Govt to immediately create ₹1 lakh crore agri infrastructure fund

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government announced a third set of COVID-19 relief measures on Friday with this round targeting agriculture and allied activities.

Announcing the third tranche of Rs 20-lakh-crore stimulus package, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "I will be announcing 11 measures today, of which eight relates to strengthening capacity and infrastructure. The government will allocate money and we can quickly ramp up on these. The rest three will pertain to government and administrative reforms."

Talking about dairy sector, she said, "During the lockdown period, the demand for milk reduced by 20-25 percent. A new scheme was announced to provide interest subvention at 2 percent per annum to dairy cooperatives for 2020-21. The scheme will unlock Rs 5,000 crore additional liquidity, benefit to 2 crore farmers."

To boost farming infrastructure, government announced Rs 1 lakh crore agri infrastructure fund for farm-gate infrastructure, "Financing facility of Rs 1,00,000 crore will be provided for funding agriculture infrastructure projects at farm-gate and aggregation points. Impetus for development pf farm-gate and aggregation point, affordable and financially viable post-harvest management infrastructure."

For the formalisation of micro food enterprises (MESs), the government will set up a Rs 10,000 crore fund to help branding and promotion of health foods produced across India. This will be a cluster-based approach in order to accommodate specialities of various states' produce, for example Kashmir can focus funds on Saffron, Telangana can empower turmeric farmers, while Bihar can focus on lotus seeds (Makhana). Aruond 2 lakh MSMEs are expected to benefit from the move.

To help fishermen, government will launch the Rs 20,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for integrated sustainable, inclusive development of marine and inland fisheries.Out of this fund, Rs 11,000 crore for activities in marine, inland fisheries and aquaculture; Rs 9,000 crore for infrastructure, fishing harbours, cold chains, markets etc. This will lead to additional fish production of 70 lakh tonne over five years, employment to over 55 lakh people and will double exports to Rs 1,00,000 crore. PMMSY's focus will be on islands, Himalayan states, north-east and aspirational districts.