Centre approves 12 mega food park projects and scheme for integrated cold chains
Updated: Aug 09, 2013 05:12:10pm
New Delhi, Aug 9 (KNN) In an effort to promote infrastructure development in the food processing industry, provide benefits to farmers and generate employment, the government has approved the setting up of 12 new mega food park projects.
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the setting up of already appraised 12 new Mega Food Park projects as per 11th Plan pattern of assistance i.e. capital grant at the rate of 50 per cent of the eligible project cost in general areas and at the rate of 75 per cent of eligible project cost in difficult and hilly areas i.e. North East Regional including Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and ITDP notified areas of the States, subject to a maximum of Rs 50 crore per project,” said an official notification.
The Mega Food Parks scheme will be implemented with an allocation of Rs 1714 crore (Rs 1800 crore – Rs 86 crore to be transferred to cold chain scheme) during the 12th Plan. The project will be implemented within 30 months from the date of final approval.
Major benefits can be expected if the project is successfully implemented. Among them is the development of adequate infrastructure facilities along the supply chain for the food processing sector which would result in reduced wastage of agri produce and remunerative price for the farmers.
While the project would directly benefit 6000 farmers / producers, indirectly it would benefit 25,000-30,000 farmers.
The estimated investment in each project will be about Rs 100 crore in common facilities and will leverage an additional investment of about of Rs 250 crore. The expected annual turnover of each project will be Rs 500 crore.
As many as 40,000 direct and indirect jobs will be generated from each mega food park. Also, in each project, about 30-40 food processing industries will be set.
The Scheme will be implemented in a market driven manner commensurate with both global and national demands. Innovative supply chain management will be the key to implementation of this scheme.
The Scheme operates in hub and spoke model under which there will be a Central Processing Centre (CPC) which will be networked with farm proximate Collection Centres (CC) and Primary Processing Centres (PPC).
While the CPC will provide core processing infrastructure, the PPC/CC will facilitate the basic infrastructure facilities for cleaning, grading, sorting and packing facilities, dry warehouses, specialized cold stores including pre-cooling chambers, ripening chambers, reefer vans, mobile pre-coolers and mobile collection vans.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has also approved the implementation of the scheme of integrated cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure during 12th Plan with an overall plan allocation of Rs 786 crore including Rs 460 crore for 75 new projects as per the existing pattern of assistance of the scheme.
The 75 projects will be in addition to 63 projects sanctioned during the 11th Plan.
“The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing a scheme for cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure which aims to provide for integrated cold chain and preservation facilities without any break, from the farm gate to the consumer. The scheme is designed to link farms to market through an efficient supply chain,” said an official notification.
The scheme provides for creation of farm proximate infrastructure in the form of minimal processing centres with facilities for weighing, sorting, grading, waxing, cleaning, controlled atmosphere, cold storage, deep freezing, IQF, mobile cooling units etc. The scheme also promotes irradiation technology for longer and safe storage of agriculture produce.
Under the scheme, an entrepreneur is eligible for grant-in-aid up to 50 per cent of cost of plant and machinery and technical civil works in general areas and 75 per cent in North East and hilly areas subjected to a maximum of Rs 10 crore.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has so far sanctioned 63 projects.
Implementation of these projects will create an additional capacity of 2.63 lakh MT of cold storage, CA/MA, Deep Freezer capacity, 314 reefer vehicles, 43.2 MT per hour of individual quick freezing capacity and 81.1 lakh litres per day of milk. The total project cost of the 63 projects is Rs 1391.96 crore which involves government grant of Rs 480.16 crore and private investment of Rs 910.90 crore.
The Government has also announced major fiscal incentives during last three years to enhance investment in cold chain sector. Cold chain projects are eligible for external commercial borrowing. Custom duty relief has also been provided by according project import status.
India is a leading producer of fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, marine products and many other agricultural commodities in the world. The extent of wastage of perishable products has been estimated in the range from 6-18 per cent due to lack of post-harvest infrastructural facilities. With a view to reducing the wastage, enhancing shelf-life, value addition and employment generation, cold chain infrastructure has been identified as a thrust area. (KNN/ES)
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the setting up of already appraised 12 new Mega Food Park projects as per 11th Plan pattern of assistance i.e. capital grant at the rate of 50 per cent of the eligible project cost in general areas and at the rate of 75 per cent of eligible project cost in difficult and hilly areas i.e. North East Regional including Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and ITDP notified areas of the States, subject to a maximum of Rs 50 crore per project,” said an official notification.
The Mega Food Parks scheme will be implemented with an allocation of Rs 1714 crore (Rs 1800 crore – Rs 86 crore to be transferred to cold chain scheme) during the 12th Plan. The project will be implemented within 30 months from the date of final approval.
Major benefits can be expected if the project is successfully implemented. Among them is the development of adequate infrastructure facilities along the supply chain for the food processing sector which would result in reduced wastage of agri produce and remunerative price for the farmers.
While the project would directly benefit 6000 farmers / producers, indirectly it would benefit 25,000-30,000 farmers.
The estimated investment in each project will be about Rs 100 crore in common facilities and will leverage an additional investment of about of Rs 250 crore. The expected annual turnover of each project will be Rs 500 crore.
As many as 40,000 direct and indirect jobs will be generated from each mega food park. Also, in each project, about 30-40 food processing industries will be set.
The Scheme will be implemented in a market driven manner commensurate with both global and national demands. Innovative supply chain management will be the key to implementation of this scheme.
The Scheme operates in hub and spoke model under which there will be a Central Processing Centre (CPC) which will be networked with farm proximate Collection Centres (CC) and Primary Processing Centres (PPC).
While the CPC will provide core processing infrastructure, the PPC/CC will facilitate the basic infrastructure facilities for cleaning, grading, sorting and packing facilities, dry warehouses, specialized cold stores including pre-cooling chambers, ripening chambers, reefer vans, mobile pre-coolers and mobile collection vans.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has also approved the implementation of the scheme of integrated cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure during 12th Plan with an overall plan allocation of Rs 786 crore including Rs 460 crore for 75 new projects as per the existing pattern of assistance of the scheme.
The 75 projects will be in addition to 63 projects sanctioned during the 11th Plan.
“The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing a scheme for cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure which aims to provide for integrated cold chain and preservation facilities without any break, from the farm gate to the consumer. The scheme is designed to link farms to market through an efficient supply chain,” said an official notification.
The scheme provides for creation of farm proximate infrastructure in the form of minimal processing centres with facilities for weighing, sorting, grading, waxing, cleaning, controlled atmosphere, cold storage, deep freezing, IQF, mobile cooling units etc. The scheme also promotes irradiation technology for longer and safe storage of agriculture produce.
Under the scheme, an entrepreneur is eligible for grant-in-aid up to 50 per cent of cost of plant and machinery and technical civil works in general areas and 75 per cent in North East and hilly areas subjected to a maximum of Rs 10 crore.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has so far sanctioned 63 projects.
Implementation of these projects will create an additional capacity of 2.63 lakh MT of cold storage, CA/MA, Deep Freezer capacity, 314 reefer vehicles, 43.2 MT per hour of individual quick freezing capacity and 81.1 lakh litres per day of milk. The total project cost of the 63 projects is Rs 1391.96 crore which involves government grant of Rs 480.16 crore and private investment of Rs 910.90 crore.
The Government has also announced major fiscal incentives during last three years to enhance investment in cold chain sector. Cold chain projects are eligible for external commercial borrowing. Custom duty relief has also been provided by according project import status.
India is a leading producer of fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, marine products and many other agricultural commodities in the world. The extent of wastage of perishable products has been estimated in the range from 6-18 per cent due to lack of post-harvest infrastructural facilities. With a view to reducing the wastage, enhancing shelf-life, value addition and employment generation, cold chain infrastructure has been identified as a thrust area. (KNN/ES)
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