Gramin Bhandaran Yojana / Rural Godown Scheme

From 1 April 2014, this scheme has been merged in Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM).

Under this Gramin Bhandaran Yojana or Rural Godown Scheme, government provides supports to an individual, a company, a farmer , local government, NGOs and various associations, if they build or renovate rural godowns.

• Government will provide 25% of the capital investment made in such a venture. If the Godown is built or renovated by a woman farmer, the government support is 33.33% of the total capital investment
  ^{(not the total cost which may include some other costs also)}
  

Who can get assistance on building new godowns?

Individuals, farmers, Group of farmers/growers, Partnership/ Proprietary firms, Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s), Self Help Groups (SHGs), Companies, Corporations, Co-operatives, Local Bodies other than Municipal Corporations, Federations, Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees, Marketing Boards and Agro Processing Corporations in the entire country.

Who can get assistance on renovation?

Assistance for renovation of rural godowns will, however, be restricted to godowns constructed by cooperatives only.

Such godowns should have a capacity to store at least 100 tonnes of grains and maximum 10000 Tonnes to avail the facility. However, if the godown belongs to such an area which badly needs it, government will come forward for same support (25%) for even a 50 Tonne facility. Then, there is also no upper ceiling on subsidy in the case of projects of rural godowns of Cooperatives assisted by NCDC. Please note that in 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture had recommended an enhanced subsidy by proposing to increase the maximum size of godowns eligible for subsidy from 10,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes. However, as of now, the maximum limit remains 10000 tonnes. In the Union Budget 2013-14, the government has budgeted an expenditure of ` 313.09 Crore for this scheme.

We see that this is a novel scheme with the following objectives:

• Creation of scientific storage capacity and thus prevention of distress sale
• Reduction of loss in quantity and quality
• Creation of additional employment opportunities in rural areas
• Assistance in the easy procurement of food grains by FCI and other agencies
• Renovation and upgradation of existing storage capacity created by co-operatives with the assistance of NCDC
• Encouraging private and co-operative sector investment in the creation of storage infrastructure in the major producing zones and the major consumption zones in the country and reduction in pressure on existing storage facilities with public agencies and co-operatives and reduction in pressure on the transport system in the post harvest period