Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana: Ministry of Food Processing approves Rs 234.68 crores of projects

On November 24, 2020, the Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar approved food processing projects of Rs 234.68 crores. Around seven proposals received under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana were approved. The proposals were sent under the Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Processing Cluster of PMKSY.

National Food Processing Policy

The policy was released in 2019. It aims to develop food processing sector and address critical gaps hampering its growth. The policy aims to increase the investment in the food processing sector by six times by 2035.

Key Features

The policy aims to incentivise supply chain infrastructure of the food processing sector. It will identify, promote production clusters and agriculture processing units. The policy aims to provide capital investment subsidy and subsidies for technology upgradation of existing units.

Other Recent Developments under the CEFPPC scheme

The Ministry of Food Processing recently approved 28 food processing projects of worth Rs 320 crores under the Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities Scheme. The scheme is a component of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana. It will help in reducing wastages, generating employment opportunities and ensure value addition.

Background

The Government of India is planning to expand the food processing industries in the country in order to double farmers income by 2022. The major challenges faced by the Food Processing industries in the country are inconsistency in central and state policies, trained manpower and lack of access to credit.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

It was introduced in 2016 as SAMPADA, Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development Ago-Processing Cluster. Later in 2017, it was renamed as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana. There are seven components included in the scheme namely mega food parks, infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities, Creation of backward and forward linkages, Human resource and institutions, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, Infrastructure for agro-processing clusters.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020