income. Due to modern packaging and cold storage systems, farmers are able to time their market sales more strategically, resulting in better value realisation. On an average, this infrastructure initiative has enabled farmers to get 11-14% higher prices for their produce.
Prime Minister Modi’s policies will not only encourage the development of agricultural infrastructure, but also reduce credit risk. Through credit guarantee support and interest subvention, lending institutions can give loans with minimal risk, thereby helping their customers. This helps in expanding their base and portfolio diversification. Significantly, this fund is involved in the creation of agricultural infrastructure in collaboration with the refinance facility of NABARD, reducing the effective interest rate for Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) to 1%. This has brought significant benefits to thousands of farmers associated with such PACS. Under AIF, 9,573 PACS projects have been approved with a loan amount of Rs 2,970 crore till date by NABARD.
In an important step under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government has approved the progressive expansion of the ambitious Agriculture Infrastructure Fund scheme, making it more inclusive and substantially more influential.
The government is trying to make agriculture a profitable business and for this, we have come up with a six-point strategy to increase the income of farmers, such as increasing production, reducing the cost of farming, fair prices for production, providing appropriate amount of relief during natural disasters, diversification of agriculture and natural farming. At present, some promising projects for agricultural asset development, such as hydroponic farming, mushroom cultivation, vertical farming, aeroponic farming, polyhouse and greenhouse, are reserved for only farmer groups and collectives. Through the recent expansion in its scope, individual beneficiaries now are eligible for sanctions under AIF for taking up these projects. Similarly, post-harvest management activities were limited to primary processing only. Now by expanding the scheme coverage to include integrated processing projects, farmers will get better prices for their produce through the creation of integrated processing plants, which includes both primary and secondary processing.
In addition to this, component A of PM-KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan) Yojana provides the facility for the installation of solar power plants up to 2 MW on barren, fallow, cultivable, pasture or marshy lands, and it can be easily be converged with the AIF scheme. This strategic convergence will help individual farmers and empower farmer groups, enhancing their role from being ‘Annadaata’ (food givers) to ‘Urjadata’ (energy providers), as well as promote the development of reliable clean energy infrastructure in rural areas. Apart from this, the dedicated credit guarantee cover window, which was exclusively kept for FPOs, i.e. NABSanrakshan Trustee Company Private Limited, will remain open for AIF beneficiaries as well, where they will be eligible for guarantee fee reimbursement.
These changes will increase processing capabilities, diversify food production, and increase and improve the quality of the yields. They will increase shelf life of the produce, boost transport capacity and improve rural supply by linking it to the urban demand. Additionally, these changes will help in generating rural employment opportunities, reducing input costs, increasing yields and enhancing agricultural efficiency, besides contributing to overall growth and development of the rural economy.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is making significant contribution towards the development of the agriculture sector and empowerment of Indian farmers, by providing a sustainable solution. Due to the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even the minutest problems faced by farmers are being resolved, intense communication and combined efforts have brought a new dawn in the context of farmer’s welfare, and this will prove to be a key milestone to fulfil the dreams of a developed agriculture sector of a ‘Viksit Bharat.
(The writer is Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of India)
